Daily Biz Solutions

When running your own small business, one characteristic all business owners must have is creativity.  Without it, it is nearly impossible to stay afloat.  This innovative spirit is especially important to the small business owner who does not have the kind of budgets that big corporations can play with.  You need to be able to craft new and innovative ways to get the most “bang for your buck;” whether by refurbishing old unsuccessful projects into successful ones, cutting your costs without cutting corners, and of course, by thinking of new ways of boosting your sales. 

While most small business owners embody this innovative spirit; oftentimes they forget to foster this spirit throughout their company.  To run efficiently and productively as possible, your entire team needs to be on the same creative page as you.

In Adrian Brown’s “Creativity & Innovation” in which he highlights five characteristics that he has observed in creative organizations are highlighted.  All of which I believe are important not just for large corporations, but also for small companies.  They include: 

1. “Information is free flowing:  Creativity is partially about making new connections: for example, applying a familiar technology to a completely new application.” 
2. “New ideas are welcomed: It is easy for individuals, and companies, to become stuck in its ways.  Habitual behaviors, a rigid adherence to “best practices and groupthink can all act as barriers to new ideas.  Of course, not all ideas are good ideas and you are ultimately responsible to filter the ideas that are bubbling up.  
3.  “Good ideas are nurtured:  New ideas are delicate and can easily be killed off with an executive shrug or simply a lack of care and attention”….
4. “Risk taking is accepted”:  “Experimentation and innovation involve some failures along the way.  Risk taking doesn’t mean being reckless, rather it means understanding the risk/reward relationship and taking calculated risks where the potential rewards are valuable.”
5. “Innovators are rewarded: Creativity is hard to measure and can often be ignored by compensation and reward systems.”  However, often it is enough to publicly recognize creativity with a simple thank you for a job well done, believe it or not, this sends a powerful message through your organization. 

Creativity and Innovation Business Training

It is important to tap into your own creativity as well as that of your employees. You may be surprised at the ideas they may have to boost your business.  If you are looking for more ways to develop your personal creativity, or that of your team, enroll in an online, self-paced “Creativity & Innovation” course that expands on Brown’s major themes and provides interactive exercises, additional readings, and offers learners hands-on exercises to spur personal creativity.

The “Creativity & Innovation” class is just one of the many professional development programs of study recently added to Mobile Technical Institute’s online business training offerings through a partnership with the Winchester Center for Management Development.  Availalbe online courses inlcude: Business Communications, Leadership, Finance, and Management.  These courses are affordably priced, 100% web based and in a self-study format allowing you to improve your creative, business, or management skills at your convenience.