Cultivate creativity and lateral thinking into your small business. You can’t have one without the other and be successful.
Lateral thinking has always been the underlying force in my life as a small business owner. It’s been the way I’ve solved problems, started new business ventures, and made a living since I was 21 years old. But how do I get my staff to think laterally to help further my small business?
The most difficult business decisions are best solved with creativity and thinking laterally. You have to try and turn a negative into a positive. Or find the opportunity within a crisis and spin it in a way so you come out on top.
For your small business to be successful, you have to get your staff to always think creatively – coming up with business solutions that are unique and different to the conventional.
Here are my tips on how to cultivate creativity in your small business.
Look for creativity when you’re hiring
When hiring new employees, skill and experience is often placed as the top priority. I believe it is more important to look for creativity and cultural fit.
The new employee could be the best at what they do, with the most experience. But if they don’t have that creative streak or don’t fit in, it can have a negative impact on your existing culture and won’t be sustainable in the long term.
Involve employees in your creative process
Most entrepreneurs have an ability to think creatively. the trick is to also bring this skill out in your employees. A good way to do this is to involve them in your creative process.
For me, it’s often quite random, and works like this: I translate my ideas onto a white board and test them out with my team. I then assign different people to go away and develop different components. We then come back and assess how things went, then develop and fine tune things further as we go. I’m never afraid to “throw the baby out with the bathwater” half way through, if somebody suggests something that changes everything.
For me, this process means I get different perspectives and ideas to help my ideas become better, or change my thinking because their idea was better. For my team, it allows them to flex their creativity in a different way while also having input to the direction of the business – either way, it’s a win-win for the business.
Model the business for creativity
If you want your people to be more creative, remove as many barriers as you can. In my business, I’ve eliminated or streamlined as many administrative processes as I can.
For instance, I’m now focusing our business on project management, not time management. In doing so, we’ve created a working environment which gives staff the flexibility to work when and where they’re in the zone.
Cultivate creativity or lateral thinking — these two go hand in hand in running a business. You can’t have one without the other and be successful. The key to furthering the success of your small business is to get your team thinking just as creatively as you do.
Pawl Cubbin, Founder of ZOO Group
