Your management style should support your employees, remove obstacles that create additional hassle, and stimulate creativity in workers.
Micromanaging is probably the worst thing a manager can do. Creativity requires room for mistakes and the freedom to try many alternative approaches. Allen writes that companies such as Google, 3M, and Apple provide employees a measure of autonomy and time to work on projects unrelated to work, the idea being that free time will result in more ideas.
Supporting employees requires listening to their needs.
Employees require tools and an environment that facilitates creativity. This may be a physical space to collaborate with co-workers or a social media platform on which to post project updates and host real-time chats. Supportive management requires mutual feedback and a desire to provide what employees want, for example, providing flexible working hours or the ability to work remotely.
Obstacles can dramatically inhibit creativity.
Complex levels of bureaucracy in large organizations reduce the ability to be nimble. A manager who is unwilling to find alternative ways to speed up processes is one who will stymie creative efforts. Similarly, innovation and change involve obstacles, effort, and failure; therefore, a manager who wants to stimulate creativity must accept the additional cost of risk.
Stimulating creativity in workers is difficult.
Keeping employees engaged can be a costly and time-consuming endeavor. Richard Florida and Jim Goodnight writing for the Harvard Business Review suggest sending employees to conferences to learn the latest processes and providing them with updated tools.
Most talented people like to work with similarly talented people; therefore, your hiring practices should reflect the type of employee you want to join your creative teams. Use your existing innovators to attract enthusiastic and ambitious new recruits by showcasing your workers and their projects on the company website.
Staffing Service USA knows how to hire creative employees who will be the right fit for your existing team and your organization. Let us help you move your company toward innovation and market leadership. Contact our team of experienced recruiters today for more information!