No matter where you are in your career, you have the opportunity to be creative. And that doesn’t just apply to “creative” jobs. Creativity can be found in an 9-5, part-time gig or side job. Even if you aren’t someone who naturally feels creative (hello, it’s me), the opportunity for ingenuity is everywhere. Approaching your work more creatively doesn’t mean sitting down and painting a mural in the office break room. Being able to infuse creativity into your day-to-day tasks is something every organization looks for in ideal employees and business leaders.
You have the opportunity to be creative and help make your organization more innovative or efficient. And if you’re a business owner or entrepreneur? This applies to you tenfold! Creativity isn’t important just for artists and musicians, nor is it a superfluous “add-on” quality that’s nice to have in a workforce. If you want your employees to be a team of fearsome, productive, insightful players for your brand, you need every member to be at his or her creative peak.
Creativity allows for alternative solutions to complex problems. It allows for new ideas to emerge and reshape your assumptions. It helps people improve their workflows and approaches, and most importantly, it inspires people, leading to a happier, more invested team, yourself included.
So how can you approach your work more creatively and encourage others to do the same?
Look for an alternative approach
Recognizing that every product, service and method has the opportunity to be done different and better is crucial for approaching your work more creatively. Think about the evolution of the way we listen to music as an example. It started with vinyl records, then tape cassettes, followed by CDs. Now we can listen to music at the touch of a screen. It’s the same with industrial, office and business processes: each gets replaced by something better. Approach every task with the attitude that the current method is temporary and that your job is to find a better way to do it.
Surround yourself with inspiration
Whether it be in your cubicle or home office, visual inspiration is important. Whenever you see something that captures your attention, put it on display. It can be any source: an ad in a magazine, a beautifully designed menu, or even a well-written email that made you laugh. If you have space on a wall near you, create a spot where you can display everything. Or, if you work an open office where wall space is at a minimum, do it virtually on Pinterest.
Stay on top of what other businesses and industries are doing
A great way to be creative at work is to be aware of what other people are doing. How do other departments streamline processes? What does the approval process look like of other teams? Ask yourself, for instance, “How does Amazon move packages, and can I apply these principles to my process for reviewing documents?” Be observant. Read business publications. Ask your colleagues. Being curious allows you to obtain information and it’s like “Schoolhouse Rock” (and Sir Francis Bacon) said…”Knowledge is power.”
Input parameters that force you to think differently
If you want to try something new and creative, you have to ditch what you already know. Though it may sound counterintuitive, having constraints and parameters actually inspire innovation by forcing you to think dynamically and creatively. As an exercise, start banning things and exploring the implications. Ban words, ban resources, ban your default communication tools, and watch your creativity take off. You might not come up with the new sliced bread, but the point of this exercise is to spark new thoughts on how to do the same old things.
Follow the buddy system
Creativity begets creativity, right? Once you have the bud of an idea, let your colleagues know what you are doing. Novel approaches can pique people’s interest and motivate them to come up with new ideas. When everyone starts thinking differently and is excited to do so, you engender a creative culture. You create a working environment where creativity is encouraged, supported, and expected.
