Brilliant ideas do not come up with single magic formula. However, there is a magic formula for increasing the odds it will happen.
The key is building a culture that stimulates people’s intrinsic motivation in the work they are doing. Without intrinsic motivation, and a culture that supports it, it’s very difficult- near impossible- to generate the essential creative breakthroughs that drive a company forward.
Here are a few tips that will help your company flourish with intrinsic motivation.
* Do what you can to maximise the odds of creative insights by finding people who are passionate about the mission and goals of your organisation.
This, of course, isn’t always easy to ascertain ahead of time, and it’s also obviously critical to hire talented people as well. But there typically are enough talented people in the pipeline to also select on passion.
* Articulate for your people how the work they’re doing has meaning. Create a culture that enhances people’s attachment and passion in the work.
Even if a programmer is just writing code, make sure s/he also knows the bigger picture- how the code s/he’s writing is going to contribute to solving a problem that s/he deeply cares about.
And keep her/him updated on the progress of the problem. Give her/him the whole picture. Make sure you give people insight and access for understanding the greater good that their individual efforts are contributing toward.
* Make sure you create a culture where people receive constructive, frequent, honest feedback about their efforts.
Create an evaluation and reward system that enhances intrinsic motivation.
To sustain creativity and intrinsic motivation, people need to know that the dedication that they put into creating their ideas will be met with an equal level of fairness and dedication in the way they are evaluated and rewarded.
Find a fair and transparent way to create rewards that honour truly creative work, and be open to changing your evaluation system based on feedback and experience, just as you are asking your employees to do with their own creative ideas.
Courtesy: www.thriveglobal.com
