Colleague Nancy Napier has researched and written about creativity. Even hosted a regularly gathering of cross-disciplined leaders from government, non-profit, and for-profit arenas. Her findings include that sharing ideas across disciplines generates creativity in unrelated fields of work.
Creativity in daily work and in crisis-response matters. Without it, people experience burn-out, boredom, and stress. With creativity, people are more engaged, more productive, and more inclined to stay with the organizations in which they are feeling creative support.
Ken Baker and I co-wrote Building Communities in Buildings to demonstrate how built environments can affect productivity, morale, and creativity. For instance, when a workspace looks nice but isn’t functional, productivity declines. Aesthetic and functional environments produce the greatest employee satisfaction and work outputs.
Creativity takes many forms in each sector of work, play, and family life. Sometimes our creative endeavors overlap all three arenas. Other times, creative outlets in our personal lives are what re-energize us for our workdays. Some workplaces largely focus on creative pursuits and outputs. The key is to find your best, most-interesting creative pursuits and include them in your weekly self-care.
Visit a museum, library, or historical site – in person where you can, or online with virtual tours! We recently purchased a “date night in a box” from our state’s historical museum. The box included history, food items, recipes, and coupons to local establishments. Creative staff brought us tasty treats and new ideas to explore over dinner.
Join a book club at work or outside of work to expand your thinking, your reading material, and your friendships. Read something outside of your field or discipline to uncover new approaches for your work. Read out loud to your kids for a whole new conversation path with them and to continually improve your speaking skills.
What creativity do you pursue to stay energized and productive?
Ready for creativity at work? Let’s visit. Jana Kemp 208-367-1701
As the author of seven books, three of which are on use of time and decision-making, Jana has been interviewed by U.S., Canadian, and European programs, and magazines.
Workplace – the Blog: Managing the moments of our day-to-day business lives takes work. Together, let’s explore what issues and activities affect us every day (or some days) that we go to work.