After dealing with the whirlwind of events that occurred in 2020, the year 2021 can potentially usher in an era of innovation. Now that most of us have likely adjusted to the new normal, the new year should hopefully bring some creativity. However, it is understandable that you might be feeling a little stuck after prioritising survival for some time. How do you allow your creativity to flow again so that you can contribute excellence and inventiveness to your team?
Fortunately, there are several ways to revive your drive for innovation. Some of them are practical while others tend to delve deeper into the self. There is no harm in giving any or all of these methods a try, though. New ideas sometimes come from unexpected situations, after all. Read on to learn more about how to rekindle your creative side:
Turn to Astrology
When it comes to thinking outside of the box, unorthodox methods may be viable options. If you’ve yet to try it, investing in a natal chart reading from a career astrologist can help. If it turns out that Mercury has made his way into your Aquarius, for example, you are in the best disposition to come up with creative and purposeful ideas. This is largely because the Aquarius sign is already quite forward-looking, and the presence of Mercury encourages progressive thoughts to come to you.
Outside of this alignment, a natal chart reading can offer a lot of insight about your role as a leader, communicator, strategist, and innovator. You can always utilise what you discover from this reading to bring fresh and purposeful proposals to the table.
Cultivate a Mindset That Engenders Innovation
While you may not always come up with the best ideas on the spot, you can at least change your way of thinking to spark creative processes. That said, you do not necessarily have to be a maverick or be the smartest person in the room. An innovative thinker is often collaborative and persistent, given that any groundbreaking concept takes time and effort to come to fruition. It also helps to be discerning and have a natural curiosity about things.
Now, think about how that mindset comes to play in a team setting. Though one person may have a brilliant insight that can get the ball rolling, others must help shape it into something promising. Additionally, these same people have to consistently work on that concept to improve it and turn it into something marketable. If everyone works together, motivates those around them, and opens themselves up to different perspectives, innovation is sure to take place.
Maximise All Resources with Your Team
It can be exhausting if a team usually relies on a single person to come up with a bright idea every time. This is because true innovation requires a team effort. Additionally, innovation does not have to be a spontaneous instance of ingenuity. It can be brought about through research and collaboration with others. No matter what your role in the team may be, it is always better to have several people working together to come up with breakthroughs.
To do this, you can begin by making the most of what your team already has at your disposal. Pool your skills and resources together to brainstorm different concepts. Make this a regular part of the workweek to keep people vigilant and on their toes. The more minds are working together toward the same goal, the more something interesting and creative can come up.
Get Outside Help
As industries change and grow, the required skills needed to stay competitive do, too. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly hard for many businesses to keep up with this using their internal resources alone.
This is where open innovation becomes highly beneficial. More and more companies are working together to combine their resources to further their advancement in their respective markets. In that regard, it might be a good idea for you and your team to do this as well, especially if your employees have limited skill sets, to begin with.
Working with different organisations gives you a chance to listen to a variety of perspectives and familiarise yourself with other areas of expertise. This can help inspire new ideas from you or your team. Moreover, this will mean more people contributing their own viewpoints, making innovation a continuous effort that gets better with time.
Consider What Customers Are Saying and Doing
New ideas can come from facts and data, and they tend to have a stronger foundation as a result. When innovations are backed by research, they are grounded in reality and have a better chance of yielding desirable outcomes.
If you currently feel stuck, listening to your customers or clients is a good starting point. Gather their feedback (both positive and negative), mine data from social media, and analyse your findings from them. This should give you enough information or even inspiration for coming up with something ingenious.
You can also encourage your teammates to offer their own insights based on their interactions with customers or clients. The people in charge of customer service will definitely have interesting insights to share. Knowing what your customers or clients like and how they think can encourage some unique proposals to bloom at your company.
Getting the creative juices flowing can be challenging if you feel stuck where you currently are. Hopefully, the steps mentioned above can be helpful in slowly getting you to exercise your ability to innovate and come up with new ideas this 2021.
Do you need help in getting that creative juice flowing? Get in touch with Josephine today.
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