4 Smart Ways to Improve the Creativity of Your Team
Being in charge of a collective and trying to raise their creativity levels directly influences the output of the entire company. It hardly matters what industry you are involved with. Unless the team you are in charge of is not doing their job optimally, the entire collective will suffer. Bad performance can clearly be seen in the reviews and in the feedback, but it is not always clear how it can be improved. One very underrated tactic is to improve the creativity of the team.
Creativity does not always come naturally nor does it come to everyone in the same quantities or types. Some people are more creative than others. They can easily come up with ideas and strategies to complete a task. But what happens if their creativity runs out or if the project is too challenging to tackle? And what if the entire team is not particularly creative in a way that can help them do their job better? If this type of situation ever occurs, it is time for some creativity improvements across the board. In this article we talk about how you can raise the levels of your team’s creativity in smart ways.
1. Encourage Open Communication
No team can work well together nor bounce ideas off of each other if their communication is poor. Being able to exchange ideas with other members of the team is crucial for the work to be done properly and on time. Without the optimal flow of information nobody will know what the others are currently working on or what and when their turn comes. Even if the entire team is in a single room the communication can be below average. Addressing this as soon as possible is how you encourage everyone to trust each other more and talk about their ideas until one joint creative plan comes to fruition. Voicing ideas and opinions is always welcome and you should encourage the people to do it. Everyone’s opinion is valued and they should speak up whenever they feel like it. Managing communication can be difficult if the team members are not comfortable around each other. For the creativity to have a spark and burn bright, the team members need to be open with each other.
2. Allow Different Ways of Working
As the leader of a team you have to remember that each of your team members is a different individual. Even if they work the same position and have the same responsibilities their approaches and ways of working are probably different. By allowing them to express themselves in whichever way they feel like, you will encourage more creativity among them. We all like to be surrounded with things we find helpful and do things the way that feels the most natural. When there are imposing rules to be followed, it is hard to actually focus on being productive and enjoying what you do. Do not limit your team in terms of how they need to do something. As long as the job is done in its entirety and delivered on time, it does not matter how they did it. Being happier prompts more creativity. If everyone is happy and themselves, the work will be done much sooner. The more working styles you have in the office, the greater variety of different skills and perspectives will be present. All of the talents will come forth and creativity will follow suit.
3. Try Out Concept Maps
Setting out a plan at the beginning stages of a project is a neat way to keep track of everything throughout its completion. Ideas and creativity come naturally, they cannot be forced. If you only give the team one chance to be creative, you will limit your project greatly and it will never be realized to its full potential. Instead, introduce concept maps into the workspace. Having visuals like diagrams to fall back on for additional inspiration is quite helpful. Revisiting the core concepts and highlighting what needs to be done usually spurs new ideas into the mind and the goal is ultimately achieved better, with less obstacles, barriers, and dry spells. Streamlining the entire creativity process is much simpler with concept maps, so be sure to try them out with your next project. You will see how much more creativity there is each and every day as the team members revisit the stages and get a chance to view it from multiple angles. Find out more about concept maps at zenflowchart.com.
4. Hold Brainstorming Sessions
Constantly working and pushing your team is usually counter effective because they do not have any time to rewind, relax, and recharge. Counter productiveness is never good for a company regardless of the industry or the project. As the manager, the people you are in charge of will look up to you and turn to you in need. You have to be approachable but you must also initiate things yourself. By this we mean the introduction of sessions that are more informal where the team knows they are in a safe space meant for open discussion, banter, and most importantly, brainstorming. Brainstorming sessions are basically leisure meetings of teams that work closely together. Since they are usually exposed to tight schedules and a lot of pressure, they never get the chance to work in a less demanding environment. Creativity tends to be blocked when we are too focused and preoccupied. Too much information, too many noises, and too much work are enough to cut the flow of creativity for a while. To counter this, a session free of work is exactly what the team needs every once in a while. Allow them an hour or so to sit together and think about ways to perform a certain task. You do not even need to be there. It can be their own little session that will increase productivity by allowing them to socialize while brainstorming. It will not feel like work because work is completely the opposite of what the team is experiencing. Doing this weekly or even daily will certainly raise the spirits and creativity at the same time.
