Creative Leadership: How to cultivate a culture of creativity

Creative Leadership: How to cultivate a culture of creativity at your workplace

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Photo by Martin Martz on Unsplash 

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Creativity is as its core, innovation. It is a superpower that enables an organization to stay ahead of the curve. Creativity imparts strengths in many dimensions.

  • Supercharges Curiosity - Curiosity is the essence of creativity and it builds the mindset to question status quo, accept situations without judgement and plants the seed for further exploration.
  • Critical Thinking - Creativity opens the mind to new possibilities and ignites non-linear thinking as we observe connections and draw parallels from the world around us and apply these learnings to solving complex problems.
  • Collaboration - Creative freedom encourages employees to contribute freely across departments to get things done,, increasing free flow of ideas, collaboration and the confidence to pursue challenges as a team.
  • Communication - One of the most beautiful by-products of creativity is open communication. The ability to speak freely and let one’s thoughts out without penalties or judgements improves team communication.

Why is Creativity important?


Creativity helps organizations think outside the box. When creativity is fostered at the workplace, it fuels innovation and problem solving at much faster and deeper levels. 


Young companies or start-ups have long been regarded as exemplars of highly creative workplaces, as they manage to create a workplace vibe where ideas are explored and learnings are acquired much faster, off the back of the iterative nature of idea and product development. ‘Fail fast’ is a motto religiously followed in young environments.


In today’s fast changing market landscape, it has become imperative for companies of all sizes to continuously innovate in order to stay relevant. With so many technological advancements such as Generative AI happening at supersonic speed, it can be a challenge to keep up with emerging trends and technologies and, maintaining a clear competitive advantage.


The advent of machine learning and artificial intelligence has changed the way most people interact with technology. Implementing AI at scale is a common requirement recognised by most industry leaders around the word. Creativity is the catalyst when utilised well helps with experimenting and learning from failures swiftly. While AI can automate tasks and provide deeper insights, creativity and intuition are guiding factors that impart purpose and direction to the organisation.


Fostering creativity is easier said than done in traditional workplaces. When an organization has layers of bureaucracy, it can be a deterrent to every day creativity. Over importance given to process standardisation and efficiency contributes to the need for creativity being sidelined. Creative Leadership can make all the difference in your organization’s ability to adapt to the demands of today’s highly competitive market. 


Creative Leadership 


The key to cultivating creative leadership begins with getting intentional with the transformation. As a business unit or organization, it is paramount to first acknowledge the need for transformation. When the need is acknowledged and communicated by top management, it makes it easier for middle management and their teams to rally to the cause.


To cultivate creative leaders and managers, a shift needs to take place on mindset around communication and management ideologies. Here are ten ideas by which leaders could utilise to foster a creative work culture.


  1. Create a safe space: For traditional managers to transform as creative leaders, it is vital that a safe space is cultivated where team members can share their ideas and thoughts freely without fear of ridicule.


  1. Schedule time for regular brainstorming: Making brainstorming sessions routinely sets the expectations with employees to contribute with creative solutions. Multiple rounds of brainstorming sessions with cross-functional teams would help to sift through ideas that can be implemented.


  1. Learning and not efficiency should be the objective: Often management objectives revolve around process efficiency. For creative ideas to thrive, the environment needs to allow room for failures before landing on the big game changing idea. Managers would benefit from gathering learnings though failures so that future breakthroughs happen at an accelerated pace.


  1. Be a role model: Managers must embrace new ideas and work on their own fear of failure so that it encourages more meaningful contributions from the team.


  1. Delegate for empowerment: Leaders should delegate with the confidence that employees are most effective contributors when they are empowered with the freedom to explore their creative ideas. 


  1. Communication: Proactive and clear communication strategies will help team members invoke their passion while staying aligned with the goals and for managers to steer the project to meet business objectives.


  1. Clarity of performance indicators: Setting clear and measurable goals for assessing the impact of creative projects will help traditional managers meet practical requirements while fostering high levels of creativity. 


  1. Encourage diversity: Having a diverse team who bring with them different cultural backgrounds and work experience can lead to varied viewpoints in the team. More perspectives often lead to deeper thinking and questioning which go hand-in-hand with creative solutions.


  1. Managing bureaucracy delicately: Managers role must alternate from being a mentor to navigating the bureaucratic constraints for creative ideas to shine. 


  1. Invest in training and resources: Support creative thinking through trainings and workshops. Brainstorming techniques, and resources help to stimulate creative thinking.


Creativity and Leadership Coaching


Sometimes fostering creativity requires an external spark, a fresh perspective and a good creative leadership coaching just provides that. A good coach can act as a mirror to help reflect on the journey and its purpose. This also enables a critical thinking partnership that can help organization incubate the culture of creativity. A good coaching plan for management teams and employees helps them to visualise their blindspots, push past their fears and limiting beliefs and, cultivate a learning and creative mindset. Working with a good coach helps organizations accelerate true transformation and to nurture creativity at workplace.

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