Wouldn’t it be great if your employees came to you with creative solutions rather than just problems? Working to increase the creativity in your workplace can actually help you achieve that. Creativity also makes employees feel more motivated and invested in your company. Here are a few ways you can increase creativity on your team:
Encourage New Ideas
Think about why employees may be hesitant to share new ideas with leadership. They might feel like their ideas aren’t good enough, or that they won’t be considered. Create a safe space where all ideas are listened to and considered. Consider holding regular creative brainstorming meetings. Just because you are encouraging new ideas doesn’t mean they’ll all be winners. Even if an idea is bad, still listen to it. Bad ideas can be big tools for learning. When someone proposes what you see as a bad idea, another employee might find a way to make it work, creating a more creative solution. When employees know that you’re listening to their ideas, they’ll be more likely to share ideas later on.
Get Comfortable With Risk
Some of your employees might be afraid to get creative because of risk associated with it. Encourage your employees to take risks. Let them know that it is okay to fail. This is easy to do by allowing your employees to experiment with side projects. A lot will fail, but it will help your employees to learn and will make them more creative.
Change Location
A change in location can inspire all sorts of new ideas from your employees. Encourage breaks and schedule activities outside of the office periodically. A little bit of sunshine can go a long way with creativity. Also, getting your employees together outside of the workplace encourages teamwork, which helps increase creativity. If a change in location isn’t practical, then you can fill your workplace with different sensory experiences. Put art on the walls or try using new scents. These small things can drastically increase creativity.
Get Teams Together
Your employees are often only socializing and collaborating within their own department. However, occasionally letting teams socialize with each other can give them new ideas and perspectives on problems. Additionally, getting to know other employees will increase feelings of teamwork that go along with creativity.
These small things can help your employees to be more creative problem solvers.