The second building block of a creativity culture

If you saw last week's post, I hope you’ve got some ideas to influence your team's creativity mindset from the tips in there.

Here’s #2 of my 3 building blocks of a creative culture.

Too many leaders think that if they ask people to be more creative, it'll just happen. Or they think that getting a group of people into a meeting room together with a whiteboard is the silver bullet to generate innovative ideas. And they're inevitably disappointed when that doesn't work.

The problem is, that might work for some people, but it doesn't for everyone. Traditional brainstorming sessions can get dominated by those with stronger personalities. Those who prefer not to be the centre of attention will not take part, and the ideas of those people are never captured. And in the virtual world, it's even easier for people to hide.
 

Creating the right forum for ideas to flow

However, there are some really simple yet effective techniques to ensure not only that everyone contributes, but that they also draw off the ideas of each other to push creativity into the foreground. And this applies in face-to-face situations as well as virtual

With a little creative use of some well-known tools, there are all sorts of creative ways we can make that idea space. What about a speed-chatting exercise where you send questions through in advance?

How about using Google Docs to run a walking wall session? Or Miro to do a sticky note session? Or you can jump into virtual with both feet and use something like Mentimeter to get really creative.

There are so many things we can do to create a "safe" space for people to participate in the important task of driving the organisation forward through creativity and innovation.

Come back next week for #3 of my building blocks of a creative environment.

Download my infographic to get more ideas of how to foster creativity in the workplace.