Using your last R1.00 in your business to re-ignite creativity. It could be a game changer.

If you had only R1.00 left in your business ……spend it on teaching yourself and staff the skills to reignite CREATIVITY!

Driving down Grayston Drive in Sandton today, you can’t help but notice all the billboards with such depressing news. The one that stood out for me the most was “Business Confidence at an all-time Low”. Where does that leave us as South Africans, trying our hardest to build our businesses, educate our children, put food on the table and most importantly feel positive about the future? I guess it leaves us with one thing – equipping ourselves with skills that makes us future-proof. One of those skills being the need to Reignite our Creativity!

THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATIVITY

Have you ever heard of a business that had great success without any creative or innovative ideas? The chances that you have are slim to none because creativity is the driving force behind most businesses’ success. Creativity and innovation are often the reason that businesses flourish in today’s world—setting the bar higher for the next ‘big’ idea. Creative thinking leads to the implementation of innovative ideas in the workplace and according the World Economic Forum – Future of Jobs Report – https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs Creativity by 2020 will be in the top 3 skills required by job applicants.

Creative business ideas set companies apart from one another. Without creativity and innovation, every company would follow the same patterns in marketing/promotion, technique, or even the products and services they may be selling.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATIVE PEOPLE IN YOUR BUSINESS

There are a lot of people who believe that they aren’t the ‘creative type.’ Or rather according to Sir Ken Robinson’s famous Tedtalk – Schools have ousted our creativity and for most of us we are left to believe that Creativity is only for “those” people in the Creative industries. But this has never been further from the truth – We are all born Creative Genius but through the years our creativity “dots” get fewer and fewer as we are taught conformity, structure and obedience but the good news is that we can reignite our creativity, we just need to be taught “how”.
A recent survey done by IDEO’s (one of the biggest Design Thinking Agency in the world) CEO, David Kelley, they discovered that most people do not live up to their creative potential. Only 25 percent of those surveyed said they bring their full creative selves to work.

Rather than dwell on that statistic, Kelley posited a challenge to students at Harvard University: “How might we unlock the creative confidence of the other 75 percent?” Business leaders must find a way to convince and teach their employees to bring their entire creative selves to work, he said. Doing so will give business leaders an invaluable resource and a competitive advantage.

“If you could get your team or your company to somehow get near 100 percent of its creative capacity while the rest of the world is still at 25 percent, it wouldn’t even be a fair fight,” Kelley says. “This is why building Creativity – it’s worthy of your time and attention.”

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO IMPLEMENT A CREATIVITY PROGRAMME AND CREATIVE CULTURE IN THE WORKPLACE?

  1. Firstly -you need buy in by management and senior executives. Because if they do not see the need for creativity it will be very difficult to build a culture of creativity and innovation in our organisation.
  2. Enlist the help of institutions that teach the skills of how to Re-ignite creativity. People in these institutions have many years of experience and practice working with organisations.
  3. Intellectually challenge your employees. Match your employees with problem solving experiences that will help them think and approach situations creatively.
  4. Freedom of expression. Employees are most creative when they can choose which work methods they would like to use. If a method or line of work seems to be too difficult, it can suppress creativity.
  5. Create diverse work groups. Diversity allows creative minds to collaborate and solve problems. When in a group, employees can listen to different approaches. Working in diverse groups can help your employees further reach their creative capacity.
  6. Most of a person’s creativity evolves from being in a ‘safe’ place. When an employee feels safe in their environment, they will most likely voice more of their creative business ideas.

By implementing a culture of creativity in your organisation, you open the door for employees from all different departments to come together as a team, increasing engagement and interaction in the workplace. Creativity will always make your employees want to learn more by seeking multiple options, ideas, and solutions for the business. Your business can’t lose with creativity on its side and it would be worth spending your last one rand, teaching people the skills to re-ignite their CREATIVITY.

“Today learning Creativity is as important in education as literacy. “ Sir Ken Robisnon
Goats2Unicorns is the only Creativity Catalyst in Africa that looks to empower people with practical ideas and skills to help them awaken their Creativity muscle To find out more visit our website on wwww.goats2unicorns.com