When we talk about creativity in the workplace we’re not actually talking about the way you decorate your office or cubicle with the best colors, pictures or even arranging your furniture according to the latest feng shui guru. What we’re discussing here is the company atmosphere that can make you, and your coworkers, more productive and efficient, thus, more creative.
One of the best ideas for encouraging creativity in the workplace is the simple but effective suggestion system developed so that whoever is in charge of that department will be able to consider everyone’s creative ideas. This suggestion system should be accessible by every employee in all locations operated by the company even for mail room workers and cleaning staff.
You just never know where your next big idea will come from and you want everyone on all levels to feel a part of your organization and willing and able to contribute to growth and development of their workplace. It should also be user-friendly, thus easy to use and not complicated because of long forms and red tape.
Once this system is in place, there must be a team of employees to meet up monthly and receive these new ideas and if your company is rather large you will need a team for each department. After doing so, they need to come up with a report for upper management regarding the development of the creative ideas with the most potential. If this part of the system isn’t put into place, those making suggestions will give up and not bother with any new future ideas.
Rewards for Creative Ideas
This creativity team should also have the power to give rewards to those employees who come up with the best creative ideas that have the most potential for having a positive impact throughout the company.
Developing a company atmosphere that can endorse creativity in the workplace as a commodity with special value is not as difficult as you might think. Each employee’s computer is definitely an asset, but you must not neglect the fact that so is the brain power of each and everyone of those people whether they use a computer or not. Even though this isn’t something you can put on the balance sheet it’s still your most precious commodity.
The upper management should also give permission to those employees who really want to work on developing new products and ideas a chance to do so instead of limiting this function to a team of hand selected individuals. Employees motivated and excited to be part of something are going to most likely be the ones pushing to do their best and prove themselves worthy. I can’t think of a better way to get ideas flowing and creativity into projects.
Shake Up the System Creatively
Now, if you’re within the upper management, you can’t just sit tight while your employees do the developing. You should also move your employees around to be able to develop better communication patterns which will help avoid having them sleeping on the job or surfing the Internet to pass their time.
This not only helps them come up with new ideas but they also make new friends and business connections which can stir the pot even more and stimulate ideas like never before. This way your employees can also observe their fellow employees from other departments and learn by example on how to be more constructive and more creative.
Another great idea is to arrange for a company retreat so that your employees can talk to one another informally and share bits of information that otherwise might never come up. Interaction and communication are, indeed, important. Creative actions don’t just develop in a vacuum, but rather, they develops because of team work and synergy.
Now let’s take a look at the idea of using rewards to motivate the brainstorming of ideas and to stimulate creativity in the workplace even further. Rewards have been mentioned earlier, but keep in mind that it’s a good idea to have rewards that are other than monetary.
Encourage Synergy as Well as Creativity in the Workplace
The bonus idea is better left for the total team or company effort. For once certain creative ideas beam with success, that is when you can monetarily reward your entire team of employees. Show them that their team effort and synergy paid off for all involved, instead of hindering them in their success by competing against one another.
Encouraging creativity in the workplace is not that difficult. All it takes is open-mindedness and patience. And, of course, those sparks of talent and skill from your employees are necessary for the creativity to flow freely and openly for the benefit of all.