Creativity and Innovation
Wondering why your tream isn’t as creative and innovative as you have asked/empowered them to be? Check the attitude in the trenches. Recent brain research shows that change is interpreted as physical pain. Some people have a higher tolerance for change (pain) than others. The problem is, if you are making a lot of changes (as most companies are right now), and if you look at Maslov’s triangle (above), many of your team members may be in the bottom second or thir, worried about their ability to provide for their families and make their mortgage payment. When they are stressed and in pain, they are not likely to be very creative.
Having been a coreographer in “another life”, I can remember having periods of time when I couldn’t develop a new number for my dancers no matter how many hours I stayed at the studio. That was when I was thinking about how to make the payment on the studio, and how to get the tuition from late-paying students’ parents. With that kind of stuff on my mind, I was pretty fruitless as a coreographer. During less stressful times, I would be relaxing, listening to a piece of music, and I would start picturing the steps and combinations in my mind, and couldn’t get them written down fast enough! When it was really pouring out, I would go hours in the studio, in the wee hours, no food, no nothing, because I was lost in my creation.
So, in the midst of change, how to you keep your team as stress free as possible? Look at the triangle again and see where you think most of your team fits right now. Can you add humor somewhere in their day? Can you pay some personal attention to those who may be at risk for disengagement? Can you add fun to the change, so the pain their brain tells them to experience will be as short-lived as possible? Can you show them you care? Can you be the low-stress example? Can you cut a little slack and let them have a period of time to rest and “reset”, instead of working through lunch and never getting away from their computer screen?
They also need to collaborate to turn any ideas into reality, so it’s a great idea to have a fun workshop that helps them build trust and understanding among themselves. For instance, I have a great 4-hour workshop called “Your Attitude is Showing” that helps them learn what motivates their co-workers, and helps increase communication and closeness. More trust and understanding equals more creativity and more ideas for how to increase revenue and gain market share, etc.
Studies have shown that workers, just like high-performance athletes, will perform at their best for 90 minutes and after that come diminishing returns. That’s why athletes are trained with that model. The companies I coach who do the 90 minutes work, then break, are more productive than those who work straight through without a break.
Creativity and innovation are absolutely essential in business, and the more of it that comes from your team, the more ownership they will take to bring the ideas to fruition, thereby more loyalty develops in your company as well.
These are not the only ideas to spur creativity and innovation. I’d like to hear what works for you!
Tags: Creativity, employee morale, innovation, Management, pumping mental iron, revenue increase, workshops
