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Creativity in business people is highly underrated. Often the corporate environment takes a toll on the thinking ability of even the best white collar-worker. Faced as they are with routine tasks most of their time, corporate workers go about mechanically doing their work. The power of habit makes them apply their skills mechanically even to tasks that require a bit of creativity. Needless to say, this has an adverse effect both for the employer and the employee. So what’s the way out? Some critics say that creativity is stifled by most business environments. In the name of keeping their employees occupied, managers load them up with repetitive routine work. Let’s explore some of the ways creativity in business can be explored fruitfully by employers and employees: Allow Room for Innovation Businesses try to carry out their operations with order. This means that often employee actions are guided down to the last detail. However, such processes can get stifling for the employee and result in a sense of ennui for them. Practising innovation in the workplace is the best way to spark creativity. Innovation does not mean just thinking outside the box. Each business process should have a set of guidelines specific to it for guiding innovation. New practices coming up from the workforce must be highlighted and encouraged. This leads to a virtuous circle with more employees thinking creatively and applying the effects of innovation to the process or even the organisation as a whole. Leave Time out for Introspection Activity in the workplace is too often measured in the form of giving or letting employee energy outward to a variety of tasks like reports, meetings and presentations. You may see employees feeling exhausted inwardly at the end of the day purely by cerebral labour. Inculcate the practice of introspection among the employees as an optional feature. A little time can be set aside before starting the task for the employee to focus inwardly and visualise some calmness. This can be considered akin to meditation and the beneficial results do become apparent over a period of time. Adequate Time for Task Completion This could be a bit of a no-no with bosses because it is necessary to push the employees towards completing work and they have to face the music if work does not get done. However employees feel harried as they multi-task and rush from routine to routine. Managers can let employees plan their work and ensure they stick to the timelines, so that a last minute burst is avoided. The benefits of adequate time for task completion are that it allows the mind to suggest ways and means of actually improving the output rather than just focusing on the completion part of it. Take Team Meetings Away from the Office By now, we accept routine kills creativity. So breaking routine might just help in recharging your team’s creativity. Hold a meeting in a park or by a poolside and keep it relaxed. Use such occasions to allow freethinking and calmness among the team. A casual atmosphere and relaxed conversation are very conducive to sparking creativity among team members. It also forms bonds of friendship among the members which can reflect in their output in the office. The Creativity Workshop offers creative courses, professional development workshops and seminars for business professionals, teachers, educators, writers, artists, and people from all walks of life.
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