Tools to Promote Creative Thinking Among Your Employees

Our role as supervisors is to ensure our team achieves the highest level of success. The single greatest element contributing to this goal is the ability of a team to think creatively. How do you encourage creativity among your subordinates, though? The answer is that you give them the tools and role model creative thinking in your daily interactions with them.

Groups tend to develop memes the longer they exist. This tends to lead to group think, where one member suggests an idea or solution to a problem and the others agree with it. You can eliminate the effects of group think by playing devil's advocate. Show your employees that it is ok to disagree, to point out faulty reasoning and encourage them to do the same amongst themselves. By establishing a pattern of not adopting the first idea put forward, you will encourage members that otherwise wouldn't suggest a course of action to contribute their input.

Use team building exercises to build trust among your employees. Employees will be more inclined to offer original ideas in environments that are built on trust. You could have your team attend a formal seminar on the subject, or encourage activities like pot-luck luncheons. Make sure you attend these events and try to get to know a little bit about each of your employees. Let them see you as approachable and encourage them to bring ideas up with the group.

It is also important to reward originality. The best reward systems are something tangible. Find something that your team would enjoy and give it to them at the completion of a project. It could be a pizza party, or tickets to the movies. Let the reward be an excuse for your employees to let their hair down and step away from work for a short while.

Not every idea will be good. Creative and original thinking involve finding new ways to do things. Sometimes these will simply not be feasible. If you have to reject an idea, explain why. This will let your employees know where they went wrong, and show that you at least listened to them. Being rejected is hard, but if they know why they will be more likely to continue presenting ideas than if you don't explain your reasons.

Autor: Trevor Johnson

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Added: March 1, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/