Maximizing your creative impact is important no matter what size your team is, how many resources you have or what it is that you do. It is especially important on small teams or orginzations as creativity can act as the great equalizer to make your impact potential far exceed your size. Often times people feel that if they do not have a ton of people on the staff, a ton of coworkers or resources then nothing creative can ever get done!
But that is the farthest thing from the truth there is.
It turns out that one person thinking creatively can change the world.
It has happened time and time again in history – and there is no reason that it cannot happen to you too. It isn’t so much about volume – it’s about quality. And while a larger organization can strive for both volume and quality as a result of having resources, a small organization is left with one route only. And that route is the quality of your work.
So here are a few tips on how to focus creatively on quality instead of quantity in your organization:
1. Organize, Organize, Organize.
You need to schedule out your day so that someone else does not schedule it for you. In small organizations and on small teams, time is the most precious commodity. And too often our time is dictated by someone else. A boss. A client. A pressing fire drill. And when we allow our day to get carried away with these things instead of being planned and organized, we can get overwhelmed and underperform. Wondering why an imitative hasn’t gone out yet or wondering why we feel as if we have gotten nothing done today and it’s already 3pm! Sound familiar?
So instead, try making time. Block out your calendar for tasks and goals you want to achieve. Don’t bend on this – it is your time! And stick to the time you allowed for yourself. Just doing this simple task can empower you to creatively achieve whatever you have set out to do – no matter what it is – simply because you allowed yourself to prioritize your time to get it done.
2. Switch Gears.
In order to raise the quality of your offering you need to stick to one thing and do it well. If we end up multitasking we end up never really getting anything ever fully done. And multitasking doesn’t really work. At best we have some remnants of some work that may be presentable – but often times it is not. Multitasking can be tempting, but no creativity gets out into the world when we multitask.
So instead, switch gears. Switching gears is all about finishing out one thing at a time then switching gears to the next thing. It may be emails, calls, texts or meetings. Because when we switch gears we are able to complete the task infant of us to its fullest and then switch to the next thing. Switching gears is the foundation of quality. It is a method that allows you to focus on one thing at a time and complete it to the best of your ability before switching to something else over and over again. In a small organization this can mean the difference between creating exceptional quality work or failing.
3. Delegate for help.
Help can come from the least likely source. It can be a friend who is a photographer which you can repurpose her work – or it may be a partnership you can make with another vendor. If we think creatively about where we can look for help or resources it may end up helping us excel on a small team with limited resources.
Often times thinking creatively beyond our means can help us achieve goals we thought were outside our potential – simply because we are willing to look. Wayne Gretzky – perhaps the best hockey player that ever lived – once said that you will miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. So don’t be afraid to take some slap shots looking for help!
Being a small business or a small team within an organization is sometimes difficult. But it is out of difficult and uncertain times where creativity can thrive the most. The three tools above can help anyone overcome a lack of resources and accomplish far more than expected. Even for a one person team. And even if the odds are stacked against you. We can punch far above our weight if we do it creatively, and that will help us achieve goals we may have thought were previously unachievable.