How To Encourage Creative Thinking Within Your Organization

Great organizations encourage and promote a culture of creativity. They want their team dreaming up the next iPad or ways of capturing the imagination of their audience.

And yet the question remains: How do you encourage your team to think creatively?

Creative light camera

Image by Cameron Russell

That question is one most companies have trouble answering.

They become worried that it will cut into productivity. Encourage goofing off. Or create havoc.

In reality, that’s not what happens. What really happens is a blockbuster team is formed.

Let’s take Google as an example.

They’re knocking it out of the park with the innovation coming out of the company. You’ve got

That’s not the whole list but you get the idea. Ideas are birthed and brought to life by the creative minds at Google. Creativity is encouraged. It’s part of their culture.

The same can go for Apple, Amazon, Patagonia, or Kickstarter. They encourage their employees to get creative.

How can you encourage creative thinking within your company? Let’s look at 5 ways.

    1. Allow failures to happen: Look at any successful company and you’ll see a list of failures that will rival their successes. Google failed with Google Answers, Google Wave, and Google Coupons. Don’t let a failure be the end of creative thinking. When faced with a failure, break down the process and discover why it failed. Take that knowledge with you into the next project.
    2. Give your employees time to explore their personal interests: The successful companies allow and encourage their employees to discover and explore personal interests. Some even allow up to 20% of their workday to be filled with such pursuits. Why?

      Because it renews their energy. Allows them to relax. Frees their minds to discover new solutions to problems.

      Have you ever been stuck on a problem? Focusing so much time and energy on the issue and not being able to resolve it? Only to leave work, relax, and discover the answer? This is why allowing your employees to explore personal interests can be to your benefit.

    3. Create controlled chaos: Mix introverts with the extroverts. Put a Debbie Downer with the energetic and positive team. Stir up a little chaos.The team will have to come up with solutions on how to deal with each other. Allow them this opportunity.

      And then have the team bring their solution back to the whole company. Look for ways to apply this to other aspects of the business. If it’s a great principle, it will be transferable.

    4. Encourage a focus on execution: When Apple released the iPhone, other phone companies said there was nothing new that could be done with cell phones. Apple stepped in and focused on executing a killer product. The iPhone had an easy to use interface, great apps, and a catchy name. Then Steve Jobs nailed it with his execution of the reveal. By focusing on the execution, creativity flourished.

      Of course, it’s also essential for you to train your staff thoroughly in the tools they need to substantiate that creativity. To use another example, a composer can only truly craft excellent scores if they’re already trained in the rules and practical tools of music, using that format to design and communicate and express their ideas. Even with highly-technical and efficient programs such as Financial Reporting Software, regular training and proper onboarding will allow the execution of all data submissions to be key, and for the potential forecasting this provides you to open the way towards future progress.

  1. Reward those who take risks: Sometimes team members will be scared to take risks because of failure, even if you’re a company that allows failures to happen. They need a bigger push. They need to know there’s a reward.

    Give them a reason to push through the risk. The reward could be huge like a new car or it could be as simple as recognition in front of the whole company.

    Find out what motivates them and reward them. If they take the risk and pull it off.

Creative and innovative companies have figured out they can’t be stagnant. They have to push the boundaries to see what can be done. They have to take the chance.

And they must encourage their employees to do the same.

By following the suggestions above, you can improve the creative thinking within your company. Are you willing to take the chance?

Question: How does your company encourage creative thinking? If they don’t, what steps could you take to encourage creative thinking? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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