How to kick-start creativity and innovation in your team
Creativity allows us to look at the world in new ways and develop ideas that can change it. Innovation makes it happen.
Finding new solutions doesn’t need to be reserved for creative professionals or pioneering entrepreneurs. Creativity and innovation are muscles you can train to bring this type of thinking into your team and every day work.
To develop propositions, build brands and design new products and services, these muscles must be stretched and pushed out of their comfort zone. So, the next time your team faces into the blank page, here’s 10 tips to help everyone create and innovate:
1. Better input = better output
Creativity needs inspiration like plants need water. Research fuels thinking and sparks more curiosity and creativity, so don’t skip it. Encourage your team to search for insights before putting pen to paper - it will help everyone reframe the problem, reveal new ways of looking at a business or brand and acts as a launch pad for creativity.
2. Understand the human truth
…then let it be your guiding light. A human-centered approach unlocks innovation and if we’re to create something that sticks, think audience-first, always. But remember, demographics don’t define your audiences, attitudes do.
Consider how your brand, product or service might make a person’s life better. Think about the opportunity with empathy, in the context of what irritates, motivates and what they value.
Ask why, then ask four more times.
3. Set up subconscious thought
Did you know that 72% of people get their best ideas in the shower because a distracted and relaxed mind solves problems more creatively?(1) If creativity is the art of connecting the ‘dots’, then give your team the space to ‘collect’ them - i.e Tip #1 & Tip #2.
‘Dots’ can be data, mood boards, insights or whatever is inspirational in the context of the challenge; then let the mind wander.
4. Get comfortable with discomfort
Everyone has a creative ‘comfort blanket’. There’s two reasons for this: our brains are wired to work on autopilot and society teaches us that we should avoid giving the wrong answer.
Yet, when it comes to innovation, routine is the mother of all evils.
The best catalyst for discovery is a willingness to embrace the unknown. With the cult of productivity and desire to deliver results, taking a leap of faith seems like a luxury. Take off the comfort blanket, ask your team ‘what if?’, question how you do things and give everyone permission to think outside the box.
“The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.”
— Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future, 1962
5. Don’t fear the fear
Fear grows fast in the early stages of an idea. It’s easier for people to say ‘we can’t’ than ‘we can’, especially if it’s something totally new.
Confidence in the boardroom begins with a confident self, so learn how to manage fear and lean into it. Adopt a growth mindset and encourage teams to embrace fear as an opportunity to learn and move forward.
6. Progress over perfect
Innovation is a journey, not a destination. Don’t wait to start. Whilst perfectionism may seem like a good trait, it will hold you back. Go fast, test, learn and continue to improve.
7. Collaborate
Don’t create in isolation. When teams share ideas and invite different disciplines into the process, the thinking multiplies and ideas can reach new levels. Magic happens in the meeting of minds, so seek out different perspectives and curate working groups that include a variety of skills and experiences. What’s more, collaboration creates a sense of community and a shared sense of purpose around a shared challenge.
8. Think differently
Once you think you have the idea, think again. The first idea is often the least innovative. So take a pause, look in the opposite direction and see if there's a way to zig when everyone is zagging. During design sprints, we use Google Venture’s Crazy 8s exercise to encourage teams to go beyond the obvious. By sketching out an initial idea in 8 different ways, you can quickly stretch your thinking and conceptualise opposing ways to solve the challenge.
9. Kill self-doubt with process
Imposter syndrome suffocates our imagination. At CreateFuture, we rely on a tried and tested design thinking process to build creative confidence and unlock potential. Find the tools that work for you and build a library of go-to methods to rely on when self-doubt shows up to the party.
There are loads of free resources online to unblock teams and unleash big thinking. Untools is a great place to start.
10. Have fun!
Shaping new propositions, scaling teams, building new services and taking new products to market is stressful. But, did you know that your brain is 31% more productive when it's in a happy place? (2)
If you want to go further, build some fun into your day.
These 10 tips will help you and your team(s) get creative and drive innovation that makes a difference. Plenty of ideas will surface so welcome them all - especially the left-field ones. When it feels slightly scary, you know you’re heading in the right direction.
Send me a message on LinkedIn if you’d like to chat some more.
Or if you need a hand bringing creativity & innovation into one of your current projects, drop me a line at laura@createfuture.com.
Sources
Barry, S. and Gregoire, C. (2016). Wired to create: Unravelling the mysteries of the creative mind.
Achor, S. (2011). The Happiness Advantage: Seven principles that fuel success and performance at work.
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