For a business leader, there are all sorts of important considerations to get right when managing a team, and when figuring out the best way to maximize productivity, among other things.
At the same time, though, a major part of the role of any effective business leader is going to be to nurture the right dynamics among members of the team, to ensure that creativity remains high and that the sort of obstacles that arise on an everyday basis are met head-on, and are overcome effectively.
In different contexts, creativity can mean different things. It may mean investigating cell tabs by Avocet Precision Metals when planning a new initiative, or it might mean making a fundamental change to an established product or service, that really streamlines it.
All told, creativity is one of the major drivers of professional success, and it’s one of the things that businesses must strive to maximize.
Here are just a few tips for nurturing creativity as a business leader.
David Allen, creator of the highly popular “Getting Things Done” task and project management method, argues that businesses make some fundamental errors when it comes to trying to boost creativity.
During meetings and brainstorming sessions, he argues, it’s commonplace for business managers – and even lower level employees – to speak down to, or even berate individuals who come up with ideas that aren’t “good.”
According to Allen, however, it’s only possible to arrive at good ideas through first playing around with a lot of bad ideas – and by creating an environment where employees feel insecure about sharing ideas that might not be excellent, you create an environment where creativity and idea generation are themselves stifled.
As a business leader, working to create an open environment for sharing ideas, even bad ones, may be one of the best ways of boosting creativity overall.
Whenever a business leader demonstrates personal accountability, they naturally end up encouraging that same trait among their employees. And when they pass the buck, their employees are encouraged to do that, instead.
Personal accountability – and demonstrating personal accountability – naturally creates a working environment where people get on better, and where everyone remains on the lookout for ways to improve their own performance, rather than just toeing the line.
This, in turn, may contribute to a lot more creativity and insight.
Finding ways to make work “fun” for your employees, wherever possible, isn’t just a matter of keeping everyone happy. It can also end up putting people in a more playful mood and mindset, in the right doses and in the right context, which can then lead to heightened creativity and innovation.
Throughout history, many highly successful individuals have attributed their achievements largely to being able to maintain a “playful spirit” when engaging with the subject in question. Among other things, a playful spirit allows you to experiment and to consider things from different angles much more than a rigid approach does.
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