Canva's rise into one of the world's most recognised technology brands is often viewed through the lens of product innovation and democratised design. But sustaining rapid growth at global scale requires more than technology. It demands a people strategy capable of evolving alongside the business.
In an exclusive interview with People Matters, Charlotte Anderson, Head of People Experience at Canva, shared how the company thinks about creativity, leadership, experimentation and AI. Her central message was clear: creativity can no longer remain the responsibility of specialist teams. Organisations that thrive in the coming years will be those that embed creative thinking into everyday work across every function.
The conversation arrives at a time when businesses are navigating AI-driven transformation, shifting workforce expectations and increasing pressure to innovate faster. For Anderson, the challenge is not simply enabling creativity. It is creating the conditions for more people to contribute ideas, take thoughtful risks and turn innovation into a shared organisational capability.
Why creativity is becoming a business skill, not a specialist skill
For decades, organisations largely associated creativity with designers, marketers and creative agencies. Technical and operational functions were expected to focus on expertise, accuracy and execution.
Anderson believes those boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred.
"Creativity doesn't replace specialist expertise – it complements it," she said.
She pointed to finance and HR as examples of functions where technical excellence remains essential, but where communication, influence and human understanding have become equally important.
According to Anderson, modern HR teams cannot rely solely on policy design, frameworks and diagnostics. They also need the ability to think about how messages are received, whether they build trust and whether employees will engage with them.
Those capabilities have traditionally sat outside the expectations of many specialist functions. Today, they are becoming increasingly important.
"The objective isn't to make every function look more creative. It's to preserve the depth and expertise, while presenting it in a way that people genuinely engage with."
What happens when more people can communicate ideas visually
Canva's mission has long centred on making design accessible. Anderson believes the most significant impact extends beyond design itself.
The real shift, she said, lies in how work gets done when more employees can communicate ideas visually without depending on specialist teams.
She explained that finance teams can build presentations, legal teams can simplify complex concepts and HR teams can bring initiatives to life without waiting for design support at every stage.
The result is fewer handoffs and faster movement of ideas.
Key changes Anderson highlighted include:
- Faster collaboration across functions
- Greater ownership among teams closest to the problem
- Quicker testing and iteration of ideas
- Increased confidence among employees to contribute creatively
- Broader participation in innovation processes
"When barriers to creation are removed, organisations unlock perspectives and ideas that may never have surfaced otherwise."
For Anderson, democratising design is not about transforming everyone into designers. It is about giving employees the confidence and capability to communicate, collaborate and contribute more effectively.
The hidden barriers stopping people from speaking up
Technology alone, Anderson cautioned, does not automatically create innovation.
One of the biggest obstacles remains cultural.
Many employees still believe creativity falls outside their role, particularly in technical or operational functions. Even when people have ideas, they may hesitate to share them if they fear criticism or perceive creative thinking as risky.
"People may have great ideas, but if sharing them feels like a career risk, or if creative thinking isn't recognised or rewarded, there's little reason to put those ideas forward."
This places significant responsibility on leaders.
Rather than relying on formal innovation programmes, Anderson pointed to everyday experiences that help employees build confidence in creative thinking.
She encouraged leaders to think beyond conventional workplace structures by asking questions such as:
- When was the last time an engineering team did something unrelated to engineering?
- Does the workplace encourage curiosity?
- Are there spaces designed to help people think differently?
- Could meetings happen away from screens and conference rooms?
For Anderson, these moments matter because they allow employees to exercise creative thinking before they are required to use it in high-pressure situations.
AI may accelerate creativity, but judgement remains human
Few workplace conversations today are complete without AI. Yet Anderson sees the technology less as a replacement for human creativity and more as an accelerator.
"AI is only ever as strong as the people directing it."
She believes AI is removing many of the barriers that previously slowed people down, including uncertainty, false starts and the challenge of beginning with a blank page.
As those barriers disappear, employees have more time to focus on higher-value activities.
According to Anderson, the capabilities organisations must prioritise include:
- Critical thinking
- Curiosity
- Sound judgement
- Better questioning
- Decision-making
"AI can help generate ideas, but people bring the context, critical thinking and decision-making needed to turn those ideas into meaningful outcomes."
She also linked this shift directly to talent strategy.
How organisations hire, develop, recognise and promote employees will increasingly depend on these distinctly human capabilities.
"The real differentiator will be people who know what questions to ask, what problems are worth solving and what ideas are worth pursuing."
The leadership behaviour that shapes innovation culture
When discussing experimentation, Anderson repeatedly returned to leadership behaviour.
For her, culture is defined less by corporate statements and more by how leaders react when things do not go according to plan.
"You can have all the innovation principles in the world, but if the first failed idea is treated as a mistake rather than a learning opportunity, that's the signal people remember."
She believes organisations often celebrate successful innovation while overlooking the conditions required to create it.
More powerful than discussing failure after the fact, she said, is seeing leaders openly support experimentation before outcomes are known.
"I'm not sure this will work, but I think it's worth trying."
Statements like these create permission for employees to take thoughtful risks. However, leadership messaging alone is not enough.
Anderson stressed that organisational systems must reinforce the same behaviour. If experimentation negatively affects performance reviews or if employees have no time to test new ideas, people will naturally prioritise safety over innovation.
"The biggest risk isn't failure. It's saying innovation matters while only celebrating the ideas that succeed."
Making creativity everyone's responsibility
One theme ran consistently throughout the discussion: creativity should not belong to a select group of employees.
Anderson believes organisations often unintentionally isolate creativity within designated teams, limiting the broader innovation potential of the workforce.
At Canva, she said, creativity is viewed as something every employee can contribute, regardless of role.
Whether someone works in engineering, law, sales or marketing, leaders must create opportunities for them to participate in the creative process.
Practical actions include:
- Sharing work before it is finalised
- Encouraging cross-functional collaboration
- Making creative processes more visible
- Recognising experimentation and learning
- Celebrating contributions beyond finished outcomes
"Creativity is a muscle, and the more people see it in action, the more confident they become in using it themselves."
Recognition also plays an important role.
Rather than celebrating only finished campaigns or launched products, Anderson believes organisations should acknowledge the thinking, experimentation and collaboration that made those outcomes possible.
The organisations that will move fastest
Looking ahead, Anderson sees a clear divide emerging between organisations that embed creativity into daily work and those that continue to treat it as a specialist capability.
"The organisations that will pull ahead won't necessarily be the ones with the most creative people – they'll be the ones that make creativity part of how the organisation works."
She expects AI to continue automating many repeatable creative tasks. As a result, human judgement, context and curiosity will become even more valuable.
The businesses that adapt fastest, she said, will be those capable of combining technological capability with broad-based human creativity across every level of the organisation.
Five years from now, competitive advantage may depend less on who has access to technology and more on who has built cultures where employees feel empowered to think differently, contribute ideas and turn those ideas into action.
For Anderson, that future starts with a simple shift in mindset: creativity is no longer a specialist capability. It is an organisational one.