Great ideas can improve your business, but studies show that too many professionals don’t feel comfortable sharing their ideas.
Five business leaders explain how to unleash creative thinking, also known as Creative Thinking.
1. Empower people to make intelligent decisions
Neill Smith, head of infrastructure for the Scottish Government, says creative thinking comes from a good internal culture. “There’s often a perception that the higher up you are, the more leader you are – and that’s not true,” he says. Mr Smith believes it is essential to distinguish between the qualities of each staff member. “Everyone is unique,” he says.
“I could ask three people on my team to do the same job, but I would ask each of them in a specific way because everyone is different. Yes, the work is about getting the best results, but success depends on the understanding of the individual.”
Smith tells ZDNET he wants to create a culture that encourages people to learn and make decisions with confidence. “A person does not need to come to us with a lot of experience or certifications. If he has the desire, he will excel in the right cultural environment,” he explains.
“I want people to start saying, ‘I’m going to start my career with them because they’re doing cool stuff. They give us the space to learn and be innovative and creative. And they give us the training to do this kind of work.”
2. Hold regular brainstorming sessions to come up with great ideas
Cathrine Levandowski, operations manager at Quintessentially, a lifestyle management company, says her team has been extremely creative over the past year, thanks to its agile approach to meetings. “We have meetings every day, but we’re not strict about what those meetings mean,” she tells ZDNET. “I think it’s helped us be creative instead of just saying, ‘What did you do yesterday and what are you doing today?’
Rather than focusing on day-to-day operational problems, Ms. Levandowski’s team brainstorms innovative solutions to challenges that might have previously been considered intractable. “We have fairly short daily meetings with the whole team, where we discuss issues raised by users and different stakeholders, and brainstorm ideas.”
Levandowski says this agile approach to meetings also extends beyond IT and operations teams and across the entire company. “We meet with each department every week and listen to their challenges. I think our approach helps us stay creative.”
3. Guide people towards their development goals
Roy Ben David, director of data and analytics at financial company Solaris, believes the best way to unleash creative thinking is to give employees interesting projects as part of their career path. “You have to give people the right challenge and not leave them in the daily routine which can sometimes demotivate them,” he explains to ZDNET.
“You should always offer them a route, so that they can find innovation and get closer to their development goals. You should also strive to understand their starting point, in order to identify potential areas in which they can orient yourself.” Sometimes the stopping points along the way are not what staff expected or wanted, particularly if they are looking to move up the career ladder.
“I happened to see people who wanted to become leaders,” he explains. “In some cases, I had to help them understand that it was best for their careers if they focused on developing their expertise now.” As a result, Ben David believes that the key to long-term success for managers and their staff is being able to focus on creative projects at the right time.
“You have to be interested in people, understand their starting point and think about what they want to do,” he explains. “If you can do this, you can help them better direct their careers.
4. Find ways to encourage a co-creative approach
Cynthia Stoddard, Adobe CIO, explains that managing people to produce creative results involves making sure everyone feels part of the company’s success story. “I always told my group that my style was not to dictate orders from the top down,” she tells ZDNET.
According to Stoddard, creative solutions come from a team of people working together, not from individuals monopolizing the attention. “Innovation is about co-creation, because we all need to participate in the success of the organization,” she says.
“Success isn’t mine, it’s everyone else’s. And my only success as a leader is the success of my people as individuals and how they are able to keep their promises. ” Ms. Stoddard explains that her role is to understand her colleagues and eliminate the obstacles they encounter. “It’s really about connecting with people.
5. Ensure everyone gets the most out of technology
Kavin Mistry, head of digital marketing at TSB Bank, says the key to encouraging creativity is giving professionals access to the right technology. “It’s about removing the shackles of the bottom line and focusing more on delivering to the customer and taking colleagues on the journey of transformation, so they feel like they are shaping it,” explains he told ZDNET.
Mistry explains that TSB’s transformation program includes a people plan, which allows staff to define what the bank’s technology looks like and how those tools are used in the organization. “Gone are the days when IT departments bought technology, implemented it, and then handed it over to their business colleagues who, in turn, subjected it to a whole host of problems that made them uncomfortable and discouraged.”
Creative solutions to business challenges are achieved when as many people as possible have a voice in the use of business technology, Mistry says. “That’s one of the reasons for our success: getting colleagues involved as early as possible. “Because then people become invested in what you’re trying to transform, and they feel empowered to meet customer needs.”
Source: “ZDNet.com”