actions that

enhance/hinder
creativity and
Innovation
Satyajeet Asthana
Actions that Enhance Creativity:

 Encouraging Diverse Perspectives:

Promoting an inclusive environment where
different viewpoints, backgrounds, and
experiences are valued often leads to a
richer pool of ideas and innovative
solutions.
EXAMPLE
 Encouraging Diverse Perspectives:
Example: A tech company hosts regular
diversity and inclusion workshops where
employees from various backgrounds share
personal stories, encouraging empathy and
understanding. The company actively seeks
diverse voices in decision-making
processes, leading to innovative solutions
that cater to a broader audience.
Actions that Enhance
Creativity:
 Allowing Risk-Taking and
Experimentation: Creating a culture that
tolerates failure and encourages
experimentation without fear of reprisal can
embolden employees to take risks, fostering
creative thinking.
EXAMPLE
 Allowing Risk-Taking and
Experimentation: Example: An advertising
agency allots a percentage of project
budgets specifically for experimental
campaigns. They celebrate both successful
and unsuccessful attempts, valuing the
insights gained from experiments that didn't
yield the expected outcomes. This
encourages teams to push boundaries
creatively.
 others to
Actions that Enhance
Creativity:
 Providing Time for Exploration:
Allocating dedicated time or resources for
employees to explore their own interests or
work on passion projects can stimulate
creativity by allowing for curiosity-driven
exploration.
EXAMPLE
 Providing Time for Exploration:
Example: A software company implements a
"20% time" policy, allowing employees to
spend one day a week working on personal
projects or exploring new ideas unrelated to
their core responsibilities. This policy led to
the development of new features and
innovative solutions that positively
impacted the company's products.
Actions that Enhance
Creativity:
 Supporting Collaborative Spaces and
Teams: Building collaborative workspaces
and fostering teamwork across different
departments or disciplines can generate
diverse ideas and cross-pollination of
innovative thinking.
EXAMPLE
 Supporting Collaborative Spaces and
Teams: Example: An architecture firm
designs its office space to include open
collaboration areas with movable furniture.
They organize cross-departmental
brainstorming sessions and encourage
architects, designers, and engineers to work
together. This setup fosters a mix of ideas
and perspectives, resulting in more
innovative designs.
Actions that Enhance
Creativity:
 Recognizing and Rewarding Creativity:
Acknowledging and rewarding innovative
ideas or solutions, whether through
incentives, recognition programs, or
promotions, incentivizes employees to
continue thinking creatively.
EXAMPLE
 Recognizing and Rewarding Creativity:
Example: A pharmaceutical company
implements an innovation award program
that recognizes employees who propose
groundbreaking ideas or improvements in
drug development processes. Winners
receive financial rewards, public
acknowledgment, and opportunities to lead
projects, motivating
Actions that Hinder Creativity:

 Micromanagement and Strict Control:

Overly controlling work environments or
micromanaging employees stifles creativity
by limiting autonomy and discouraging risk-
taking or unconventional thinking.
EXAMPLE
 Micromanagement and Strict Control:
Example: A publishing house has a strict
editorial process where every decision
needs approval from multiple supervisors.
Editors are not allowed to deviate from
predefined formats or styles, limiting their
ability to experiment with new storytelling
methods or unconventional narratives.
Actions that Hinder Creativity:

 Fear of Failure and Punitive

Atmosphere: Punishing failure or mistakes
rather than viewing them as learning
opportunities can create a culture of fear,
inhibiting employees from exploring
creative solutions.
EXAMPLE
 Fear of Failure and Punitive
Atmosphere: Example: A marketing firm
penalizes employees for unsuccessful
campaigns, leading to a culture where
employees avoid taking risks or suggesting
innovative ideas. This fear of failure results
in repetitive, safe strategies instead of
daring, creative approaches.
Actions that Hinder Creativity:

 Lack of Diversity and Inclusion:

Homogeneous teams or environments
lacking diversity can lead to groupthink and
limit the range of perspectives, hindering
the generation of innovative ideas.
EXAMPLE
 Lack of Diversity and Inclusion:
Example: A fashion company predominantly
hires designers from a similar cultural
background. This lack of diversity in
perspectives results in collections that may
not resonate with a broader audience,
limiting the brand's innovative potential.
Actions that Hinder Creativity:

 Excessive Workload and Time

Pressure: Constantly high workloads and
tight deadlines leave little room for
exploration or creative thinking, leading to a
focus on quick, conventional solutions
rather than innovative ones.
EXAMPLE
 Excessive Workload and Time
Pressure: Example: A software
development company consistently sets
tight deadlines and assigns heavy
workloads to its teams. Developers focus
solely on meeting deadlines, leaving little
time for exploration or experimentation with
new coding techniques or innovative
solutions.
Actions that Hinder Creativity:

 Rigid Hierarchies and Bureaucracy:

Organizational structures that are highly
hierarchical or bureaucratic can stifle
creativity by imposing rigid processes that
may hinder the flow of innovative ideas or
slow down decision-making.
EXAMPLE
 Rigid Hierarchies and Bureaucracy:
Example: A government agency follows a
bureaucratic process for every decision,
requiring multiple layers of approval for
even minor changes. This slows down
innovation as ideas must navigate through
numerous hierarchical levels, often losing
their creativity in the process.