Effective leadership requires inspiring and motivating people to collaborate toward a shared objective. As leaders, we need a combination of skills, knowledge, and personal attributes to achieve success. Many leaders neglect an essential factor that can enhance their leadership and amplify business outcomes. Creativity! Creativity is a powerful tool that can unlock new solutions, ideas, and perspectives while driving innovation and productivity.
When considering creativity, our minds often go to entrepreneurs, artists, or popular social media influencers. It is common to believe that creativity is something we are born with and is not accessible to everyone. However, research is beginning to reveal that we all possess the ability to be creative, and like any skill, it requires practice.
A recent McKinsey study reported that the upside of creativity can be very rewarding, especially when harnessed with a sense of purpose and actionable data. Building a creative mindset requires setting aside the time for thinking and engaging in curiosity-based inquiry. It also demands an appetite for experimentation, being open to failure, taking risks, and tackling problems in ways that might not be conventional or the norm in your organization.
What are the benefits of tapping into your creativity as a leader?
Fueling innovation and results
Innovation can only happen with creativity. Looking at issues from multiple perspectives and identifying unconventional solutions can help leaders and their teams find unique solutions to complex problems that would have been challenging to solve with traditional methods. Being open to new ways of problem-solving and having the tolerance for making mistakes along the way has been shown to positively impact key performance indicators.
Inspiring engagement and motivation
Leaders who integrate creativity into their management styles create an engaging, challenging, and fun environment for their teams. By allowing employees to be creative, leaders can establish a sense of ownership, purpose, and fulfillment, boosting productivity and motivation.
Fostering personal growth and fulfillment
Creativity allows us to express ourselves in unique ways. When leaders foster creativity within teams, individuals can fulfill their inspired desires, leading to greater fulfillment and happiness. This is critical for the well-being and long-term success of team members.
How can you cultivate your creativity?
If you want to boost your creativity, simply locking yourself in a room with paper and pen may not be enough. To break free from habitual patterns of thinking, experiment with different activities that help generate new thoughts and ideas. Consider things like taking up a new hobby, going for a hike at a park, or taking a class on a topic you know nothing about. The goal is to stretch your mind and ignite new pathways of thinking. Once you have done this, try applying your flexible thinking to solve problems and see where it takes you.
