10 Ways to Get More Creative at Work

“1. Innovation isn’t just for creative types. Involve everyone — even outsiders. We frequently ask the UPS man to stop in and share a quick idea. Invite customers, too.

2. John Cleese, of Monty Python fame, once gave this advice: “If you spot any colleagues engaging in unfamiliar activity such as wondering out loud or gazing thoughtfully into space, poke them with a sharp stick and accuse them of wasting time.” Enough said.

3. Hang a giant piece of paper on your office door; at the top, write a question or issue that you need help with. Invite everyone to come by at their leisure to share thoughts and ideas.

4. Show a stand-up comedy video before every creative session. Laughter stimulates great thinking.

5. Keep magazines unrelated to your business in the office. Encourage your team to cut out pictures that relate to a project you’re working on and make a collage.

6. “The amount a person uses his imagination is inversely proportional to the amount of punishment he will receive for using it.” This anonymous quote says it all. Allow your team to get comfortable taking risks and support them for doing so. From small things like sharing personal anecdotes and wearing goofy hats, to physical challenges like trust falls and walking high ropes, seek activities that get people out of their comfort zones.

7. Hang an “If Only” board. Let people jot ideas, then use them to spark your imagination during the next creative session.

8. Have everyone choose a different hat, then participate in the creative session as if they were that person.

9. Trade environments. Going somewhere else to generate ideas—the park, a toy store or even someone else’s conference room—will stimulate fresh thinking.

10. Encourage people to do something with their hands during the creative process. While playing with toys and doodling have been criticized as being “too simplistic,” there’s scientific evidence that 97% of the nerves in our hands are connected directly to our brains. Busy hands stimulate brain cells.”

Congratulations to Laura after many years of dedicated service to Omni!

What’s compelling is the simultaneous envy these very individuals have of working at boutique agencies or for themselves, their willingness to trade budget for independence. They love the idea of working with clients who really trust in marketing, and have real bottom-line issues at stake. 

It gave me pause to realize just how lucky we are as a ‘small’ advertising agency. Omni is privately held – no investors to report to, no endless maze of approval processes to navigate. Management is part of the Omni team. Ideas for change are presented at will and can be tested easily without going through level after level of approval. If an idea has legs, we try it. If it fails, we at least tried; if it succeeds, everyone wins. Clients have access to the whole team – not just their main account service contact.

The other big difference I have noticed is that large agencies seldom provide newer clients or smaller clients with their top tier creative teams, but rather place their junior members in their stead, and not at a junior price.

Ask any business owner if it is challenging and if there are days when they wonder why they do what they do, and you will hear a resounding groan of “if you only knew”. But at the end of the day, despite the issues small businesses face – undercapitalization, misperceptions that they are too small to handle major business – being nimble, being close to the client and close to the team that makes all the creative magic happen far outweigh any daydreams of the grass being greener at the mega agency. Besides, emptying the garbage yourself once in a while keeps you humble.