Are You Cultivating Creativity in Your Small Business?

Ever hired a new employee and experienced the frustration of them wanting to do things a ‘new’ way? Perhaps you’ve been selling, organizing, or administrating the same way for months (or even years) and now this ‘new’ person wants to try something that they think is ‘better.’

Rather than seeing their idea as a challenge to your leadership, what would happen if you actually cultivated space for their creative vision?

You and I both know that we experience a myriad of problems (otherwise known as ‘opportunities’) throughout our day as small business owners. For every challenge that arises, there’s an opportunity to leverage a new (and creative) solution. Think about your business for a second. How do you respond when…?

A key team member calls in sick.
A long-time customer points out a legitimate problem.
A vendor can’t supply the goods you need.
A weather issue causes a shipment delay.
A competitor opens up across town.

Whatever the issue is…you have an opportunity to respond in a way that involves imagination and originality, don’t you? Frankly, it’s hard to be creative if you (and your team members) are not cultivating creativity on a daily basis. It’s not something that’s easily turned on and off. It’s difficult for your team members to follow policies and procedures and then all of a sudden be expected to solve a problem with a degree of creativity that you’ve never cultivated within them.

Creativity is something that is nourished and maintained by intentionally giving space for it to germinate.

We recently stumbled across this helpful infographic that was originally created for the sake of product development. In reality, these 9 steps can be utilized out of order and for the sake of any creative, problem-solving process.

What would it look like to give yourself (and your team members) space to get creative as you’re dealing with this week’s challenges?

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