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5 Practical Tips to Tap Into Employee Creativity for Innovation
“There’s a way to do it better – find it.” — Thomas Edison
Companies today face more than a few challenges when it comes to actively engaging employees while also encouraging them to operate at their best level at all times. But there are things you can do that will help you attract, retain, and inspire employees who are creative, innovative thinkers. Unleashing employees’ ability to offer innovative ideas is a huge advantage for any business to master early and master well. Here are five practical ways you can tap into the creativity of your employees for greater innovation as a company.
1) Encourage outside interests and passions. While you can’t go and stand on the sidelines and cheer on every employee who has a little league baseball team he or she is coaching, you can allow your employees the flexible schedules they need to be there on the sidelines themselves. The same holds true for employees who are in bands, taking art classes, or simply passionate about their vegetable gardens. By encouraging these outside pursuits, you’re giving your employees an outlet for creativity and inspiration that will spill over into the things they do in the office as well — possibly even dreaming up that new market to tap in to or proposing an amazing new growth strategy.
2) Bring people from all departments into brainstorming sessions. You never really know where the next great idea is going to come from. Even if the product being created is in one specific department that doesn’t mean that someone from a completely unrelated department within the company won’t have some unique insight or question that will truly revolutionize the market. You’ll never know if you don’t branch out in your brainstorming activities.
3) Create an open door policy with employees and go out of your way to make them and their ideas feel welcome in your office. The problem with inspiration and innovation is that the truly exceptional ideas don’t always keep banker’s hours. But when the great ideas come along you don’t want to miss out because you weren’t there to hear about it and the employee talked him or herself out of sharing the idea with you by the time you were available to discuss it. Therefore, make sure there is a channel for employees to communicate their ideas 24/7. What’s more important than an open door employee idea policy? Send the message to your employees that you expect them to generate new ideas and that innovation is a part of their job description.
4) Don’t overlook the diamond based on the face that it’s dressed like coal. Some of the best ideas out there are rough around the edges when the tendrils are first working their way into conscious thought. It may take a little time to work out the details and polish it all up, but once you do, the really innovative ideas just sing to anyone who will listen. If you’re only willing to hear fully formed creative ideas, you might never hear anything and you’ll miss out on so much potential for the sake of your business.
5) Offer incentives and rewards for truly innovative ideas. While you might not be able to throw piles of money at employees for their ideas, it’s great for them to be recognized and rewarded for their accomplishments and contributions instead of based solely upon their tenure with the company.
As you can see, there are many different practical things, large and small, you can do that will make a world of difference to the creative atmosphere within your business. It’s best to start making positive changes now so that innovation and creativity are encouraged to flourish and actually thrive in your work place.
