Ways to inspire creativity in your employees
Creativity is not important just for artists and musicians, nor is it a superfluous “add-on” quality that is nice to have in a workforce.
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Everyone has some spark within him/her -- you just need to allow that creativity to flow. Here are a few tips on how to stir up creativity in your employees.
Team mentality
It is rare that a creative idea just spontaneously pops up in one person’s head.
The best business ideas I have seen are actually ones that were tinkered with and added to after being discussed with partners, investors and team members.
Creativity, then, is a team sport, so you should make it your responsibility to help your team members work together.
Therefore, facilitate a “team” mentality by pulling down the walls of your office, conducting team exercises and giving your teammates opportunities to bond with one another.
Doing so will help them trust one another and work together to bring new ideas to life.
Sensory experiences
Most creative experiences come from combining two seemingly unrelated ideas. Encouraging the flow of non-sequester ideas through sensory experiences can help employees find new inspiration.
For example, you might hang thought-provoking abstract art on the walls, regularly fill the office with new scents or play unconventional music through your loudspeakers.
Doing so will help employees think in new ways and become more stimulated by their environment.
As an added bonus, most of these additions have a calming or satisfying effect on people -- so your team will feel happier and be more productive in addition to being more creative.
Listen to new ideas
One of the biggest creative limits in business is not the absence of creativity altogether; it is the fact that the creativity that is there is not heard.
Your workers might be coming up with cool, creative, clever ideas, but if they don’t feel comfortable bringing those ideas to the surface, you will never hear about them.
To resolve this discrepancy, institute a personal policy to listen to every new idea -- even bad ones, and ones that go against your thinking. You don’t have to act on them, but you do have to value them, give honest feedback and reward employees for bringing them up.
Encourage breaks
Again, allowing for breaks is nearly proven to increase employees' productivity and job satisfaction; just don’t neglect their ability to improve creative thinking.
Building breaks into your work culture gives work less of a “grindstone” feel and more of an active choice.
When your staffers are not pressured to complete a task, they can approach it in a more relaxed, thoughtful way.
Instead of trying to force the square peg into a circle hole, they will have the freedom to walk away, casually think about the problem and ultimately come to a correct alternative solution on their own terms.