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elmer palacio, Philippines
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63 Ways to Stimulate Employee Creativity and Innovativeness
Apart from a #0. Bottom-up approach,
I. In what other ways can an organization stimulate creativity and innovation in its employees?
II. What conditions and strategies are needed to support these approaches?
Thanks for your ideas...
Editor: we'll add numbers to all ideas for reference purposes and we'll remove double ones (as much as possible) to avoid this page becomes too cluttered and complex.
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Dr zahra gheidar
Canada
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#1. Training in Creativity Methods
More than 7 years experience in creativity classes, showed me that in order to maintain and nurture creativity, several issues must be considered. Although elements of creativity are in human nature, they are during life destroyed by training methods.
Creativity can manifest in the conscious and non-conscious. With non-conscience I mean things like children 's creativity or adults when they do something without awareness of related concepts and processes.
One of the most important ways to stimulate creativity and innovation is "training about creativity concepts and methods, because it will open up a new space for discovering creativity.
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Mandy Kendall, Canada
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#2. Appoint a Humble, Central Facilitator
#3. ASK them how THEY believe C and I could be Stimulated
title="Employee creativity" src="images/picture_stimulating_employee_creativity.gif" border="1" width="200" height="200" hspace="3" vspace="3" align="right" border="1">A key prerequisite to the success of stimulating creativity and innovation in employees is to have a central facilitator operating in an enabling environment. The enabling environment is that of communication, clear limits and acceptance of diversity.
Management has to be transparent as to the overall goals and as to the available resources of the company.
The potential innovations are stimulated through the key skilled facilitator humbly asking for employees' help in determining the most appropriate communication processes to stimulate creativity and innovation in employees within the available corporate resources and to achieve the stated goals.
There is a lot more detail to this plan that I have outlined in a few sentences above, However, the approach is tried and tested by myself a number of times. I have successfully implemented a performance management process in companies whereby the process allows for the stimulation of creativity and innovation in the lower levels of employees.
Humility and transparency are critical components for this approach to work.
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Tom Wilson
HR Consultant, United States
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#4. Implement Lateral Thinking
@Mandy Kendall: I agree with your central facilitator. In conjunction with the Points of Light Program, which I have outlined on my profile page, I have proposed a Chief Performance Officer which sounds very similar to your central facilitator. Although this function rests at the top of HR management chain of command, it is a HR DEVELOPMENT function. My experience with HR is summed up in my remarks about Rosabeth Moss Kantor and they are not what you are talking about.
Thanks to Andrew Blaine, I have become enamored with lateral thinking as an element of a community process around creativity such as the Points of Light Program (which was originally conceived to merge a Soviet and US aero-space populations). I have already incorporated in the process. But talk more of your own experience. You are on the right track.
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DANNY SUSIKWANA, Zambia
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#5. Grant Freedom to Employees
#6. Provide Support by Managers
My experience both in business and in teaching shows that creativity is in all humanity and lies inert in most of humanity. In order to bring out that creativity there is need to create suitable conditions. Employees should be allowed to venture into finding solutions to problems without any threat from their supervisors. Creativity thrives when freedom is granted and the fear of failure is removed.
Supervisors should play a supportive role giving impetus to the efforts workers are pursuing to solve corporate problems. Once workers feel and know that they have the freedom and full support of managers and supervisors there will be no limits to their creativity.
Managers should support and celebrate the efforts of their workers and not restrict and micromanage it. Managers and supervisors role is to believe and support the workers. Managers must also be seen by their workers as supportive and inspiring.
Once workers have faith in the goodwill of managers, creativity will be released.
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Herman, South Africa
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#7. Create an Environment of Inquisitiveness
In reading the responses to the question, it seems to me an expensive process of appointing facilitators, and others to come and do the stimulating or to have creativity presented as training while it is, according to me, an inherent natural process for us.
Would it not be better to train line supervisors and managers to create an environment of inquisitiveness (Editor: ~curiosity) in the work of their employees.
This can be done in the workplace and if it is done as part of the everyday monitoring/supervision or normal communication between the supervisor/manager and employee is should be seen as a natural process and I believe that creativity, directly linked to inquisitiveness, will be the result. I have tried it and it works!
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Ceferino Dulay, Jr., Philippines
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#8. Organize Assistance to help Incubation
Throughout my career I have been involved with creativity/innovation when I started out in R&D management and later, in operations/business management and technical services. As Herman mentioned, it starts with creating an environment of inquisitiveness where people are encouraged to make improvements in their own work and other systems in the organization.
For example, problem-solving can be developed as a competency where one finds creative solutions to a problem.
To be able to do this, I make sure that people understand the technical and other perspectives of, say, a process procedure so that when they want to change things, they are always guided. This is where training comes in and some form a an incubator. Where research, development & engineering comes in. Productivity and quality programs come in. And just letting people find a way of making life easier for them in the workplace. Of course, the superiors would like to see how the innovative idea is supposed to work to ensure that there are no unwanted effects on desired short- and long-term end results.
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Md Sufyan
Manager, India
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#9. Train Only Talented People
The best person for the assigned job should be the "mantra".
Creativity is related to think out of the box / lateral thinking, so an open work environment and positive thinking are helpful.
And by t (...)
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pawan jain, India
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#10. Create a Safe, Fearless and Risk Taking Environment
To stimulate employee creativity, provide a fearless, safe and risk taking environment to the employees which will help them to have an independent thought of any issue pertaining to their work. (...)
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Martin
Manager
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#11. Do Away with a Blame Culture
#12. Institute Organisational Learning
#13. Reward System
- First and foremost one should do away with a blame culture and encourage a learning environment. This is only achieved when actions of the organisation are such that employees are encouraged and wi (...)
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Michael Nestor
Management Consultant, United States
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#14. Establish a Culture of Playing and Fun
I agree with so many of the points stated. In the end it is a function of culture. Encourage employees to have fun, to play with ideas, allow for calculated failures.
By the time most employees are i (...)
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