Business Owners: Embrace Your Creative Freedom
Reading Time: 6 minutes Creativity is often misunderstood as something that can only take place inside the mind of an artist or within the walls of an art studio. But creativity is not restricted to any genre or a specific breed of individuals.
It is a mood or an idea that dispels the traditionalist approach in favor of a new perspective on matters. Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and various other such ventures were a result of individuals going beyond what is expected.
Creativity is a force to be reckoned with; so, what will happen if you implement it in your organization? Whatever happens, we can assure you that the result will be nothing short of a pleasant surprise!
Why Businesses need Creativity?
The common thing among companies that made it big is that they were successful in making themselves stand apart from the rest. How did they do that, you reckon?
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All the success that businesses achieve is due to the implementation of new ideas or the introduction of innovative practices. This is all because of creative thinking which has proven itself to be the driving force when it comes to achieving success.
In the absence of creativity, Michael Aldrich would not have introduced online shopping and the world would have been very much different from it is now. With the lack of innovative practices, the companies would not have been different from one another. Think about it, every organization could have the same marketing practices, the same products, services, and similar selling techniques. All of this would have made the world a mundane place to carry out business practices.
The ability to push beyond one’s capabilities, to think outside the box, and to implement risky ideas; all of this exudes creative energy that organizations need to become the next big thing.
Fostering Creativity within your Business
Hatching a creative idea is not a one man’s job. Instead, it takes up a couple of brains to think of, implement, and experiment with new ideas. So, having a single creative person in your organization will not produce positive results.
You need to create a company culture that promotes creativity among all the operational levels. When every employee is trained to think outside the box, only then will your organization be able to achieve great things.
Here are a couple of ways through which you can foster a creative spirit within your employees.
1. Start with the right people
In this context, the right people do not mean that you go out of your way to hire highly creative individuals. Instead, you need to focus on bringing in people sharing a widely different backgrounds.
Diversity is the keyword and to achieve something big, you need to introduce various viewpoints, different cultural backgrounds, and unique skill sets. Keep in mind that you cannot make it big by sticking with a group of people who think or act the same way. This is the quickest way of ensuring that your organization dies even before it has taken off.
Not everyone on your team is going to be creative. However, you can provide them with the necessary tools and techniques to be innovative. It will also help them look at things from a unique vantage point.
2. Create challenges that push your employees
The best way to promote creativity is by challenging them every day. What you can do in this regard is to create a unique challenge that matches the skill sets of each individual. Give your employees a time limit and ask them to come up with various yet unique solutions. In this way, you will compel your employees to not only think but also approach problems creatively.
It is important that you keep the challenging spirit up by introducing difficult challenges every day. Keep in mind not to keep the challenges too easy as it will become mundane. Also, do not make the challenges extremely difficult as it will only cause stress. The key here is to find a balance.
3. Ditch the usual 9-5 work setting
Nothing is traditional when it comes to creativity and the same goes for an ordinary work setting. The 9-5 setting compels individuals to appear and leave the workplace at a specific time which makes them unhappy.
Since achieving a positive and healthy mental state is crucial for creativity, you should look into offering flexible working arrangements. For instance, you can introduce work from home opportunities that are known to make employees productive, healthy, and happy.
As long as the employees know their responsibilities and complete work-related tasks on time, there should be no problem in testing out a unique work setting that promotes creativity.
4. Provide relentless support
Belittling somebody because their idea seems ridiculous is a bad move on your part. Fearing further ridicule, such individuals may stop themselves from coming up with unique ideas.
Keep in mind that a bit of encouragement goes a long way. If someone is bringing childish ideas today, that same person could bring million-dollars worth of innovative ideas tomorrow. So, before you pass judgments, stop and think for a moment. Additionally, you can also provide constructive criticism to guide the person in the right direction.
While you are at it, you also need to teach your team to provide collective praises whenever necessary. This will compel the individuals to be more open and discuss their ideas in a frank manner. You do not have to agree with all the ideas, but never make the individual feel as if their idea was a bad one.
5. Allow for adaptability
Most of the organizations are hard-wired to accomplish everything with a planned strategy. They will never achieve business goals without formulating a risk-free strategy beforehand. This is where creative individuals differ from the traditional approach as most of them like to jump into tasks without creating a clear strategy.
The majority is open to challenges and is prone to pick up new directions in between the tasks. In the event of any roadblock, they may be quick to rethink and reframe their approaches. The organizations need to identify this kind of behavior and must allow it to foster since such challenges are necessary for discovering the next big innovation.
Final Thoughts
Clean floors or brightly lit spaces do not guarantee creativity. Often, the best ideas come from a dingy, dim-lit garage space. The point is, no amount of changes in the environment can foster creativity if your organization is unacceptable to such practices.
Innovation and creativity are two things that are advantageous in a workplace. They allow employees to bring new ideas to the table and cultivate a company culture that is more accepting of the unique changes. By opening doors for creativity in your organization, you allow your office members to work as a team; transforming the environment into something that is happy, fun, and laid back!
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