Every hiring manager in the marketing/advertising space knows (or should know) what an asset their employee’s creativity is to success. You’re in the business of making people care about what you do, what you sell or what you make and without the creativity of your employees, you’re not going to keep up with the competition.
Think of the crazy creative things in our industry within the past 5 years; real-time marketing, creating functional products with ads, whatever it may be, you’ve got to keep nimble and creative. Whether it be in a corporate setting or agency, creativity isn’t always the easiest talent to pull out of people. Here are 5 ways to spark creativity in your team:
1. Support creativity
It might be hard for employees to take risks with their creativity, but risk is where some of the most innovative ideas come from. Let your employees on your marketing and creative team know that you’ll listen to their ideas, no matter how big or small, as long as they believe in it. When an employee does come forward with an idea that’s too big or won’t work, show your appreciation instead of shooting it down. If creativity is low overall, continually voice your support for new ideas.
2. Reward creativity
Let’s say your creative team knocks a project out of the park and impresses you, obviously you’ll be happy but try to reward this creative genius when you see it. It could be a quick team lunch, a few hours of PTO, or simple recognition in front of the company. Don’t leave any excellent work unnoticed.
3. Provide a creative environment
It’s easy to get too serious at work. If you’re in the creative business, you should know more than anyone else how the space you’re in affects your creativity, mood and work ethic. If you’ve got a team of creative designers locked in their cubicles all day, you can’t hope for much! Allow your teams a more fluid environment, flexible working places, off-site opportunities, etc. so they can get their creative juices flowing in their own way.
4. Create conversation
You must create a collaborative environment to spark creative brainstorming and conversation between your employees. Even if it’s a small team, get them together on multiple occasions when working on a project they might be stuck on. It’s easy to get stuck inside your own mind, so create opportunities for your team to bounce creative ideas off of each other.
5. Don’t limit the creativity
In the marketing and creative industry, almost everyone will have some intuition of creativity. This doesn’t just apply to your assigned creative and marketing team! Check with the account team, the directors, the junior project managers–don’t put a limit on where you can conjure up creativity in the workplace. Foster an environment where everyone, no matter what your position, can share their creative ideas and contribute to the work.
Looking for a creative genius to spark up your team? We can help!
