Creativity in the workplace is about accelerating productivity in an organisation in an organic way. Creativity in the workplace is intelligence having fun.

Are you managing a start-up, a small or a large business? Then, it’s no secret that fostering creative thinking within the workplace is vital to the growth and success of your company.

With the increasingly complex problems, your business faces every day, sometimes, the same tired concepts and means to resolve problems just won’t cut it anymore. Employees expect to solve these problems by their leader, but do you think ideas coming from only one person can do so much.

That is why a creative environment is important. A workspace filled with creative thinkers will contribute innovative solutions and develop better ways to do things.

Nurturing creativity in a workspace with the daily hustles and bustles of an ordinary office environment can be a highly challenging task for leaders. It will get filled with workloads and deadlines that leave no room for creativity.

Six ways to encourage creativity in the workplace

• Leverage freedom and diversity

Give your employees the freedom to work towards a particular work goal using any method they want to follow. Always dictating the specific ways to do things will only smother their creativity. Assign a fixed work goal to them and allow them to use their own methods to accomplish it. Leverage diversity by building teams composed of diverse creative minds that have different perspectives and take on things. A group consisting of employees with distinct points of view is most likely to come up with innovative solutions as opposed to a homogenous group where there isn’t much assortment of ideas.

• Provide enough resources

Time and money are essential resources for optimising creativity. But, certain projects can get achieved by requiring only a little or none of both. Deadlines can either suppress or strengthen creativity, and a limited budget might cause to compromise the quality. So, provide just enough resources to support your team in achieving their assigned work goal.

• Discourage politics

Ensure to pick the best ideas based on their value and appropriateness, not on hierarchy. If your team members, no matter what position, feel like they have the opportunity to contribute to the success of the company, they will feel more encouraged to contribute ideas more often.

• Keep the door open for new or innovative ideas

Creative thinking of your employees is worthless if they feel like their ideas aren’t welcome. Foster a creative atmosphere where everyone knows that if they have a fresh idea, they can freely share it at any time. You can also actively ask for their views by putting up a general suggestion box, where they can present suggestions that would help in the betterment of your business.

Make room for failure

Failure is necessary when it comes to risk-taking. Creative thinkers will present a lot of solutions, and not all of them will lead to a successful result. Making your people think that failure is not an option will make them feel afraid to step out of their comfort zones and stop them from coming up with new ideas. It will stifle innovation. Instead of isolating them every time they fail, allow them to learn from their mistakes. Let their every failure bring them a step closer to success.

Recognise your employee’s efforts

Knowing their work matters to your business will help your employees feel more motivated in contributing to its success. It doesn’t need resources. A simple “thank you” or a brief message admitting your employee’s efforts and contribution to the company would be enough.

A workspace culture that fosters creativity is beneficial not only to the business but to the manager and employees as well. Build a creative environment where employees are encouraged to contribute ideas and participate in problem-solving. It results in increased staff morale, higher productivity, increased employee engagement, and better teamwork and team bonding. A business firm with creative thinkers will generate innovative ideas that can drive the business to its success.

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