Employee creativity and innovation are essential for the success of any business, particularly in times of economic turmoil. There is a clear connection between employee engagement and innovation. Engaged employees are more creative and more willing to accept innovative ideas from others.
Most CEOs value creativity and employees who are allowed to be creative are more engaged with their current positions. A company’s culture can either foster or stifle innovation. Fortunately, business leaders are able to shape a more creative work environment if they follow a few basic guidelines.
Establishing a creative environment takes more than just turning your employees loose and giving them free reign in the hope they’ll hit on something valuable. As with any other system, the process of creativity requires the proper framework to operate effectively, which also enables management to evaluate the profitability of the results.
Popular approaches to fostering innovation through creativity include:
Maintain an open dialogue between employees and upper management
Dialogue will effectively motivate and engage employees. Always allow employees to present their ideas before important decisions are made. Provide feedback to employees, even when their ideas are not used, so that they know that they are not being dismissed.
Encourage communication between departments: Collaboration between members of different departments often results in creative solutions for problems. Interdepartmental communication facilitates trust and prevents conflict. Departments that do not communicate are more likely to blame each other when problems arise.
Create a stimulating environment. Offices that include stimulating objects such as journals, art, games and other items – some of which may not even be directly related to your business – serve as sources of inspiration. In addition, structuring the work area by removing physical barriers between people will improve communication and promote creative interaction.
Reward efforts through positive psychological reinforcement. Encourage your employees to take risks, rewarding them for creative ideas and not penalizing them when they fail. In doing so, you’ll enable people to more readily take on assignments that stretch their potential (and that of your organization), discussing in advance any foreseeable risks and creating the necessary contingency plan. Encourage employees at all levels to contribute suggestions for improving current business operations.
Foster different points of view through outside perspectives. Innovation can often spring from a review of how your customers view and use your products and services. Soliciting their opinions can provide valuable insight into potential areas for improvement as well as areas where you’re succeeding (essential knowledge for positioning against competitors). Other perspectives might include: vendors, speakers from other industries or consumers using a competitor’s products or services.
