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Creativity is a tricky thing. It comes in bursts and then vanishes like a thief in the night. We live in an age when every insight and idea is quickly turned into viable business plans. This is great, but it also puts a lot of pressure on start-ups and even established companies to stay on top of their game to avoid getting left behind. If you work in the kind of environment where thinking out-of-the-box is necessary to the success of the business, here are some useful tips to keep employees inspired and cultivate creativity in the workplace.
Enforce break times
Hard work and dedication is good, but not to the point of burning yourself out. For creative juices to flow, the mind needs some space to breathe. It can’t breathe if it’s exhausted from working weekends and overtimes. To keep workplace brains happy and humming with innovative ideas, break times should be used to give employees a much-needed break. Sure sometimes urgent tasks can disrupt break times, but this does not have to be the norm. If it keeps happening, then there could be bigger problems at pay, like poor time management and a tendency to over-promise.
Bloom the workplace
The workplace environment is an important factor in cultivating workplace creativity. A dark and depressing office is bound to get employees down. Clutter can also further cause chaos in people’s mind. That’s how much influence our environment has on our disposition. So for creativity to bloom, allow people to express their individuality. Some people like having photos of their loved ones on the table, others keep their desks nice and spare. Adding cheap flowers and succulents around the workplace not only brightens the overall vibe, they also help filter out toxins from the atmosphere.
Implement an anonymous “suggestion box”
Some people may already have great ideas and creative suggestions, but they don’t have the outlet to share them. Sometimes, too, they may have reservations about voicing their concerns. To resolve those issues, you can implement a “suggestion box” type of platform where people can anonymously submit suggestions and ideas on improving business processes or even just to make the workplace a fun and inspiring place for everyone.
Encourage workplace diversity
Diversity is essential for out-of-the-box thinking. If everyone looks and thinks the same way, then you get more of the same ideas. Bringing in diverse personalities, backgrounds and working styles foster a rich environment for innovation. The downside, of course, is that too much diversity can be chaotic, so there needs to be a good system and visionary leaders in place guiding teams to achieve their full potential.
Organise off-site activities
Ideas come for everyday experiences, so being cooped up in the same space for lengths at a time whittles down experiences and stimuli that can spark inspiration. Experts say that we are wired to be outside and that being closer to nature can help reduce our stress levels. To this end, an off-site activity not only gives people the opportunity to engage in team-building activities, it also puts them in a refreshing new environment to reignite their senses. Off-site activities allow people to get to know each other on a different level, which means they can gain insight about other people’s personality which can help future collaborations.
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