How to encourage individuals to think and work creatively

No mantra this. But the reason for an individual to contribute creatively will only come through the communication from the top!!

Leaders need to talk and instill confidence in their juniors and encouraging them to come out with thoughts and ideas for tasks that would eventually have an impact on the processes and systems. These tasks need to be visible in terms of being noticed by the organisation as a whole. Any such input from the concerned individuals should be applauded generously (as per norms of HR) and the individual needs to be at the centre of the entire event!! Such involvements and gratifications would lead to more participation from individuals progressively and working creatively!!

Thanks for the referral :)

According to me we need to trust someone who come up with creative thinking. For example you would have delegated some work to your subordinate, if he give some interesting ides you should accept that by trusting him. This will give him some motivation and he will do better the next time too.  

Creativity demands freedom, one can have innovative ideas but one can't be creative in implementation as far as he/she has to work within drafted guidelines.

So, I feel more authority & hence freedom should be given to people whom can the organization expects to deliver something substantiate in stipulated time frames . At the same time they should be made more responsible & accountable for the task they are considered to deliver.

Thanks Makarand for your referral,,,,I fully endorse your views but I have to be creative here as you have told, I had to ideate :)).

I will talk from my > 30 years experience ... I partly agree with Makrand that communication and support from top leadership is very important for developing creative thinking culture !

(I had no support from top leadership as well as colleagues in spite of my buzzing creative ideas/efforts, bcoz I felt they didn't understand or were focused on immediate profits too much with the result that they always preferred proven experience and proven technology by copying from here and there)

Encouraging and sustaining creative thinking requires developing a creative/innovative culture where, along with whatever Makrand said, there is all out support and incentive for generating creative ideas supported by plans to test and implement them ... Many times I found there was nobody to help and support in testing my ideas ...

Thanks for the referral Makrand, hope it helps in promoting Creative Thinking culture ...

Look up for more here

http://toostep.com/insight/anatomy-of-a-creative-mind-signposts-of-a-creative-mind

Create a conducive environ. where they love to respect their own work and that of colleagues:  in effect, empower them.

Thanks for the referral Mr Bhave

Group discussions on a particular topic,which can be selected previously,can be done, where every individual is not only encouraged, but allotted some time to speak on it.

It is not enough to do one or the other. To realise the full potential of an individual one has to combine all the three. Because just delegating or encouragin or rewarding would not get the best out of him/her. One needs to recognise talent and then do everything to develop the talent by following these three paths.

Freedom of Expression isthe FIRST STEP towards encouraging Individuals to Think & Work Creatively...

SECOND STEP would be... Then Navigate them in the correct Direction. In this manner, they will FEEL better & You will get the desired results.

Individuals these days are very touchy & if they feel, they are CONFINED & not allowed to Express their thoughts or  feelings, they will go IN A SHELL. This will serve no purpose.

Happy Debating Friends !

Hello, Inform them what company requires and  give enough time to think and come to a decession. If the result is your satisfaction encourage and appreciate them. In case it is not up up to your expectation not to discourage them. Instead you can boost them to do better next time. This will help them to gain confidence and to give better result next time.

K Rajagopalan. 

Steps to encourage individuals to think and work creatively are-

a) Show your own interest about the same project.

b) Share ideas.

c) Believe in practical.

d) Give freedum to speak.

e) Encourage team spirit.

f) A good working condition.

g) Have fait.

Knowledge is an essential part to bring in 'creativity'. Mere 'copy-paste' may not suceed for long.

Ask the workers to turn to Knowledge workers and encourage them in all possible way in this direction.

What I feel is leaders needs to study the down level persons strong and weakness points. Based on the working notes leaders has to encourage the juniors where ever they are strong with respect to that they need to delegate the work to get good results and coming to weakness, leader has to give inputs to over come the weakness area and accordingly they need to guide the junior with regard to negative points thorough this we can get the good results from juniors.

Promote a culture of making people feel 'no idea is a bad idea' and encourage them more and more to think out of the box and to contribute.

Individuals can be most creative when they are:

• empowered
• given space to work
• communicated well with

These 3 things are most effective in taking out the best potential and ablities of employees/individuals.