7 Tips to Encourage Creativity in the Workplace

Our Knoxville office started the New Year off with new seating arrangements. As a relative Pyxl newbie who wasn’t yet attached to my desk, I love the change. I’m getting to know my fellow co-workers better, and the change in scenery helps foster my creativity.

There are several reasons why creativity is vital to the workplace. For starters, creative individuals are constantly striving to come up with new ideas and better ways to do things. Encouraging creativity also makes for happier employees. It allows us to have fun with our work, to constantly stay challenged and to feel valued.

Here are our seven tips for encouraging creativity in the workplace.

1. Rearrange your workspace.

You don’t need to do anything as dramatic as playing musical desks with 25 people like we did. Try moving your desk to face a new direction. Or change the paintings on your wall. Maybe buy a new plant for your office. Sometimes small changes can have big effects.

2. Have creative mastermind sessions.

Grab a few employees, preferably from different departments, put them in a room and ask them to solve a problem or come up with a new marketing campaign for a client. Do this regularly. You’ll be amazed at the great ideas that your team comes up with.

3. Meet off-site.

This goes hand-in-hand with the idea of rearranging your workspace. Though it may feel a little self-indulgent to have your meeting at a nearby coffee shop, it will actually improve your ability to stay focused and generate new ideas. Now, if you really want to churn out the creative ideas, maybe have your meeting at a brewery instead of a coffee shop.

4. Keep an idea list or folder.

The great creative Austin Kleon tells us we should “steal like an artist.” This doesn’t mean plagiarizing, but rather taking inspiration from others and putting our own spin on it. I do this by keeping a folder of advertisements, quotes and marketing campaigns that I find beautiful, smart or interesting. You can keep a physical folder of cutouts or you can keep a virtual folder of screenshots and bookmarks. Anytime you feel yourself stagnating, take a look through the folder.

5. Take time off.

Americans are terrible at taking time off, for fear of losing our competitive edge or, worse, losing our jobs. But what we’re really losing by not taking time off is our creativity. Vacation is important to our physical and mental health—it allows our body to recharge. If you add travel into the mix, you’re giving your brain new sights and experiences, which will add to your bank of creativity.

6. Embrace individuality.

Individuality, or diversity, is important from a basic business standpoint. Companies need a diverse range of skills and abilities in order to thrive. Harvard Business Review looked at the six virtues that make up a dream company and #1 was “Letting People Be Themselves.” Recognizing what is unique about each of your employees allows them to feel valued.

7. Have fun at work.

Perhaps the best piece of creative advice we can give you is to just have fun. Invest in nerf guns. Encourage conversation. Each Pyxl office is fully equipped with nerf guns, collaboration areas and libraries of creative and business-related books. We participate in creativity workshops across offices and use an internal chat service called Slack that allows us to have private and group conversations. While it is true that I spent the last five minutes engaged in a conversation extolling the virtues of Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter and some may consider that wasted time, I find that these conversations make me feel more comfortable chatting IRL with my co-workers and thus more likely to ask them for help or advice on projects.

What do you do to encourage creativity in your workplace? Share your ideas with us.

Updated: Apr 13, 2022