Creativity is nothing more than the ability to generate original, innovative and useful ideas, often combining elements that seem to have no relation between them.
It is an important trait for the success of many professionals, regardless of their field, including business, arts, science and technology. As such, it is a valuable skill in many situations within companies of all sizes.
After all, creativity enables people to find new solutions to problems and thus develop new products and services. In other words, they come up with innovative ideas to meet a certain need.
It is also a fundamental soft skill for entrepreneurs, since this is a profile that needs to constantly innovate to keep businesses competitive.
Therefore, a creative team can be one of the most valuable assets within an organization, especially nowadays. If you want to understand more about the subject and discover how to promote the development of creativity for your teams, continue reading until the end.
Why it is important to have creative employees
Having creative employees can bring many advantages to a company.
After all, creativity is a soft skill that can be applied in various areas of an organization, from product and service development to problem solving and process improvement.
Besides, we can highlight other aspects that justify why it is important to have creative employees:
They think "outside the box"
Today, competitiveness demands that professionals can find truly innovative solutions, seeing what the majority cannot see. After all, standing out in the market requires not doing more of the same.
Creative employees are able to look at situations from different angles, thinking outside the box to come up with original ideas to solve difficult problems. They can thus help a company overcome obstacles and find new ways to improve its processes and products.
This can be particularly important in some niche markets, differentiating the company from the competition and increasing their market share with high perceived quality in what they offer.
They are more engaged and motivated people
Those who have creative employees can notice that, generally, they are more engaged at work, as they observe their demands, evaluate the scenario and have the opportunity to contribute with new ideas.
However, they need to feel that they have an opening and will be recognised for it. For the company, engaging employees by giving them freedom, encouraging the use of creativity and offering recognition for new ideas is beneficial from several perspectives:
· Increases employees' personal satisfaction;
· Motivates the teams;
· Promotes innovation;
· Contributes to talent retention.
Finally, it is worth noting that creative employees also help the company stay up-to-date, as internal or external processes can always be revisited with a focus on continuous improvement.
4 tips to stimulate the teams' creativity on a daily basis
There are games and training and workshops dedicated to creativity, but it is also possible to encourage it on a daily basis. To do so, managers should pay attention to interactions with their employees and use routine situations to:
1. Encourage curiosity
In any situation that involves problem solving, it is important to encourage the team to seek new information, ideas and experiences. Curiosity can lead to new connections and ideas that break out of the ordinary.
2. Practice observation
Many creative ideas arise from observing things that already exist, giving them a critical eye. Encouraging staff to observe the world around them can, yes, lead to new ideas.
3. Encourage experimentation
The experimentation an help a team to find new ways to solve the company's problems. Even experimenting is one of the actions that are part of Growth Hackingprograms. Moreover, it is positive to encourage the team to take risks, as long as they are properly calculated.
4. Encourage collaboration
Cooperation between employees from different teams will always bring good results, since the exchange of ideas can promote innovative solutions. The mixture of points of view should always be considered.
Fostering collaboration, especially for companies with more than one branch, where communication can become distant and inefficient, is primordial.
When teams cooperate with each other they notice that each employee is important for the results of the business as a whole, and all employees are interconnected in the pursuit of the same goal.
How to develop the creativity of work teams
Contrary to what many people believe, creativity is not a gift or special talent, as it can be stimulated and developed. There are different approaches and techniques that can be used for this and we will highlight a few:
Brainstorming
Although simple and well known, the brainstorming technique remains one of the most effective for generating creative ideas quickly.
This is because the focus is to encourage free, non-judgemental thinking and to stimulate the contribution of ideas from all members of a team. However, the technique can be used in groups or individually.
Brainwriting
This is an idea generation technique in which participants write down their ideas on a specific issue for a few minutes, without speaking.
Some also say that it is more effective than brainstorming because it eliminates many of the pitfalls of traditional brainstorming meetings, because it is more organized and causes less exposure of the people involved.
This technique is so effective that it is used internally in the creative processes of AREA67 games.
Mind maps
Mind maps are a visual way of organizing ideas around a central theme. They allow you to create creative connections between ideas, as well as helping to organize more complex concepts.
While doing this, it is common for creativity to have an important influence, as by observing the connection points new ideas can emerge.
Gamification
Gamification is a technique that uses elements of games to engage people in activities that would not normally be considered fun. When it comes to stimulating creativity, gamification can be a great tool.
A gamified creativity workshop provides an interactive experience by proposing challenges that stimulate creative thinking in a playful and interesting way.
During the workshop, participants are encouraged to think and approach problems in new ways, using gamification as an efficient resource that motivates and inspires the emergence of different and unusual solutions.
Another excellent option is face-to-face games, such as Flow, whose main mission is to improve communication. The game will require participants to be in constant collaboration since a lot of useful information will have to be communicated to other players in order to successfully complete the mission.
In addition, gamification allows customization, making this training model very assertively targeted for each team profile. In this context, customisation brings additional gains:
· Healthy challenges and competitions
Challenges and competitions are a fun way to stimulate creativity through gamification. They can be carried out between individuals or teams, and the goals can vary according to the organization's needs.
· Strategic simulation games
Strategic simulation games allow people to experience different situations and use their imagination to solve problems that can be compared to everyday professional situations.
These games can be used in training sessions, group dynamics, among other activities with an educational purpose.
· Stimulates improvisation actions
Improvisation games are a great way of developing or training employees' ability to deal with unforeseen situations.
In addition, it is positive to encourage people to use their imagination - as well as their speed - to deal with situations that may require more agile decision-making.
Finally, if you've made it this far, you must have realized how worthwhile it is to invest in creativity development for all teams in a company.
To assist in this process, we present AREA67, as we are specialized in gamified training. Our expertise focuses on increasing the performance of teams from different markets, as we are present in Europe, Latin America and North America.
