Surely you’ve heard someone refer to his or her “creative juices” before, which is a good way to visualize creativity. Imagine a bucket that contains your “creative juices” floating above your head with direct lines feeding your brain. Every time you tap into your creative juices you poke a hole in the bottom of the bucket draining a portion of your creativity. The more holes the less juice.

The beautiful thing about creative juice is it runs off inspiration, which can be hard to harvest but has an endless supply. Inspiration can come from various outlets and unexpected sources that shift our perspective which becomes the driving force that fuels ideation. Creativity can manifest itself unexpectedly, and to be frank, doesn’t reside immediately in all. When you do have your voila moment an overwhelming feeling of revelation hits you.

Sparking this creativity has become a popular concept in workplace environments. It has grown to include more than just casual Fridays. Ruth Noller’s formula on creativity states creativity [C] is equal to the function [F] times your attitude (hopefully positive) [A] times your Knowledge [K] imagination [I] and evaluation [E].

Getting your team in the right frame of mind is crucial for productivity. More workplace structures are taking the easygoing approach to provide employees with flexible environments and tools they need to be successful. Here is a list of things to consider when sparking creativity in your workplace structure.

Creating a culture of innovation

Brainstorming is a divergent thinking phrase that is described as the process of formulating a bunch of ideas before you start to evaluate them. It’s important to remember to suspend judgement at this point and just build upon ideas. Remember quantity = quality and wild and crazy is encouraged.

CPS (creative problem solving) began in the 1940’s with Alex Osborn’s work, it was developed in the 1950’s with Sid Parnes and blossomed at SUNY, Buffalo State and The Creative Education Foundation. The process contains four stages that include six steps that combine both divergent and convergent thinking. The steps are as followed:

Clarify: Explore Vision, Gather Data, Formulate Challenges)

Ideate: Explore Ideas

Develop: Formulate the Solutions

Implement: Formulate a Plan

Fostering Collaboration

Fostering collaboration starts with building a team that fits your company culture without sacrificing diversity. Critiques and brainstorming can provide fresh perspective to a situation. Interdepartmental collaboration can help take all the moving parts and build cohesion.

Make it happen:

1. Make sure everyone is including during the hiring process
2. Hear everyone out, don’t dismiss someone’s perspective
3. Encourage group ideation and production

Reward Creativity

Reward creativity when credit is due. Everyone likes getting a pat on the back from time to time. Maybe coordinate team outings as a bonus for your staffs hard work. Not that everyone needs it, but positive reassurance gives you a sense of worth and appreciation. Simply telling someone they did a great job goes a long way, you could also create creative ways to show appreciation for hard work such awarding a staff championship belts or anything fun along those lines. Creativity shouldn’t be taken for granted, so when you notice it make sure you nurture it!

Make it happen:

1. Plan team outings and events
2. Quantify productivity and creativity in some way
3. Create competition in a constructive form

Time and Space

Time and space are essential to creativity. Suffocating managing techniques are a sure way to make your employees spite you. Setting aside time for ideation is key to creating a conducive environment that encourages employees to seek innovation. Leverage your staff’s individual talents to keep them engaged and inspired.

Make it happen:

1. Allow your team to work on side projects an hour a day
2. Allow your team to set deadlines that are realistic yet ambitious
3. Set in progress critiques along the way, don’t hover over your team

Keep the Office Bright and Arrange-able

Keep the office bright and arrange-able so your staff isn’t restricted to a drab cubicles. Having desk options and injecting color can liven up the room. Fun additions such as ping-pong tables can make manic Mondays a little more bearable. This article features some of the coolest office spaces around.

Make it happen:

1. Opt for modular furniture
2. Create layouts that promote conversation
3. Provide some sort of fun activity along the lines of Ping-Pong

Saying Good-bye to Formal Dress Codes

Saying good-bye to formal dress codes is strategy that can create a comfortable workplace. Attire is a large part of a person’s identity. Although khakis are ok on occasion allowing your staff to choose what they wear or don’t wear can help keep your workplace casual and friendly. We advocate the barefoot friendly shoe policy.

Make it happen:

1. Permit T-shirts, Jeans, Flip flops, etc.
2. Provide a shoe rack
3. Plan themed days such as Fancy Fridays or Who Am I Wednesdays

At the end of the day you want your staff to love where they work and what they do, implementing a few of these ideas can change your offices vibes for the better. If you have and examples or ideas of how to spark creativity in the workplace leave us a comment below!