Tips for Fostering Your Team’s Creativity and Innovation - Every Business Owner Needs to Know This!

There are many  hats that you  have to wear as a business owner. Trust me, I get it. We want to thrive within entrepreneurship, but being your own boss can be taxing. 

The good news? You don’t have to take this journey alone. 

The secret of  a successful company lies within the employees. As a business owner, you need your entire team to be tapped into driving your business toward extraordinary goals.  However, if not encouraged properly, some workers end up stunted in their creative growth. This is where the test of your leadership abilities comes through.

As a leader, you must steer the way toward ideas that bring out the best of your company. Motivate yourself and others to think outside of the box.

Below are just a few tips that you can use to  foster creativity and motivation for your team, and yourself.

Believe in Your Business

The first step of any creation is simply a thought. If you, yourself, truly believe in creating a business before it is even up and running, then you are off to a great start. Whether you have a team of 1 person or 1,000 people, the most important thing is that you stand firm in what your business can do. 

It will be you who will set the tone for your company. Stand behind your values, creativity and your company’s product. When the person at the top truly believes in their organization’s deliverables and communicates their vision clearly, then it is easier for this mindset to trickle down to the employees.

Encourage your employees to speak up

A hallmark of a great leader is the ability to be humble and seek varying perspectives outside of your own. This can help you solve and utilize helpful techniques, such as constructive brainstorming to elicit more diverse ideas. Make sure you are holding meetings where employees can feel free to brainstorm ideas and have their input heard within the company.

When people know that they have a voice at their job, it makes them more comfortable to vocalize any concerns or changes that they’d like to see. Encourage your teams to develop a habit of being vocal about any new innovations that they’d like to see within the business. 

Now keep in mind , asking your team to consistently tap into their creative juices may  take time, commitment, and most of all, trust (from all of you). Consider doing trust building exercises with your team at least once a week. If you keep at it, the return on investment is sure to be incredibly long term.

With patience and trust, you all will get there!

Enable Workers to Try New Things

This section ties into the above point of encouraging your employees to have more of a voice within the company.. For one, it’s hard for someone to think outside of the  norm when they do the same things, see the same people and are stuck in the same environments every day all day. 

Consider letting your people spend time in various parts of the business and in numerous job roles. This will allow them to get a better generalized idea of what their fellow coworkers do on a daily basis. Not to mention, this gives teams a glimpse into how the company functions as a whole. 

Also, combining multiple teams together for a few days gives varying influence, strengths and viewpoints toward a project. They may come up with even better innovative ideas when they have diverse, new perspectives to pull from that they otherwise wouldn’t have.

You can take it a step further and bring in outside help whenever you think it will be beneficial. Hire motivational speakers and consultants who are experts in niche areas to aid in your team’s creativity process.

Provide Resources

The appropriate technology can bring your business productivity to new heights.  Software tools like Adobe Acrobat, Illustrator and Photoshop are helpful for teams that strive to create quality products or services. When utilized correctly, technology will quip your customers’ interest and thus lead to sales.

Furthermore, web design programs, digital animation, and  video editing software  add quirky marketing devices for your products and often guarantees more exposure. The more resources you provide, the more you set your company up for success.

Reward Innovation

Give your employees positive reinforcement when they give you their creative ideas. In actuality, You can take it a step further and give your team more than just positive words.

Reward people with gifts or special perks when developing and sharing cool ideas or innovative solutions. Rewards often come in the form of  bonuses, money or even gift cards, but it doesn’t necessarily always have to be financial. 

For example, stock up on helpful USBs, personalized water bottles, trendy notebooks or specialty bottles of fine wine. You can even do monthly rewards for the person who comes up with the cleverest, most innovative ideas each month: an extra day off work, tickets to sporting or local events or free lunches for a week.

Setting up an awards system that acknowledges your employees work within the company sets a light, collaborative  tone and reminds people to see how valued creative thinking is.

So really, the key to fostering creativity within your business is to keep the environment collaborative, open and rewarding. With positive leadership, your team, as well as yourself, will have the motivation to foster a creative and innovative workspace.