How innovative leaders can encourage employees to adopt creative thinking behaviors.
You are an innovative leader. You have trained your brain to use a focused thought process to help you think outside of the box. The ability to do this is creative/innovative thinking. It allows you to see problems from different perspectives. It is likely that your creative thinking is what helped you get to your leadership position. While tapping into your own innovative thinking is hard, tapping into the creative minds of your employees can be even more difficult.
Where to begin.
In order to begin encouraging employees to adopt creative thinking behaviors you must understand what holds them back. One research study shows that employees are more likely to engage in creative thinking strategies when they think the behavior will result in a positive outcome. The study also shows that employees are less likely to participate in innovative strategies when they fear others will view them negatively (Lynch, 2018).
Five main factors that influence an employee’s creative thinking (Lynch, 2018):
1. Perceived company support. Does the organization as whole support creative thinkers?
2. Perceived supervisory support. Does the employee’s supervisor support innovators?
3. Innovative or creative thinking was a specific job requirement.
4. Individuals are viewed as innovators. Does the company support individual creative thinkers as well as teams?
5. Dissatisfaction with the company’s performance. Has the company been successful when implementing creative ideas?
Fostering creative thinkers needs to come from all levels within an organization. Employees need to feel supported not only by their co-workers, but also by their supervisors and other company leaders.
Ways to Encourage Innovation.
Now that you know what factors influence employee’s participation in creative thinking, you must create a work environment that encourages an innovative culture.
Here are six steps you can use to support an innovative culture (McCarthy, 2017):
1. Do not burst their bubble. Instead of coming up with reasons why an idea will not work, identify parts of the idea that will.
2. Allow employees time to innovate. Set aside time for employees to solve problems or work outside of their job description.
3. Set realistic expectations. Not every idea will be a winner so make sure employees understand that failure is a part of the path to success.
4. Provide as much autonomy for a project as possible. Employees are highly motivated when they are provided the freedom to do things their own way.
5. Provide training. Innovation can be learned through training in associating, observing, networking, and experimenting.
6. Encourage employees to observe their customers. This step is not applicable to all career fields, but for those it is, it can have a significant impact on creative thinking. It allows employees to witness first hand where service or products are lacking.
Understanding what influences employees to participate in innovative thinking is the first step for tapping into the creative minds of your employees. Using the steps listed above will encourage a culture that supports creative thinking will allow innovation to flourish within your organization.
Nicole Hoffmann 