What do you envision when you hear the term ‘creativity’? Probably a theatre, an art studio or any place where it is nurtured. But what if we say that creativity has a lot to do with the workplace? Perplexed? For most of us, the traditional office life includes a daily 9 to 6 grind with never-ending targets and deadlines to meet – leaving very little or no time for creativity. While creativity involves trying something new, people are more inclined towards accomplishing the set amount of tasks.
However, allowing creativity to rule the workplace is key to setting-up an engaged workforce. In fact, generating new ideas and doing things in different ways can maximize the well-being of an employee while building a strong foundation for greater business accomplishments. Today, forward-looking organizations encourage a culture of creativity by promoting lateral thinking and innovation.
Applying creativity at work will not just remove monotony and dreariness from your job but will help you unlock more meaningful results. This applies not just for employees but for managers as well. Listed below are few actionable tips that can foster creativity at the workplace:
- Promote an Inclusive Environment: To achieve organizational goals, people from different disciplines should collaborate. For instance, project managers should interact with employees in client servicing roles, writers should associate with developers and so on. Pollination of inter-disciplinary roles paves way for new ideas and inspiration, which tends to flow freely from one department to the other.
- Unique Problem Solving Approach: Executive staff and managers should welcome new ideas from the employees or staff members. In fact, every worker should be involved when it comes to seeking unconventional solutions to complex problems. By promoting lateral thinking, unique ideas and solutions could be achieved. Yet another way of promoting creativity at the workplace is to abandon logic during brainstorming sessions.
- Promote Flexibility: Organizations offering a flexible work policy results in increased work productivity. Studies conducted reveal that shifting your workstation can boost innovation and creativity. At times working from home or a new place outside the office can change your perspective and unlock new ways of thinking.
- Establish a Culture of Creativity: Within an organizational set-up, there are multiple disciplines where people congregate to give rise to micro-cultures. These cultures may either be toxic or extremely fulfilling. Great company culture is driven by a shared focus where employees feel motivated to come to work. On the other hand, a dysfunctional culture can impact the overall imagination and mental health of an employee. The best way to spur a culture of creativity within an organization is to provide employees with a purpose.
- Allow Experimenting and taking Risks: Cultivating a culture that doesn’t stop employees from experimenting or taking risks due to fear of making mistakes, promotes creativity. The best way to implement such a culture is by having an open-door policy which allows employees to share their feedback and suggestion without any hitch.
- Promote Knowledge Sharing: Your workplace provides the right platform for collaboration and knowledge sharing. By indulging in regular knowledge sharing sessions, one can learn new skills and gather knowledge from their peers. By encouraging others to share their knowledge with other members of the team, employees can discover new interests, which in turn can pave way for new creative pursuits.
Quick Wrap Up:
In the workplace, the status quo is to achieve success in everything that is at hand. Consequently, there is very little room left for creativity, which involves taking risks and coming up with out-of-the-box solutions. While this is something that can be frowned upon in the workplace, creativity and innovation are the elements that sets apart a good organization from a great one. This is one reason why creative thinkers are valued most in the workplace.