Purpose
Make you stop for a second and think about the value to encourage creativity within your team.
Give you some practical tips and thought starters to enable you to act.
Introduction
In today’s rapidly changing business world, creativity and innovation have become essential for small businesses to thrive and stay ahead of the competition. Remember as a small business you are far nimbler and more flexible than some larger corporations – play that to your advantage.
I believe that encouraging creativity and innovation within your team is crucial to unlocking new ideas, improving processes, and creating a culture of growth and success.
In this article, we will discuss some practical ways to foster creativity and innovation within your team.
Approach
My approach to this opportunity is to break it down into three chunks. I hope this helps you evaluate where you and your team are right now so you can direct your attention accordingly.
Simply put – don’t expect your team to run before they can walk!
I’ve heard things as a Coach like “my team don’t come up with ideas”, “My team are not proactive”, “I’d like my team to use more initiative” To which I respond OK, let’s consider why that might be? I’ll direct the conversation to talk both about the team members and the team leader – It takes two to tango.
Before you point the finger at others and why they are not doing something, ask yourself: have I done everything to enable this? Sometimes an honest answer might be I’ve done everything I know to do and am open to new ideas and approaches.
So, without further ado here are the three areas:
A) Get the fundamentals right.
B) Create the right Conditions to foster creativity.
C) Invest the time to do it properly.
I’ll elaborate on each of the areas below, to give you a rough guide on elements within each step, so you can encourage creativity and innovation within your team.
Questions and additions are always welcome, this article won’t cover everything!
A) Get the fundamentals right.
An effective team will:
• Have strong Leadership and communications.
• Have a common goal and sense of purpose.
• Know the rules by which the team operate.
• Know who is responsible for what actions by when.
• Have a 100% inclusion and involvement approach.
This enables the team to operate effectively and efficiently together and achieve far more than the sum of the individuals alone.
If you’d score your team highly in all these areas, then it’s likely you’ve the basics in place and move yourself and the team onto the next level. It’s always good to independently check what scores your team members would give to ensure you are aligned. We are all human and have blind spots!
B) The next level - Create the right Conditions to foster creativity.
A high performing team makes the most of the individuals within in and in my mind requires the leader to step up and create the right environment to breed success. This will require a deeper understanding of the individuals on the team and what intrinsically motivates, they will actively support risk taking within the team (not play lip service to it). Remember, people a quick to observe your behaviour and adapt to it – despite what you might say. So, if for example you say all ideas are welcome and you slate the first one that comes forward, what behaviour do you think you’ll encourage?
At this point I’d like to draw your attention to a very useful source of reference you can use to evaluate your team. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is a model by Patrick Lencioni, identifies common obstacles that hinder team effectiveness. For those unfamiliar with the model here’s a quick summary of each dysfunction:
1. Absence of Trust
Trust serves as the foundation of any successful team. When team members are unwilling to be vulnerable and open with one another, it creates an environment of insecurity and undermines collaboration.
2. Fear of Conflict
Conflict, when handled constructively, can lead to better decisions and stronger relationships. However, teams that avoid healthy debate due to a fear of conflict miss out on valuable insights and often settle for suboptimal outcomes.
3. Lack of Commitment
Without active buy-in and commitment from all team members, it becomes challenging to achieve shared goals. When individuals don’t fully commit to decisions, ambiguity and lack of clarity prevail, leading to inefficiency and reduced productivity.
4. Avoidance of Accountability
A culture of low accountability arises when team members hesitate to hold one another responsible for their actions and performance. This lack of accountability results in missed deadlines, subpar work, and a decline in overall team performance.
5. Inattention to Results
The ultimate objective of any team is to achieve meaningful results. However, when individual goals, ego, or departmental priorities overshadow collective goals, the team’s overall success suffers. A focus on personal success rather than team success inhibits collaboration and prevents optimal outcomes.
Addressing these dysfunctions requires open communication, trust-building exercises, encouraging healthy conflict, fostering commitment to decisions, promoting accountability, and fostering a shared focus on achieving team results.
You could evaluate your teams view of where you stand on each of the areas. I suggest you make it positive e.g. On a scale of 1-7 how much trust do you have in the team (1 being very little trust to 7 being complete trust). Again, compare your scores with the teams. This is often best done anonymously or via an independent third party – a role I often take as coach in helping leaders develop themselves and their teams together.
To discover and learn more about each of the five Dysfunctions read Patrick Lencioni’s book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.
Creating the right environment
When I say ‘environment’ there are two key aspects to consider Mental and Physical.
Physical
These are the practical things including the environment people are working in.
Get the basics in place – comfort, warmth, light, enough sleep, not feeling hungry as per Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Whilst many of us take these for granted to create great conditions for creativity it pays to give them even more attention. A creative session over lunch after a busy morning with no lunch provided may not yield the results you want!
Working environment
I’ll spare you lots of detail here, just ask yourself and the team is the environment conducive for the task at hand? If you want new thinking, try a new environment I say.
Inspiration and Stimulation
Surround the team with sources of inspiration, whether it be through exposure to different industries, art, nature, or engaging with thought-provoking content. Stimulating environments can fuel creativity and spark new ideas.
Mental
What’s going on inside peoples’ heads and what each individual needs to enable them to contribute fully. How they feel, their fears, their motivations will all have a bearing and it’s your job as leader to create the conditions to allow people to perform at their best, speak openly without fear of judgement or retribution.
Emotional Environment
Foster a positive and supportive atmosphere where team members feel safe to express their ideas without fear of judgment or criticism. Encourage open-mindedness, respect, and empathy to create a space where everyone feels valued.
Freedom and Autonomy
Provide team members with the autonomy to explore and pursue their ideas. Granting a degree of independence empowers individuals to take ownership of their work, experiment, and think outside the box.
Diversity and Inclusion
Embrace diversity in terms of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences within the team. A diverse group of individuals brings unique insights and sparks creativity by offering different viewpoints and challenging conventional thinking. Remember some individuals will be happy to share ideas on the spot and others might need time to reflect and think. Taking this into account will help your get 100% participation. As a facilitator at group sessions, I’ll often have to encourage some to speak and the opposite!
In her book “Dare to Lead,” Brene Brown writes, “Diversity is not just checking the box. Diversity is inviting people in, and true belonging is when they show up and you can be yourself with them.”
Psychological Safety
Build a culture that encourages risk-taking and experimentation. Psychological safety ensures that team members feel comfortable taking creative risks, sharing unconventional ideas, and learning from failures without the fear of negative consequences. A huge research project by Google a few years back highlighted psychological safety as the number one factor that makes teams successful. Project Aristotle if you want to google it (other search engines are available)
Continuous Learning
Promote a learning culture within the team by encouraging continuous education, skill development, and sharing knowledge. Encourage individuals to explore new concepts, attend workshops or conferences, and engage in cross-functional collaboration.
C) Invest the time to do it properly
So, you’ve a great team with a clear vision, sense of purpose, they all know what to do and have the right physical and mental environment. What else do you need – that depends somewhat on how important creativity and innovation are to your business.
We won’t all need to like Google encourage employees to take time off to be creative. We should however recognise that time for creative thinking can be at odds with getting stuff done. The stuff will almost certainly win if that is how you measure and reward performance!
We do need to invest the right amount of time and resources to give creativity and innovation a fighting chance of being successful (the right amount will be unique to your business). Here are a few points for you to consider:
Resources to enable success
Ensure that team members have access to the necessary resources, such as information, technology, materials, and relevant tools, to support their creative endeavours.
Time and Space
Allow for dedicated time and physical space that encourages focus and creative thinking. Provide opportunities for uninterrupted work, brainstorming sessions, and collaboration without excessive time pressure or distractions.
Facilitate brainstorming and idea-sharing sessions
Regular brainstorming sessions can be an effective way to generate innovative ideas within your team. Set aside dedicated time for idea-sharing and encourage everyone to contribute freely. Emphasize that no idea is too small or too outrageous. Create an atmosphere where diverse ideas are welcomed, and team members build upon each other’s suggestions.
Remember that brainstorming needs follow-up…. Flip charts and post-its stored in a cupboard after a great day won’t cut it!
Join the NoLimits Business Community
Are you a business owner looking to take your business to the next level? Join our innovative community of like-minded professionals and gain access to a wealth of valuable resources, including a community portal to chat with other business owners, ebooks, business development software, and growth events that will transform the way you do business. Best of all, these resources are completely free and will be available to you forever.
But the benefits of joining our NoLimits business community don’t stop there. By becoming part of our community, you’ll have the opportunity to connect with other business owners, share insights and ideas, and build valuable relationships that will help your business thrive. Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity to supercharge your business and join us today!
Responsibility
Assign responsibilities so individuals take ownership and help lead the process and build these into reward and recognition in an appropriate way. Ideas will remain just that if no one is responsible for taking them forward and motivated to.
Reward Risk & encourage failure
Yes, that sounds counterproductive to day-to-day management.
To foster creativity and innovation, it is essential to create a culture where experimentation and risk-taking are encouraged. Accept that some mistakes will be made along the way. Encouraging your team to take calculated risks and experiment with new ideas can help to unlock new opportunities and drive growth. Give parameters to work within of course such as a set budget or amount of time – that you can afford to lose without upsetting your day-to-day business performance.
Celebrate success as well, but perhaps not in a conventional way. Let me explain – rather than celebrate the one event that delivers the idea result, you could celebrate the completion of each experimental stage that gets you closer to the end game. It’s a journey on which part of your role as leader is to keep morale up.
Encourage cross-functional collaboration
Collaboration across different departments or disciplines can foster creativity and innovation. Encourage team members from different areas to collaborate on projects or solve problems together. This interdisciplinary approach brings together diverse skill sets, experiences, and perspectives, resulting in innovative solutions. As a business coach, I have witnessed how cross-functional collaboration can spark creativity and lead to breakthrough ideas that might not have emerged in siloed environments. If you are a small team invite people in – I’ve invited suppliers to sessions and even consumers.
Embrace a coaching leadership style
A coaching leadership style focuses on empowering individuals and facilitating their growth and development. By adopting this approach, you can encourage your team members to tap into their creativity and bring forth innovative ideas.
Lead by example
As a leader, your actions and attitudes can significantly impact your team’s creativity and innovation. Demonstrate a growth mindset by embracing change, taking calculated risks, and being open to new ideas. Show enthusiasm and curiosity when exploring innovative solutions or approaches. By setting an example as an innovative thinker, you inspire your team members to do the same.
Conclusion
In conclusion, fostering creativity and innovation within your team is essential for small businesses to thrive and succeed in today’s competitive landscape. Encouraging an open and inclusive culture, providing opportunities for learning and growth, fostering a culture of experimentation and risk-taking, providing resources and support, and celebrating success and learning from failure are all practical ways to unlock your team’s creativity and innovation potential. As you work to implement these strategies within your organization, remember the wise words of Maya Angelou, who said, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
By incorporating these additional points and exploring the suggested further reading, you can enhance your understanding of how to encourage creativity and innovation within your team and drive your small business towards sustained success.
Action
What specific actions are you going to take to foster greater creativity and innovation with your team?
Perhaps more importantly, where are you going to start?
By James Gentle
Join the NoLimits Business Community
Are you a business owner looking to take your business to the next level? Join our innovative community of like-minded professionals and gain access to a wealth of valuable resources, including a community portal to chat with other business owners, ebooks, business development software, and growth events that will transform the way you do business. Best of all, these resources are completely free and will be available to you forever.
But the benefits of joining our NoLimits business community don’t stop there. By becoming part of our community, you’ll have the opportunity to connect with other business owners, share insights and ideas, and build valuable relationships that will help your business thrive. Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity to supercharge your business and join us today!