From adaptability and agility to innovation, creativity is at the heart of what businesses need to thrive. And it’s not relevant just to those in creative industries. In every sector, from pharmaceuticals to finance, understanding what employees need to think and act creatively holds the potential to build resilience in a business and happiness for individuals.

“Everyone has creative potential,” says Ben Hamley, data-driven design, innovation and strategy director for APAC at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). “The natural diversity of perspectives is super-important for companies to be able to transform, do new work or create new value in the future. More than anything else, companies have to enable their employees to realize that potential. Talented people look for workplaces where creative work thrives—where they can do the best work of their life.”

“We think for a living, and the quality of our thinking determines the quality of our work,” he says, welcoming the recognition that mental health and well-being are essential to performance.

“Creativity equals courage,” says Walshe. “It applies equally to anybody. Organizations need to establish a model where people can be comfortable on the edge—that’s the challenge.”

Walshe has worked in extreme environments of all kinds—from high-octane to high-altitude—previously leading performance programs with Red Bull, where he was involved with everything from Formula One to the Stratos “space jump” project. To Walshe, creativity means “you’re pushing hard, you’re prototyping, you’re testing—it gives you room to try things out and experiment and learn and grow really quickly.” Other workplaces, he says, can also reach for “creativity in the context of performance” to drive a competitive advantage.

Quantifying the unquantifiable requires an innovative approach. Walshe began searching for answers in 2015 with Hacking Creativity. This “research project into the ecology of human creativity” mapped relationships between creative habits by surveying over ten thousand people to better understand how humans can do their best creative work.

One of the study’s most important findings was that there is no single way to be creative. Through advanced ecological network analytics, seven creative styles were identified, each with a different set of habits and attitudes toward work, allowing individuals to realize their distinct creative potential.

As part of its exploration into the Science of Work, JLL and Walshe are collaborating on a project that will bring the findings of Hacking Creativity to a wider audience. It allows people to identify and understand their style and the conditions they need to get their best work done.

These types range from Twilight Trailblazers (Solo Noctus) to Collaborative Explorers (Socialis Adventurous). The first are tenacious and dedicated night owls who thrive in wide-open terrains. The second are morning people and highly social risk-takers who enjoy finding new landscapes in which to work.

Then there’s the Solitary Stabilizer (Mono Routinus), which grows best alone in enclosed spaces, dislikes risk but likes routine. It’s not suited to life with Social Catalysts (Novo Gregarious)—collaborators who thrive with others and love music and lively conversation.