Harnessing Creativity at Work

By Megan Martin

If you feel like you’re in a rut in your current position and spend your days daydreaming about a position where you’re rewarded for your unique ideas and insights, you may be surprised to learn that the majority of American workers feel this way.

According to Shelley Mika’s Gallup Management Journal article “The Four Drivers of Innovation,” while nearly 90% of American workers believe they are creative, less than two thirds believe that they are using their creativity on the job. A third of these would be willing to take a lower-paying job in order to work for an organization that would utilize their creativity. The most engaged employees feel that their position encourages creative ideas, that they have colleagues at work to share these ideas with, and that they are inspired by their colleagues’ creativity.

It’s easy to see how employees’ creativity and ability to innovate can shape a company. As Gallup notes, “if a company keeps offering the same product, a rival can easily race past with a better one. And yet another competitor will blow them both out of the water when it invents something altogether different and better -- something innovative. To remain competitive, companies must consider how to find and keep visionary leaders and how to foster innovation and creativity in their employees.”

Before you abandon your current position, it may be worth considering how you can bring your own creative talents to the workplace.

Believe You’re Creative
Before you can harness your creativity at work, you may need to remind yourself that you have it. If you’ve never been asked to be creative or felt that your unique ideas are valued by your co-workers, you may lack confidence in your creative abilities. But if you believe that you “aren’t a creative person,” it will be hard for you to come up with new and innovative ideas.

Carlin Flora, author of the Psychology Today article “Everyday Creativity,” says: “The first step to increasing your creativity quotient is believing you can. Even if no one has ever assigned the adjective "original" to anything you have ever done, you must acknowledge that you have inventive powers.”

To remind yourself of your creative abilities, start simple, by taking inventory of your life. Survey your home, your workspace, your wardrobe, your hobbies, and even your friends. Think about recipes you’ve engineered, photographs you’ve taken, or how you’ve decorated your home. View the world you’ve created around you through the lens of your own unique choices and ingenuity. Then go deeper: what do you do differently than others at your workplace, or in your life? Think about times when you have successfully solved problems—whether at work, in your relationships, or with your kids. What was your problem-solving process like?

“…the truth is that all sorts of people, possessing various levels of intelligence and natural ability, are capable of engaging in fulfilling creative processes,” says Flora. “Just because you'll never be Brando or Balanchine doesn't mean that you can't harness your idea-generating powers and make your life your own masterpiece.”

As you travel through your days, take note of all of the creative acts you perform. Keep a creativity notebook or a list that you post on your corkboard.

Challenge yourself to surround yourself with creativity. Decorate your office space with inspirational artworks, quotes and the like. Make small changes to your day to open your eyes to the world around you: go somewhere new for lunch, try out a new hair color, or take a dance class.

Embrace Acceptance
Creative people are more open-minded than others and more willing to accept new ideas, even those that challenge the status quo. Simply focusing on acceptance can help open up a new world of creative possibilities.

Start with yourself, by noticing the way you respond to your own ideas. Do you immediately shun a wild idea or think that it won’t work, or do you take the time to embrace its possibilities? If you find that you are resistant to your own ideas, simple brainstorming activities can help tame your internal censor.

Flora notes that “it’s essential to separate idea generation from idea evaluation. Otherwise, you’ll be too quick to dismiss seemingly implausible yet brilliant notions.”

Try writing down your thoughts each day without judging them. Whenever you encounter a problem, irritation, or event that has potential for improvement in your daily life, whether at work or at home, sit down and write about it. Think about why it bothers you and then move on to how you can solve it. If you’re more of a visual learner, draw or sketch on a dry erase board or in a sketchbook. Although the activity may be difficult at first, in time you will be able to express yourself with ease. Try out your ideas: you’ll be surprised how many of them work. The more you learn to accept your own ideas and see them succeed, the more easily they’ll come to you.

If it’s difficult to write in your workplace, go outside or someplace inspirational. According to Tina Sui of Think Simple Now, an organization that focuses on fostering happiness and creativity in the workplace and beyond, “The more relaxed and calm we are internally, the more receptive we are to tap into our flowing creativity... Each of us has different triggers to access our creative energy. I get into the ‘creative zone’ from sitting at my dining table, with a warm cup of chai, and my noise-canceling headphones. Many great thinkers go on long walks to help them solve problems. Experiment and find what works for you.”

Once you’ve improved your ability to accept your own ideas, extend this acceptance to others. When co-workers have new ideas, don’t shoot them down: discuss potential innovations that many workers could collaborate on, or add your own thoughts to the conversation.

Focus on Solutions
Now that you’ve warmed up your idea-generation skills, you can begin honing in on issues that specifically plague your workplace. What problems do you often encounter in your own position? What problems does your organization at large suffer? How might you help solve them?

If you look around, you’ll realize that there are countless problems that are frequently discussed or complained about, but which no one does anything about. Rather than avoiding problems, what if you and your co-workers began to solve them?

“We spend so much mental energy either avoiding or unproductively mulling over problems that the idea of chasing and embracing them seems strange, and yet it is a hallmark of the creative orientation to life,” says Flora.

Open your eyes and ears to your surroundings. In your journal, brainstorm about some of the issues that you hear others raising—whether it’s the messy fridge in the break room or a client with a difficult personality. Use your journal as you have previously: make lists or write about ways you and your co-workers could work together to improve efficiency or even create a less stressful work environment. Involve others in the brainstorming, too—even small issues, once resolved, can truly improve your work environment.

Be Bold
All the ideas in the world are worth nothing unless they are brought out into the open. Share your ideas with others and ask them for feedback. Think Simple recommends: “Build prototypes often, test them out on people, gather feedback, and make incremental changes.”

If you need help executing an idea, invite co-workers who seem open to innovation to assist you.

Once you feel comfortable with a new idea or solution, plan a meeting with your boss. If the idea you’ve come up with is small and you’ve taken the initiative on your own, like a way to handle the break room fridge problem, it may be okay to raise it in everyday conversation, during your morning “hello” to your boss, for example.

Don’t be afraid to put your ideas out there. Many workplaces suffer because managers do not ask for creative input from employees, but by putting in your two cents, you’ll find that your manager may begin to come to you for new ideas, or become more likely to ask employees for input. Whether you send a brief email about your idea, hold a meeting with co-workers before or after hours, or make an announcement during a meeting, it’s important for you to make your ideas known to others.

Accept Failure as Opportunity
Failure comes with taking risks, and we must learn to accept it rather than fear it. The more ideas you have, the more likely you are to fail at some of them, but at the same time, you’re more likely to succeed.

Sui says that fears about extending our ideas from the world must be quieted. “Expect that some ideas will fail in the process of learning. Rather than treating the mistakes as failures, think of them as experiments... Instead of punishing yourself for the failures, accept them, then take your newfound knowledge and put it towards finding the best solution. Live up to your goal of producing the best result, but understand you might hit roadblocks along the way.”

Don’t just sit back and wait for your position to improve—take the reins, harness your creativity and put it to good use.

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