What do you do if your team members are making creative contributions?

Encouraging creative contributions from team members is the key to success for any business leader. If your team is already making creative contributions you have already won half the battle. You need to ensure that they keep doing it to win the other half. Some creative thoughts might be unviable, never critique them in public. Even when doing it in one on one with the individual contributor, give it time and don't do it immediately!

My experience as a military leader tells me that complacency kills, and my executive leadership experiences tells me evolve or get left behind. It is the creative ideas that gives us competitive advantage, and allows and organization to not only survive, but to thrive. Immediate and public acknowledgment is a paramount, and ideally a financial incentive to encourage others to follow suite. Reinforce success!Finding and encouraging out-of-the-box thinking and problem solving through creativity is the path to reaching and exceeding individual and organizational potential.

When team members make creative contributions, I actively encourage and foster an environment where ideas are welcomed and valued. For instance, during a recent project meeting, a team member suggested a unique approach to streamline our client communication process. I recognized their contribution by implementing their idea, resulting in improved efficiency and client satisfaction. Ultimately, I believe in nurturing a collaborative culture that celebrates innovation and empowers every team member to contribute their creative insights.

Acknowledging the effort is an absolute must. It's even better if the acknowledgment is in the presence of the rest of the team. This reinforces the value and importance to them, the team, and the organization. It's an added benefit if it inspires the other team members to contribute similarly.

When a team member tosses out a brilliant, original idea, it's like a spark that can set the whole team on fire- in a good way, of course. Make sure to give them a shout-out. It could be as simple as a nod during a meeting, a glowing email broadcast, or just a quick, "Hey, that was genius," as you pass their desk. Ken Blanchard, a bigwig in the world of team leadership, tells us to "Catch people doing something right." It's about giving a round of applause for those brainy moments. It sends a vibe that everyone's ideas are not just heard, but they're treasured. That’s the stuff that keeps the creative juices flowing and everyone pumped to pitch in.

Evaluate Ideas: Once you've appreciated the creative contributions, it's time to assess them. Consider if they match the team's goals and if they're feasible given our resources and time. It's vital to review each idea without favoritism and offer helpful feedback. Guide your team on refining their ideas to better fit our objectives. One thing I've found helpful: In my experience, it's valuable to encourage open feedback. When assessing ideas, providing honest input helps improve them. This approach nurtures a culture of progress and enables each team member to give their utmost effort.

If a team member is making a creative contribution, acknowledge and encourage their input. Offer positive feedback and consider integrating their ideas into the project. Collaboration often leads to richer and more innovative outcomes.

There are no stupid ideas. There are ideas that are not right for a particular time or context. There are ideas that are not well presented. But there are no stupid ideas. With this in mind, evaluate the idea on its own merits and context. Storyboard the concept so that the workings of the idea can be "seen". This helps to create alignment among the team and a solid understanding of the idea. To add robustness to the evaluation process, techniques like 6 thinking hats, 2x2 matrix, dot-voting can be applied to it.

Celebrate their contributions and acknowledge their achievements that make the team stronger! In short, make them feel seen and appreciated!

This evaluation process involves assessing the potential impact of each idea, weighing the associated risks, and considering any practical limitations. By conducting a thorough evaluation, you can prioritize the most promising ideas and develop actionable plans for implementation while ensuring alignment with the team's overall goals.

Encouraging open communication, brainstorming sessions, and cross-functional collaboration allows team members to leverage their diverse perspectives and expertise. This collaborative approach not only generates a wide range of ideas but also promotes collective ownership of projects, leading to more innovative and effective solutions.

Encourage collaboration brings the best ideas to the table, and also reinforce motivation to do your best. This is the way to work together to achieve the goals.

Encouraging collaboration among team members is a powerful way to enhance creativity. When individuals with diverse skills and perspectives come together, they can build on each other's ideas, leading to more refined and innovative solutions. Facilitate an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and know more about the streaming ideas and share knowledge.

Durante todo tempo a frente da gestão de operações, tenho atuado criando oportunidades de crescimento a profissionais internos antes de ir a "prateleira do mercado" buscar por um novo profissional. Este raciocínio se completa quando ao mesmo tempo, encorajamos membros de nossa equipe a pensarem e trazerem soluções para os problemas que surgem dentro dos processos ao qual conduzem. Necessário que novas ideias, quando apresentadas, passem por avaliação de sua necessidade e/ou efetividade, para que o foco e diretriz principal do projeto não sejam perdidos ou desviados. A "liberdade de pensamento" e a criação de ambiente favorável a "escuta ativa" devem ser considerados como agente motivador e de desenvolvimento dos membros de uma equipe.

If someone is passionate about an idea - embrace it. Empower them to explore their passion and support their goal. Help them dedicate time to explore their idea and genuinely invest in understanding their reason “why.” Providing resources does not have to be funding or people - it can simply be listening, talking, supporting and guiding. Creativity, curiosity and passion are human nature - helping someone realize an idea may not always end in tangible value - but the ROI on the journey can return endless value in the future.

As a team manager, provide essential resources for turning ideas into reality. Allocate time for idea development, offer skill-expanding training, and invest in necessary tools. Show willingness to invest in creativity, empowering the team and demonstrating commitment to innovation.

Many great creative ideas often fail to become reality due to the unavailability of resources within the organization. Over time, the creativity of the team diminishes as they cannot see any progress. Thus, providing relevant resources to creative employees is very important.

Any good Idea is dead unless and until it is implemented... Hence after innovation or ideation as a leader it your responsibility to provide all resources possible to materialize the idea on the ground. If it is not done on time then it holds back others to come up with new ideas as they think it that it is waste of time as no resources or empowerment is provided. Every successful implementation of ideas is a next seeding for more better to come and thus a continual improvement goes on...

Leaders should always create boundaries where necessary. Members cannot be forced to work. Whenever we can give flexible time it is useful and solve it in a good way.

One should never forget the code of ethics while innovating and creating their ideas 💡 into reality. The code of conduct will ensure that the organization aligns the freedom to think outside the box 📦.

Could not agree more. There is something about establishing clear boundaries that empowers team members. Environments like this bolster confidence, collaboration and creativity, while allowing for greater autonomy.

Establish clear boundaries and guidelines to channel creative contributions in alignment with organizational goals, priorities, and values. Clearly communicate expectations, constraints, and parameters for creative projects to ensure that they remain focused, feasible, and aligned with strategic objectives. Encourage creativity within defined boundaries to promote innovation that adds value and drives meaningful outcomes for the team and the organization.

REGULAR FEEDBACK To ensure motivation of the team there should be regular feedback. Where the idea is progressively meeting the objectives of the organization, this should be made known to the team as this will motivate them to further effectively applied time and resources. However, where the results are otherwise, this should be constructively communicated so that future benefiting ideas would not be jeopardized.

Monitor the progress of creative projects and initiatives to track their implementation, impact, and effectiveness over time. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and milestones to measure the success of creative contributions in achieving desired outcomes and driving organizational growth. Provide regular feedback, support, and guidance to help team members overcome challenges, iterate on their ideas, and achieve their creative goals.

Establish a reasonable framework to monitor progress, such as waterfall or agile methodologies. Avoid excessive bureaucracy that may hinder the realization of creative ideas.

Monitoring the progress of creative initiatives is crucial to ensure that they develop according to expectations and are successfully implemented. By closely tracking the progress of ideas, you can identify opportunities for improvement, adjust strategies as needed, and offer support to the team involved.Additionally, being prepared to make tough decisions is key to ensuring that resources are allocated efficiently and that end goals are achieved. This involves constantly evaluating progress, identifying challenges, and taking proactive steps to overcome them, ensuring that all stakeholders are aligned and committed to the success of the project.

You should cherish them. Make sure they and of course other feel safe to add ideas, even if they are ‘silly ideas’. The best ideas often start from a silly idea. Recognising people for sharing silly ideas, specifically with the intent to encourage others and then it’s ok to share what you think might make you look stupid.

When team members contribute creatively, it's key to assess their motivations. Are they seeking a new challenge, or is it part of their role? Understanding this helps you support them effectively. For example, in "Drive" by Daniel H. Pink, the importance of autonomy, mastery, and purpose is highlighted. If they're looking for growth, it mirrors the "stretch assignments" concept in "The First 90 Days" by Michael D. Watkins, suggesting they're ready to expand their skills. As a leader, facilitating these opportunities aligns with fostering a motivating environment, just as Pink describes. Engaging in open dialogue to explore their aspirations can be a powerful tool in guiding them towards their goals.

What I have seen works best is, to involve them in right things and provide right opportunities where their creative skill is valued the most. Sometimes an employee who is supposed to perform tasks where he/she needs more logical aptitude, are able to think out of the box and innovate with their creativity. As a leader one must recognise the combination of balanced IQ and EQ needs to be fostered and valued over anything else. These talents can create high impact if given opportunities in areas like business development, sales & marketing early on their career. Mentoring and nurturing them to take career paths where their creativity is best utilised would make more sense.

You definitely need to appreciate thier efforts and dedication Then evaluate with them the effectiveness of thier creative ideas depending on your work environment, tweak to match the actual need keeping them involved Then it is absolutely necessary to support them applying, guidance and directions are provided Give them the credit for it , announcing the efforts , market it on thier behalf 👌 Great invention comes from small ideas 💡 👌