As a leader, what are the most effective ways to activate your team’s creativity? Well! The answer that must top your list is developing a mindset of curiosity and innovative thinking. And, we are pretty sure you also consider our response apt.
The business world is growing in a fast-paced environment fueled by new technologies and changing market trends. Businesses that can consistently come up with new and better ways of doing things are the ones that will thrive. Employers must identify opportunities to foster innovation in their teams to keep up-to-date with the dynamic world. However, the question is: how do you bring about innovative thinking among your people?
To foster creativity and innovation within and across teams, you must create a culture for your workforce to empower them to share their ideas freely. Your role is to let mindsets thrive. To help, we offer insights on cultivating an innovative culture within your organisation.
Must Read: How Can Employee Engagement Benefit the Company?
Cultivating Innovative Culture
#1 Create a supportive and open environment
Create a safe workplace culture for your team that discourages judgment and encourages idea-sharing. If you build an environment that enables employees to share their ideas and suggestions, you ensure your organisation’s long-term success.
#2 Keep things fun
Life is too short to be anything but happy. Likewise, work life is too short to be lived under stress at all times. Therefore, ensure you have a relaxed atmosphere with lots of laughter, a stress-free work schedule, and one that supports creativity.
#3 Keep toxic workers away
No matter how healthy your work environment is, things won’t work as expected if you have a few toxic people. So on that note, it is always better to let go of that toxic set of people. As a result, the rest employees will feel psychologically safe.
#4 Set boundaries
Boundaries create innovative people. While you may assume freedom is a synonym for innovation, boundaries create innovation. So establish boundaries, let your team know that they exist, and train them to be innovative within those boundaries.
#5 Embrace experimentation & risk-taking
Strive to create a collaborative environment that encourages experimentation and risk-taking. Simply put, driving disruption requires a culture that allows employees to learn from failures at work that helps them capitalise on the disruptive potential.
#6 Promote collaboration
Unity is strength!
The phrase applies to the business world, too. Bring together a bunch of smart workers for the generation of new ideas. This way, team building helps employees get introduced to new perspectives and improvise their thinking capacities.
#7 Invest your confidence
The most crucial step towards building an innovative workplace culture is investing trust & confidence in your team. Be a leader that cares about your people’s aspirations & feelings and shows complete confidence in their potential to think and work innovatively.
ALSO READ: Learn how to promote leadership development in your organisation
#8 Challenge your teams
Run a drill where employees switch roles with each other for a day. The exercise might take time to bring results, but it helps deepens relationships and boosts team morale. The onus is on you to devise a balanced strategy before undertaking the exercise.
#9 Recognise & acknowledge
When an employee comes up with a new and innovative idea, make sure you recognise and acknowledge them. It’s essential for you to make your team members feel recognised for their contribution and receive feedback. This will encourage them to continue thinking outside the box.
#10 Foster outside-the-box thinking
Ask your team to come out of their shells and look at other industries to see how they solve problems. In other words, the world around your organisation has a lot to teach, but it is on your team to grasp it at the right time.
Key Takeaway
Fostering innovation is a process— it does not happen overnight. So help your organisation stay ahead of the curve by crafting a winning strategy. Certainly, and shortly, you will be on the road to building a workplace culture that will make your employees feel comfortable and think freely.
About CGP Singapore
We are a team of the most professional recruiters delivering Executive Search, Contracting, Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), and Human Resources Outsourcing services to multi-national and domestic firms. With over 1000k pre-screened mid- to senior-level candidates in our database, we can assist you in finding the right fit for the vacant positions within your organisation.
We have won multiple industry awards and recognitions demonstrating our capabilities, dedication, and efforts to deliver the best recruitment products and services to job seekers, clients and partners.
- 2022 Best Executive Search Firm 2022 (HR Vendors of the Year, Singapore and HK),
- 2022 Most Popular Recruitment Agency (Fast Jobs Employer Awards, Singapore),
- 2020-2022 Best Recruitment Portal (HR Vendors of the Year, Singapore),
- 2020-2022 “Bole” Award of Shanghai Human Resources Service,
- And more.
In 2020, the Ministry of Manpower’s HCP (EA) Programme recognised CGP for our efforts around investing in human capital, adopting fair and progressive workplace practices, and helping employers strengthen their Singaporean core. We are one of the first 5 agencies to receive the MARK Award from the Ministry of Manpower.
If you are looking for talented professionals to help your organisation achieve its goals, contact the experts at Cornerstone Global Partners (CGP) Singapore and access cutting-edge talent.
Be a one-of-a-kind leader for your company and build a forward-thinking team with us.
FAQs
1. How do you encourage innovative thinking in the workplace?
To encourage innovative thinking in the workplace, leaders must become the most exemplary role models for their teams. Secondly, they must create a safe and healthy workplace culture to enable workers to share their ideas freely. Next, team collaboration must bring brilliant minds together that can work collectively to achieve organisational goals. Also, the organisation must recognise and acknowledge the contributors who share their impactful suggestions and ideas.
2. What is the best way to foster innovation?
While there are various ways to foster innovation, the best way is to build an environment that makes its people psychologically safe for idea-sharing. This helps encourage people to come forward and contribute with their ideas without fearing judgment.
