The Simple Rules That Make Teams More Creative
A lot of people just assume that some teams are naturally creative and others just… aren’t so much. But in reality, creativity has less to do with raw talent, and more to do with the environment people are working in.
The fact is, when a team feels supported and in a good place, they’ll be more energised and ideas are going to come much more easily. On the other hand, when a team feels stressed, rushed, unsure of expectations, and so on, they’ll more likely keep their ideas to themselves, which isn’t helping anyone since workplaces really want more innovation, not less.
With that in mind, keep reading for some simple rules that make teams more creative, and if you need to change things around, you can get started right away.
Table of Contents
Make Space For Thinking, Not Just Doing
Modern teams usually spend their days running (sometimes literally) from one task to the next, and that means there’s not all that much time (or energy) to just sit and think and have some new ideas. What we’re saying is that a team can’t be creative if every minute is always filled up, and what they need are some pauses during the day where their minds can wander a bit and come up with something fresh.
You don’t have to block out hours and hours for brainstorming, but it could be as simple as having shorter meetings, setting time aside for focused thinking, or maybe even giving people one afternoon a month where they’re encouraged to step back and think about improvements for a change.
Encourage Ideas Before You Evaluate Them
Nothing’s going to kill creativity faster than when you jump right into critique mode before anyone’s even had the time to give you their full plan - when people know their ideas are going to be instantly questioned, they’re going to tell you fewer of them. So it’s a better approach to separate ideas from evaluation, meaning you listen quietly first, even if the idea seems impractical or strange, and then, once you’ve got all the information, you take some time to think things through before you come back with your thoughts.
It sounds very simple, but just taking that little bit of extra time really can change everything because people will feel a lot more open about letting you know what they’re thinking. Plus, even if the idea does sound odd at first, it might be that with some time, it could actually work. Either way, you’ll get more ideas and your team will be happier.
Create Environments That Support Expression
The reality is that teams can be a lot more creative when their surroundings help them and make it easier to collaborate or be comfortable enough to think properly. Things like natural light, flexible seating, tools that work properly, screens that connect when you need them to, and so on, are all little environmental things that, when they’re done right, can make people feel much freer, and that means they’re more able to focus on ideas instead of how they feel.
And support can be really helpful here too - businesses that work with professionals like a full service AV design and systems integrator often find it’s easier to collaborate because the tools they’re using are the right ones.
Reward Curiosity, Not Just Outcomes
If a team knows they’ll only get praise when they give results, they’ll only ever focus on getting things right, and that’s actually the opposite of what creativity needs. It’s the teams that are always innovating and trying things out because they’re encouraged to explore ideas, ask questions, and follow unusual paths just to see where they might lead that come up with the best things in the end.
So it’s far better for you as a leader to celebrate curiosity even if it doesn’t actually come to anything or even takes you in the wrong direction, because as long as people know it’s okay to keep trying, that’s exactly what they’ll do, and eventually the best ideas are going to appear.
Make Collaboration Feel Safe
To be creative, you’ve got to be a bit vulnerable, and you’ve got to be comfortable saying you’re not sure about things or admitting when something’s not working. So your team need to know they won’t be dismissed or made to feel silly for making a suggestion that doesn’t pan out - that’s how to make collaboration feel unsafe, so it has to stop if you want the best ideas.
Leaders can help with this by also admitting when they’re not sure about something, or welcoming discussions and disagreement, and, of course, thinking of mistakes as something to learn from rather than a disaster or failure.
Give People Ownership Over Their Work
Creativity really thrives when people actually care, and people actually care when they feel they’re trusted. In fact, teams get a lot more creative when they’ve given some autonomy to make decisions, test things out, and decide how they want to do and deliver their work.
Micromanagement totally smothers creativity because it sends the message that the teams ideas aren’t valued, but when people have ownership, they’re naturally going to look for ways to improve things, and they feel a lot more invested in the outcome, so they’ll want to make sure they do a great job.
Blend Perspectives Instead Of Relying On One Voice
Diverse points of view, whether they come from different backgrounds, job roles, thinking styles, or anything else, can really help teams see solutions they would have missed on their own, and when you think about it, you’ll see creativity doesn’t usually come from just one idea or person anyway - it comes from the discussions that happen between different people when one idea is mentioned.
Teams can make this happen more easily by mixing groups during discussions, changing project leads all the time, or just asking the quieter members of the group to share their thoughts more often, for example. Of course, you don’t want to force people to participate, but it’s good to make sure everyone has their say.
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