We are all aware of how difficult creating content can be; adding in writer’s block or uninspired teams and content can be downright impossible.
As a writer, I understand the importance of tedious tasks such as research and outlining, but I also know how mundane these tasks can be.
The issue is how to make these tasks fun while inspiring creativity in your writers.
Is Encouraging Creativity Necessary?
You want to encourage creativity with your content teams to keep your content fresh, and of course, to keep your A-team writers excited about their jobs.
Otherwise, you may end up losing writers.
Creativity is beneficial not just to the writers of your content but also to your content and your audiences.
When the content is fresh and inspiring, you will attract more readers to your site, which again cements brand loyalty.
The most important reason to encourage creativity is the out-of-the-box thinking it encourages. When someone is allowed to be creative, their problem-solving skills are strengthened.
5 Ways to Promote Creativity
“Increasing creativity in the workplace can also boost employees’ drive to develop themselves to their full potential. They gain confidence in their skills and their own unique voice. They are incentivized to learn business-related new skills for their own pleasure and personal satisfaction.” (ChangeBoard.com 2019)
When it comes to being happy in your work, creativity plays a significant part in anyone’s job. When you promote creativity, you also display trust to your employees and release stress.
The writers feel freer to demonstrate their skills and strengths, which benefits the team. This type of work environment increases work production and happiness with your team, encouraging them to want to stay with the company.
Here are some examples of how you can promote creativity and inspire more collaboration among your content teams.
1. Joint Research Projects
Nothing builds camaraderie like joint projects. Researching with a team member cuts the load in half and keeps the task from becoming boring.
A bonus of joint research projects is the oral collaboration that happens with the team.
This type of collaboration promotes creativity and allows the team to bounce ideas off of one another and gain more insight on subject matters a team member may not be very familiar with.
Bonus! Joint research projects are another way to increase the team’s skill set.
2. Brainstorming Sessions
Meetings are something businesses love to use to get a deeper understanding of how things are going, what is going well or wrong, and what needs to be done.
However, meetings can sometimes be stressful or run too long.
Cutting meetings down to more of a creative session where writers do a brain dump or bounce trendy ideas off of one another promotes the creative juices.
“If you can generate more ideas, it becomes more likely that you’ll stumble upon a greater amount of good (and possibly great) ideas.” (Lucidspark.com)
3. Creative Workspaces
We have all heard about the Google offices. There are no traditional cubical setups; there are think stations with creative seating.
We have all heard about Facebook and its long tables with developers sitting in rows to have more of a collaborative workplace.
All of these setups are to promote creativity.
Now, while I am not saying you have to redecorate your entire office, what I am saying is adding a couch, some outdoor seating, or a lounge area in the corner of your offices could help promote more creativity, as well as create a more relaxed environment.
In an article written on Medium.com by Autonomous, “Firstly, harnessing your creativity can help you be more productive at work. Secondly, working in a creative space can help boost your mood and make your workday fly by quickly.” (Medium.com)
*Remember, if you love what you’re doing, it will not feel like work.
4. Work with other Departments
When you collaborate with other departments, you can get a better inside of how these other departments might work.
An added benefit is that your writers are exposed to more creative ways. Perhaps your company has developed a new accounting application.
For your writers to learn more about this application, they need to know a little bit more about the accounting process.
What better way to do this than to work with the accounting department. From there, they not only gain an insider’s view of how this application has helped with their workload or whatever it is designed to do, but it ends up becoming a testimonial for your product.
5. Encourage Teams to Learn New Skills
Technology is changing almost every day and providing your staff with opportunities to learn or develop better skills, your business benefits, and your staff benefits.
Perhaps your marketing team has discovered Tiktok is being used among your demographic, but no one knows how to use this platform.
You could allow the team to learn a bit aboutTiktok and how it works and then let them have the freedom to create content to expand your business.
Educating your team helps get your message out differently and allows the team to continue being creative.
Currently, more people than ever are listening to Podcasts; perhaps this might benefit your team/services. By allowing the team to learn and use this platform, you could reach newer audiences you may never have thought about before.
Encourage Creativity for Fresh Ideas
Now more than ever, creativity in the workplace is an important skill. Why?
Most of our lives and business are automated, which in turn cuts down on process-oriented tasks.
Software development companies with DevOps teams don’t want just a coder; they want a coder with multiple skills. They want someone who can think of new software that fixes problems and allows for creative solutions.
You could say being creative keeps your business relevant in an ever-changing world.
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