Creativity is one of the most required skills in today’s organizations. It is not for nothing that Linkedin, the professional network par excellence, has revealed in different studies that have made it clear that this, and no other, is the interpersonal aptitude most in demand by companies. And the reason is clear: they are looking for those who can find innovative solutions to the problems of a company. Yes, they are looking for those who can think “outside the box”. 

But creativity must go hand in hand with the ability to put it into practice, and that is where innovation comes in. This process, if done properly, can only bring good dividends. All this being so relevant, what are the techniques to foster creativity in a work team? Read on, we will tell you about it below.

What is entrepreneurial creativity? 

When we talk about creativity we think outside the box, finding new ideas and solutions. If a work team uses creativity, it makes use of its ingenuity, skills and previous experiences to create that new idea and thus solve some need of the organization. That team is seeing “something” that none of them had seen before. 

And although creativity can “come on its own”, the truth is that most of the time it must be encouraged. And this is well known by companies that encourage the creativity of their employees, or also called business creativity: understood as the ability to promote and develop creative ideas in their staff. And with this generate new processes (or improve existing ones), develop new products and even services.

What is innovation? 

Creativity is important, but it requires an additional element to make it concrete: innovation. If people’s creativity does its thing in the world of ideas, innovation is in charge of implementing those creative ideas in an organization in an avant-garde way.  In simple terms, business innovation implies putting the result of creativity into practice and, many times, being pioneers in this. In this sense, technology fosters innovation and creativity. It is therefore common to make use of it to achieve these purposes in today’s organizations.

The importance of business creativity

Stimulating creativity not only enriches the people who make up a company and its internal well-being, but also involves creating or renewing products or services offered. For example, a product of a company that required a change can be improved thanks to the application of creativity for its improvement and also to its implementation with innovative tools. The result is a complete improvement, with creative and critical vision and future projection. 

Therefore, these elements are considered an important competitive advantage over their peers, as they provide value and a view that goes beyond what was initially thought.

How can business innovation and creativity be fostered?

It seems obvious that implementing both creativity and innovation in the work teams of a company is very important, especially if you want them to stay in it and even attract new talent, but how can we do it? Here are some techniques that you can adopt to develop these fundamental elements.

Create the right work environment

When we talk about the right climate to stimulate creativity and innovation, we mean having an environment in which everyone feels at ease so that these two skills can come to the fore. For example, it is important to know how to listen to each of the members of a team, that communication is bidirectional and not unidirectional, to encourage dialogue among all, to support ideas and that stress is properly managed (and not generate high levels of stress). If we consider this, the work environment can be transformed into a powerful stimulus for employees (old and newcomers) to carry out their activities in a creative way. 

Stimulates continuous learning

If anything, successful organizations around the world have emphasized the need to provide their employees with the opportunity to improve their skills, talents and abilities, or acquire new ones, and thus grow personally as well as for the company. In other words, they encourage continuous learning. Continuous learning, systematized and permanent over time, has taken the name of learning culture within an organization and aims to learn, innovate and adapt to change constantly. Its application implies better results both in the individual performance of each employee (and affirms the commitment of its collaborators), as well as in the organizational environment. Moreover, the more complete the training of employees, the more competitive, creative and innovative the company will be.

Encourage conversation among peers

A conversation can be the powder to ignite creativity and give way to new ideas. This can take the form of talks with employees or after-work meetings, for example, so that workers can discuss some points in a more relaxed environment than the strict work environment.

But it is not necessary to have special events, you can also provide spontaneous instances that can serve as an excellent opportunity to generate a conversation among colleagues; perhaps just that casual conversation may be the embryo to generate good and new ideas. 

Provide the necessary tools

There are different techniques and tools to stimulate creativity and innovation. Here are some of them:

• Brainstorming. Also called brainstorming, brainstorming is a group technique that seeks to come up with a large number of ideas in a short time. The participating groups should ideally be heterogeneous, i.e., from different areas, specialties, experiences and ages.
• Provocation. This technique was coined by Edward de Bono (precursor of lateral thinking and creativity). It involves choosing any word or phrase that apparently makes no apparent sense with the topic we are addressing, and then relating it to the creative focus. This serves as a starting point to generate original ideas and involves juxtaposing this randomly obtained word or phrase with the creative focus. 
• Attributes. This technique focuses on, above all, being able to improve what already exists. It is based on making a list of the characteristics and attributes of the product or service to be improved. Then, each of these characteristics/attributes is analyzed and how they could be improved. Once this is done, the best ideas are selected. 
• Scamper. More than a single technique, it is a mixture of several, and consists of a list of questions to think of new alternatives. This is done through questions that aim to substitute, combine, adapt, modify, propose other uses, eliminate/minimize and reorder/invert the elements that are part of the focus of the problem. 
• Mental maps. This graphic technique allows the generation of ideas by association and also serves to organize information. It is done with a central problem or challenge, and from there the related topics are born with a clear nodal structure.

Rest areas are provided 

Working without having spaces for rest is not something that would be recommended, under any circumstances. A tired worker not only puts his health at risk, but also does not place himself in a good scenario to foster creativity. 

Having a few minutes of rest a day through, for example, active breaks is a good initiative for workers to make a necessary break in the same working days and serve to recover energy, improve performance and reduce muscle fatigue through different techniques and exercises. Some of them can be conscious breathing exercises; stretching movements of different parts of the body, such as neck, shoulders, arms, hands, waist and legs; massage of the neck, skull, head and ears; visual relaxation exercises; among other possible ideas to relax the body and mind. 

Reward creativity and innovation

If you propose that workers be creative and generate innovation, and this is achieved, it is vital to reward this effort. 

Start by giving continuous feedback so that they feel heard and valued in their proposals. When choosing a reward, it must be meaningful and motivating and make sense to the workers: some may prefer money while others may prefer days off or even a gift. To choose the precise reward, it is necessary to know the company’s employees very well, to hit the nail on the head (for example, you can do a short survey to find out their reward preferences). And beyond concrete rewards such as money, gifts or benefits, do not forget the most important aspect of a reward: that of recognizing the work done by employees.

What steps can leaders take to foster and facilitate creativity and innovation?

For both creativity and innovation to occur, it is necessary to have an adequate leadership that supports, directs and makes these maxims viable. The focus to give life to new concepts must be on the people who give life to the organization, understanding their characteristics and diversities.

Leaders who want to achieve this must exercise creative leadership that guides others toward achieving an outcome in an innovative way. This creative and innovative leadership can be one that promotes team creativity, one that facilitates the realization of the leader’s creative vision, or one that integrates heterogeneous creative ideas. In any case, it is a leadership that enhances the soft skills of workers to create and innovate. 

How can Human Resources help in building a creative and innovative organization?

An organization is a big family where each piece is essential for everything to work. In this sense, the Human Resources manager of a company should have a more strategic than operative role, he/she should be a facilitator who supports the leaders who lead these processes in the teams. And with all this, help to generate a creative and innovative work environment in an organization, which is the ultimate goal. 

As we said at the beginning, creativity is one of the most required skills by most companies. Although organizations look for it in their employees, they must also stimulate and enable it in their workers in an integral way in order to generate innovation, that is, to bring creative ideas to port. 

All this differentiates one company from another, makes employees feel active, updated and, above all, important within the company and want to stay in it. Their ideas matter, are worthwhile, make a difference and add value.

We invite you to follow Kilpatrick’s advice to follow the path of creativity and innovation in a company.