There’s a fundamental contradiction when organizations ask employees to maintain a fast pace of work and be creative. What often happens in hectic workplaces is that employees resort to autopilot or habitual ways of working. When they don’t have the time or space to incubate novel and clever ideas, they may miss out on opportunities to reframe a problem and see new possibilities for potential solutions.
How to Use Mindfulness to Increase Your Team’s Creativity
Give employees a chance to slow down.
July 12, 2018
Panayiotis Tzamaros/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Summary.
Research has shown that mindfulness training can nurture key areas in the creative process. People who practice mindfulness have more cognitive flexibility, are able to see beyond what they’ve already done, and are better at solving problems requiring insight. To foster a culture of innovation in the workplace, leaders need to give greater attention to their employees’ mindsets and consider championing mindfulness practices throughout their organizations. Create corporate-based mindfulness programs to train employees in mindfulness practices. Offer opportunities for employees to slow down, incubate, and see with fresh eyes. Kick off meetings with a brief settling-in period. Provide quiet places in the office where employees can meditate. And offer employees resources for developing their creativity and mindfulness practice. Organizations have an opportunity here. Simple mindfulness practices can begin to shift their teams’ levels of creativity and can be a necessary tool for addressing the complexities of today’s workplaces.