Workplaces shouldn’t be boring places where people sweat it out day in and day out. With creativity, any office can be turned into a place of artistry. Workplace creativity instantly improves the overall ambience of the office and enhances work satisfaction. However, workplace creativity requires a strong company culture and flexibility to encourage lateral thinking. An inclusive, diverse company is the ideal candidate for spurring creativity in the workforce.

Allowing creativity in the workplace is vital to ensuring an engaged and innovative workforce. It also fosters better teamwork and collaboration within the organisation. Introducing new ideas and ways of doing things encourages worker well-being and boosts employee motivation. Although promoting creativity at work lays a strong foundation for better business success, not many managers or organisations know how to do it. Some people think creativity is limited to the art studios and people with an artistic inclination. Nothing can be far from the truth. Employers and employees alike can find ways to get creative in the workplace.

1) Foster A Diverse and Inclusive Environment

You should aim to nurture a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome and loved. A personal connection can be built through a fun-loving and collaborative environment, where everyone comes together to pursue a common goal. To achieve this, it is essential to break down various organisational barriers and levels.

For instance, your writers should have opportunities to mingle with programmers, and managers should find time to speak to workers at all levels. A cross-pollination of disciplinary roles mixing brings a feeling of oneness and encourages people to think on their feet. It will lead to free-flowing new ideas from one department to the next. Furthermore, including people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds allows incredible growth opportunities.

2) Encourage Unconventional Problem Solving

Another critical step to boosting creativity is encouraging unconventional problem-solving methods. Although every organisation needs some conventional processes, managers and executive staff should never close their minds to new ideas initiated by their workforce. Often, the employees come up with innovative ways of doing business that can revolutionise the entire company. Every worker should be encouraged to contribute when solving problems, and promoting the lateral thinking process encourages unconventional solutions.

An excellent way to boost creativity is not to get stuck up on logic at the beginning of a brainstorming session. Always ask ‘what if?’ to encourage lateral thinking and help employees come up with unique solutions to even the most complex problems. In that sense, your brainstorming sessions should be wholly detached from any logical grounding. The workplace is where you can practice brainstorming without the fear of judgment so that people are free to air ideas that might sound incredulous initially.

3) Provide Flexibility to Get Things Done

Creativity doesn’t follow a fixed pattern or process. Instead, it takes wings when you are flexible. For instance, changing where you sit at work can boost creativity and innovation. Often, all you need is a perspective shift. That’s why just changing your work desk can work wonders for your creative juices. Sometimes, taking your work home can help too, as any place outside the office can unlock your creativity. Don’t tie your employees to their desks and routines by insisting they stick to them rigidly. Instead, allow them to do things their way at a different place and you’ll be surprised at the outcomes. A flexible work policy is key to increased work productivity as it promotes a healthier work-life balance.

4) Establish a Company Culture

Although it is essential to be flexible, your company culture should be the singular shared focus – regardless of the number of people and the resultant micro-cultures. If your employees have reasons to be excited to come to work, you’ve succeeded in creating a great company culture. On the other hand, dysfunctional company cultures can seriously impact employees’ creativity and overall mental health. The best way to boost creativity is simple – give your employees purpose. From that purpose, a culture will bloom.

5) Allow Risk Taking and Experimentation

While creating a company culture, make sure you cultivate a culture that isn’t afraid to take risks. Also, make sure you reward innovative experimentation and creativity. Often employees hesitate to propose new ideas for fear of making mistakes. You must ensure that employees are given support and guidance and that even if they fail in pursuing creation, they are not punished for being brave.

Being open to feedback and suggestions from your workforce or fellow employees is the easiest way to implement this. However, you might have to implement an open-door policy or create an anonymous space for people to share their ideas.

6) Practice Better Emotional Intelligence

Your workplace is a great place for knowledge sharing as there are numerous opportunities to master several skills and gain new knowledge from your peers. Establish an atmosphere where you encourage others to share their expertise with different teams. It would spark newer interest in people and ignite creativity to help them perform their roles in a fulfilling manner. Develop your emotional intelligence and also look to others who display high emotional intelligence for guidance. Emotional intelligence is rated higher than IQ for creativity and better interpersonal relations.

7) Create a Space for Self-reflection and Meditation with Christie Spaces 

You must ensure there is space for employees to practice meditation and self-reflection. Focussing too much on work will lead to people forgetting the bigger picture, which is a block to creativity. Hence it is necessary to step out of the daily grind and spend a few mindful moments every day. Practising self-reflection helps reduce stress and burnout and is an excellent way to make space for better, creative ideas.

Are you looking for a space to get the best of diversification, reorganising, and boosting creativity? If so, you’ve come to the right place. Christie Spaces makes it easy for anyone to search and book their perfect space for self-reflection in all the major cities across Australia with just a few clicks.