The Importance of Creative Managers for the Growth of Your Company
The business world that we live in is often about being first to offer a new service or product to customers. To be able to do so, you need creative people who can constantly come up with new ideas. The higher management level needs to encourage creativity on a constant basis. Otherwise, it will quickly fade away as everyone takes care of their daily tasks and nothing more. Here is why creativity matters, how to find managers that will bring it over to your company and how to make sure that it doesn’t leave afterwards.
Why Creativity Matters
Innovation is the heart of any company. If it stops beating, you can count the years down before it shuts its doors. Without new products and services, a company can continue its survival until competitors come up with better ideas that will appeal to their customers more. That is when they will decide to switch and buy from this other brand instead. With today’s technology, it makes it even harder to remain without a new concept to offer for very long. In an international business world, the competition is not only stronger, it also grows daily as it pops up unexpectedly online. Since it is impossible to know what will come next in your field, it is important to focus on what your company can offer in terms of innovation. That is why many companies invest in training on how to improve creative thinking skills.
Creativity is not only about the creation of new products and services. It is also a skill that a manager needs to have and use daily. The essence of their work is to find solutions constantly. It is necessary in regards to employees’ queries and complaints or when their tools break down unexpectedly. A manager must be able to find answers rapidly so that no time is wasted, which can be extremely costly. To find these answers, a manager must often get creative. It also applies to strategic decisions. Creative managers in the planning of strategies may have better results than those who simply recreate the same ones year after year. However, some of them may need a superior who can control their creativity, which can sometimes go overboard.
When creativity is encouraged inside a company, it often creates a more dynamic workplace. Employees get tired of repeating the same actions at work every day. Everyone hopes to find a job where they can grow by learning new skills and experiencing different situations on a regular basis. However, in most cases, they end up living the same day over and over again, which reduces their productivity and kills their own creativity. To build a stronger team that will help the company rise, there is nothing better than building a creative environment inside the company.
How to Find Creative Managers
When you hire a new manager, making sure that the person will be creative is a must. One of the best ways to find them is to look for candidates who have a diverse range of experiences and skill sets. This goes against the principle of hiring someone who has a ton of experience in one particular sector, but it is the price to pay for inserting fresh ideas inside your company. Don’t be afraid of backgrounds that include art, design, technology and any other fields that require creative thinking. They will be able to ignite the flame of creativity inside your walls, as long as they do have the necessary experience to complete the tasks that you are hiring them for.
To make sure that they have a creative mind, don’t be afraid to ask candidates to provide examples of how they have solved complex problems before. Better yet, offer them a situation in your company that needs to be solved in a creative way and for which you haven’t found an answer yet. This way, you may hit two birds with one stone. Also leadership skills and the ability to inspire and motivate others are often the sign of creative people. Inspiration rarely comes from individuals who are conservative and sterile. For others to follow, a leader must show signs of creativity and a desire to move forward and tear down any walls that may stand ahead. In other words, all qualities that you want to find in a manager for your firm.
How to Develop the Creativity of Your Managers
Whenever it is possible, training your own managers is better than changing them. If they lack in creativity, there are ways to help them open up their mind, by providing them with learning opportunities. There are many conferences, workshops and training sessions that focus on creativity and innovation. Not only will it help them to be more creative at work, but they will most probably appreciate what it brings to their personal life as well. Creativity often comes with motivation, so it will bring your managers to see the positive side of life in general.
Sometimes, managers are afraid to get creative. They worry that it could affect their job if their superior considers that they took too many risks. Of course, if all of the strategies used by the manager don’t serve the company, creativity is not the issue. But it is important for the direction of a company to encourage openly creativity for their managers. Otherwise, they may remain stuck on past strategies which could send the company towards a slow but steady descent.
Conclusion
Finding and developing creative managers is crucial for businesses, no matter which industry sector they evolve in. Creative managers can drive innovation, inspire their teams and find new solutions to the never-ending challenges of business life. It is proven that encouraging creativity within a company leads to employee engagement and provides a competitive edge in the market. Since investing in creativity can open up new opportunities and help businesses flourish in the long run, it is important for general managers and company owners to place creativity at the heart of their companies.
