Innovation begins with creativity. In today’s ever changing world, it’s essential to not only keep up with technology and innovation, but to also embrace and create it. Companies can jumpstart innovation by building creative work environments so that employees can perceive that creative thoughts and ideas are welcomed and valued. Not sure where to begin? The following five components will help you establish a free flowing atmosphere for your business, and will serve as a key to developing those innovative ideas that will keep you and your stakeholders ahead of the game.
- Challenging work – The more you challenge your employees in their work, the more of a psychological reward they will receive from completing it. As long as you’re challenging others in creating new ideas, you are sure to obtain meaningful results.
- Organizational encouragement – Your company’s top management should be encouraging idea generation as well as openness to discussing these thoughts. The more open to risk an organization is, the more comfortable its employees will be to share their ideas. And who knows, you may even end up with some breakthroughs along the way.
- Work group encouragement – The more diverse the community of workers you surround your employees with – in terms of education, experience and backgrounds—the more likely that group discussions will lead to unique ideas. When fostered by openness, these diverse viewpoints have the potential to present outlets that could have never been generated alone.
- Freedom – Feeling a sense of autonomy/control in daily work encourages employees to take it upon themselves to make meaningful use of their time creating, thinking and inspiring ideas that inspire them.
- Remove obstacles – Things like power struggles and conservative bias can inhibit creativity and lead to unpleasant work environments. Simply put, remove these obstacles or you will find more than just your creativity dwindling.
Now that you know what a creative work environment should consist of, adjust yours accordingly and get to innovating! For more ideas on jumpstarting motivation, read our blog on How To Inspire Employees.
