Encouraging employees to use creativity in daily tasks can transform an office into a place of innovation. The following steps can be helpful in fostering inventiveness and inspiration in the workplace.
1. Balance group work with individualism. Allow employees plenty of time to generate ideas on their own, but supplement the process of individual work with routine group meetings to bring all ideas together. Different perspectives on solving the same problem can often be combined to create a more effective approach.
2. Foster a creative environment. Studies show that negative environments can hinder the creative process. Encouraging positive workplace practices and employee bonding are a simple way to generate an atmosphere in which workers feel comfortable expressing imaginative ideas.
3. Employ lean teams. The larger a group, the more difficult it is to produce strong working relationships between coworkers. By building teams made up of smaller numbers of workers, associates have the opportunity to get to know their colleagues better, which can lead to more idea generation.