True essence of creativity in work comes from your own perception of every employee. Every worker or employee has a unique perception of the world and the way things work. It is not about mechanism and clock-work but the reason. When every worker is allowed to work on his own terms and in his own way, you will find creativity and innovation in everyone’s assignments.
It was Bill Gates who said that his best employees were the laziest ones because they always found the easiest way to get the job done. Clearly, he was amazed by how individual behavior could beget about such efficiency, hence we learn from him that creativity in the workplace allows improvements. As a manager, you must not just talk about being creative; you must encourage your workers to be creative. If an organization doesn’t allow room for this in its culture, then it is likely to lose a competitive edge.
Creativity also gives free profits. You require no investment except support to employee and in return they are motivated and willing to offer you their best. So how does one improve creativity in the workplace?
Create A System
Include creativity and self perception into the organization’s culture. If creativity in work and assignments is what you want then there is no better way than to keep it as a core value in your company. Managers allowing employees to give feedback and inputs on company goals really help them understand the work better. Sales reps can develop much better ways to intrigue the customers since they’re the ones dealing with them on a daily basis. What better source is there then?
Education has nothing to do with creativity. It is simply a person’s different approach to the same point of view. All managers have to do is allow their workers to give their input for the assignment, these inputs could help managers point out problems they never even saw coming and the employee that saw it coming probably have a better way dealing with it than others. If all companies approached the problem in the same way, then who has the competitive edge?
Allow Space For Freedom
Instead of giving assignments with restricted guidelines and instructions, inform the employee of the ultimate goal for the assignment and ask them to do whatever it takes to get the job done. You can always supervise the worker to assure they are not going out of line or breaking any rules which hence gives you the authority. You just need to trust the employees that they will deliver. This way the employees feel motivated and recognize that they have authority and power on the work they do.
Encourage Team Work
Sometimes the most productive and creative work comes from team assignments. Most companies in the information technology industry only operate in teams. HP assigns the creation and development of each product to teams from different departments and the team is responsible for the success of the product. The result: every employee from his respective specialized field works with other specialties and brings in valuable and unique knowledge on the floor. The success depends on how well all employees work together and the floor simply brings in new and fresh ideas and perspectives from every angle.
In short, as a manager only you can bring in creativity in the work environment and foster it. The more authoritative you are, the lesser room there is for creativity because only freedom allows creative ideas to surface. Not all ideas are creative or even effective but that is the job of the manager to use his years of experience to properly polish the idea of the employee and eventually train the employee to see the bigger picture.