Does your business model require innovation in order to succeed? If so, creativity is one of your most important assets. But creativity is hard to find, hard to encourage, and hard to maintain. And it’s possible that despite your best efforts, your management style is actually making it harder for your team to work in new ways. Below are some signs that you need to rethink you strategy.
You Try to Buy Creativity
The simple fact is that offering people more money doesn’t make them more creative. You can reward people for good work, but you can’t buy ground-breaking ideas. If you use compensation as your primary motivator, you’re not going to get the results you seek.
You Punish Creative Failures
You also can’t scare people into being more creativity. As a boss, you have to assign goals, and when those aren’t met, there needs to be consequences. But instead of being overly punitive, try to use the failure as a learning experience.
You Regularly Micro Manage
Creative thinking and micromanagement have always, and will always, be at odds. The concept of doing things differently is naturally resistant to having every decision scrutinized and criticized. If you don’t give your team some space to experiment on their own, you can’t expect anything new to appear.
You Make Efficiency Your Priority
Operating efficiently is important, but if it’s most important, expect your team’s creativity to suffer. Simply put, being creative is an inefficient process. It takes extra time, depends on failures and setbacks, and uses resources in inefficient ways.
You Limit Internet Access
It’s common for today’s managers to place some kind of filter on internet usage. But who says creative opportunities aren’t born after watching a YouTube video or connecting with colleagues on Facebook? Taking these tools away simply limits your team’s ability to be creative.
You Hold Unnecessary Meetings
Meetings are rarely conducive to the creative process. More often than not, you simply keep your team from working on their project by bringing them into a meeting. Instead of making them a regular occurrence, resist the urge to hold meetings until they are really important and truly impactful.
So, what kind of effect is your management style having on your creative output? Results don’t lie, and if your team has been struggling to innovate, the problem could stem from their leader, you. If you’re ready to turn a page and provide assistance rather than obstacles, find resources to help you get more from your team by working with The Squires Group. Experts in staffing for over 20 years, we have the skilled team of recruiters on hand to help you grow your workforce. Contact us today for more information!
