Encouraging creativity is important.
The prevailing opinion is that creativity in the workplace is a good thing. Most experts will agree on this. However, sometimes it does feel a little impractical. When faced with a huge list of repetitive daily tasks for yourself and your team to accomplish, it can be hard to remember why encouraging creativity is important.
It’s easy to get into the habit of pushing pencils, without really giving any thought to creative expression. The truth of the matter is that all new good ideas come from creative minds, and without good ideas, you will be left behind. You want your company to be able to attract and retain creative people, even if they are not working in a creative capacity all the time.
Top reasons why good leaders encourage creativity.
1. Avoid Employee Burn Out
Allowing people to explore creativity occasionally can go a long way to helping them remain engaged with your company. Anyone can and will get bored with completing the same tasks over and over. However, if they’re allowed to branch out and try something new occasionally, it will dramatically boost their morale. This can be as simple as allowing different people to generate concepts for a project, or follow through on an idea.
Being encouraged to explore creativity can help the people working under you feel valued. This can go along way to boosting team and company loyalty. By allowing people to express their creativity, you can help reinforce their investment in your business.
2. Foster Innovation
Put plainly, new ideas come from creative expression. In a business climate where technologies and trends change so rapidly, being ahead of the curve is a priceless advantage. That one great idea can be the difference between first and second place. Taking this into account, you don’t have the luxury of assuming one person has the ability to generate all your good ideas.
By allowing everyone to get creative occasionally, you open up the field to a larger variety of ideas. While not everyone one of them will pan out, being given the chance to try will encourage creativity in the future. Create the kind of work environment that attracts creative people.
3. Express Individuality
Don’t forget that the character of your company is a reflection of its people. Everyone on your team has a different background with unique experiences. Even people in similar job positions will have gotten there by different means. This will allow them to approach problems differently, and come up with different solutions. Some might succeed where others would fail.
Encouraging team members to play to their individual strengths will improve both their morale and quality of the work they produce. Rather than trying to drive a square peg through a round hole, allow people to find what they’re good at within their job, and then do that. They will be happier and more productive.
4. Increase Productivity
Creativity drives excitement, and excitement drives productivity. Put simply, people will be more enthusiastic about doing creative work. By encouraging creative problem solving, you challenge people in new and exciting ways. This enthusiasm can carry over from idea generation or the creative stages of projects into those repetitively daily tasks that they can’t help be tired of.
If your team members know they will have more opportunities for creativity down the line, they’re less likely to feel stuck in a rut. By encouraging creativity when it’s appropriate, you give your team members a mental pallet cleanser. They can go back to their daily tasks feeling refreshed and enthusiastic and be more productive for it.
