Five Ways to Boost Creative Thinking in the Workplace
Why we need more creative minds in business
I’ve written a few blogs now about the power of bringing creativity into the workplace. But what is the need, and what are the outcomes for businesses when employers open their office doors to creative mindset coaching?
What’s the big deal for workplace wellbeing?
According to a survey completed by employees on future premium skills required to do their job, there is a need for improved critical thinking and creativity, allowing for better results, analysis, better decision-making and communicating change.
23% of UK employees say they plan to switch jobs in the next 12 months, due to:
low levels of autonomy
lack of meaning / purpose
work-life imbalance
"Providing employees with the right culture, resources and incentives will help businesses keep hold of their most in-demand talent." - https://www.pwc.co.uk/press-room
Creativity offers us much more than expression, emotional release and artwork to hang on the wall or fill a notebook with. At some point between childhood and adulthood, we decided creativity was limited to the “artist”, or the child to combat boredom. Think for a moment, when was the last time you were creative?
Perhaps in your job - because you’re paid to. Perhaps this morning when you were deciding what outfit to wear, or what breakfast to make.
Yes, note there are two areas of creativity: one allows us to produce work (visual art, dance, music etc), the other allows us to think differently (problem solving, brainstorming, critical thinking, reflection).
As adults we tend to lean naturally on the latter. We have responsibilities, tasks, projects, and goals to achieve - but do we know when we’re thinking creatively? Are we aware of the types of creative tools we could be using to help us focus, flow, adapt, cope, innovate, and make better decisions?
When you work with both, the expressive form and the mindset work, we unlock a huge amount of untapped potential – on an individual level, which can ripple out to a team level and into the organisation as a whole.
“The businesses that succeed will be the ones who create a culture that embraces and enables transformation.” - Sarah Moore People and Organisation Leader, PwC UK
This need for more creative thinkers in the workplace and more holistic coaching approaches for organisations to engage and help their employees grow with accountability and autonomy, is why we’ve created REFRAME.
REFRAME is a unique employee coaching programme which wellbeing success coach, Lisa de Laroy and I have curated for businesses looking to bring these untapped tools and techniques to their teams.
Our work with companies of all sizes has allowed us to see and deliver the creative impact that coaching and mindset work can do. And here’s five ways we encourage businesses to embrace this too:
Facilitate openness and vulnerability. This could be through a creative exercise to break the mind-body tension, reframe self-talk, invite connection – and strengthening team work, and fluidity of support across workloads.
“Vulnerability is the absolute heartbeat of innovation and creativity. There can be zero innovation without vulnerability.” - Brene Brown
Reduce the speed. This is imperative for productivity and focus. If people are overwhelmed and under pressure, it’s easy to speed up to make the deadline and rattle through the to-do list. Practising transitioning between speeds allows more creative thinking, better communication and decision making and more time to adapt and navigate tasks with a growth mindset.
“Minds are like parachutes, they only function when they're open” - Chris Griffiths
Change it up! Creative thinking requires different environments and stimulation to thrive. If you always meet at the same time, in the same place, with the same people talking, updating in the same format…this could require a kick-start. Variety is the spice of life – and of the workplace. Watching the cogs turn isn’t as fun as turning the energy up on a meeting, or project – especially when in need of an ideas generating session. Take it outside. Set a theme. Play music. Start with something new. Inspire your team – and allow them to inspire you.
Invite play. Make it intentional, weave it through days/weeks (not just on the annual away day) …and watch the ripple effect. Release the endorphins, the dopamine hits and let your team light up with ideas and connect through fun-fulled activities that keeps them thinking. Achievement, Connection and Enjoyment is at the heart of what keeps us motivated. Find games, challenges and creative activities to introduce this through your business for the whole workforce to absorb – we teach lots of these in our REFRAME sessions.
Welcome Failure. Story-tell (we all have plenty of them), leverage the learnings and propel each other forward – this comes full circle back to openness and vulnerability. Failure are the diamonds in the rough that we ignore through shame and guilt and judgement. Reduce that, using creative exercises, and you’ll empower your team. You’ll arm them with the creative processes to adapt and navigate when things go wrong, and to support and solve when problem arise alongside their colleagues.
“They perhaps do not know that every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success” - Napoleon Hill
How our programmes can benefit your staff wellbeing initiatives
We curate a programme of holistic sessions and resources that bring two key focuses together: mind and body. But even better, we show employee how to build their toolkit through coaching and creative practises to engage both the mind and the body in different ways. And guess what, it can be as simple as holding a pen.
This programme uses flexible drop-in sessions for companies to:
boost employees’ mental and physical energy
enhance employees’ productivity and focus
inspire a culture of creative thinking for success
enable adaptable and collaborative mindsets
develop conscious leaders of the future
We deliver this through four key areas:
Group coaching sessions to reframe the way employees feel and think with strategies and tools to reach greater potential.
Creative exercises to help reframe focus, reduce stress and reactivity, increasing critical thinking and better decision making.
Simple movement practices to reframe ability to deal with physical and mental stress, leading to improved energy levels.
Techniques for employees to harness and reframe the mind-body connection for increased productivity and wellbeing.
What impact does this employee wellbeing program have on your team?
Ultimately, it’s with holistic practices that human potential increases along with these either positive benefits (although not limited to these!):
Feeling valued
Opportunity for growth
Improved potential
Improved engagement
Improved wellbeing
Improved relationships
Reduced dissatisfaction
Reduced frustrations
Ready to bring REFRAME into your business wellbeing plan?
Get in touch to discuss your requirements and how we can make the programme work for your company.