Here are four strategies for infusing your organization with greater optimism: Be Aware of Negativity: Take action when you see negativity start to spread: When you notice your people harping on negative situations, help them change their state to break the rumination cycle. Consciously foster positive...
Focusing primarily on short-term goals can hinder long-term motivation because achieving short-term goals without an overarching purpose doesn't result in lasting feelings of fulfillment. When companies focus primarily on short-term goals, itâs usually because they donât have a strong company vision. For them, what has to...
Leadership qualities go beyond simply having followers or giving orders. If you are a leader of a ten-person team and only two of them follow you, you are not leading. Influence is a key marker of a leader. How do you recognize a leader? Itâs not by their prominence....
If youâre like most businesspeople, youâve entered problem-solving meetings excited to devise a solution, but then left feeling like you wasted valuable time. Often, the solution is similar to something already in place or it was brought up early in the meeting. It feels like the...
A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than fear. Herb Kelleher The passing this week of Herb Kelleherâthe man who filled the skies with flying heartsâmade me reflect on compassion and the way we treat ourselves and each other. At the beginning of each...
âThe strength of the team is each member. The strength of each member is the team.â Phil Jackson A healthy workplace boosts morale, lowers turnover, decreases absenteeism, and increases productivity. With the holidays upon us on and the finish line in sight, it is important to...
Google âHow to Say Thank Youâ and youâll get 2.18 billion results. Most are instructional. Itâs surprising that something we learned to do as children has that many search results. Somewhere in between childhood and adulthood, we forgot how to say thank you and, most importantly,...
How often do you daydream or even allow yourself to get bored? It turns out thereâs a lot of value in letting our minds wander. Daniel Goleman calls this âopen awarenessâ and says when our minds wander weâre free to constructively envision our futureâessential for planning and...
Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.George Lois, Damn Good AdviceWhen Leon Battista Alberti declared, âA man can do all things if he will,â he condensed the ideals of the Renaissance into the figure of the Renaissance Manâa person with knowledge of a wide range of subjects. Since then, knowledge has become very specialized and having the breadth of knowledge in the wide range of subjects embraced by Renaissance Men is impossible. The Renaissance man still walks among us, but we now call him groups. A group can have a collective knowledge that far exceeds the knowledge of any individual. Brainstorming, invented by advertising executive Alex Osborn, was designed to maximize effective and creative group problem-solving. Research on brainstorming initially failed to show an increase in the number and quality of ideas when compared to individuals working alone; but in the last two decades, research has revealed that brainstorming can be productive if the procedures guard against impediments that naturally occur like conversation being controlled by a limited number of individuals and shared data being disproportionately represented. When small groups of individuals attempt to collectively arrive at a solution through discussion, great solutions can be uncovered.
Being creative is essential to business: it provides the edge to beat the competition. In an increasingly competitive market, creative thinking is no longer solely the function of departments like advertising and product development; it is now necessary for everyone in the organization.
By following these ten tips derived from our creativity workshop, you will increase your creativity and help your company get ahead.