If you’re like most people, chances are any bonuses you receive are based on your performance: whether you (or your company) reach sales targets, achieve double digit growth, increase brand value, and so on.
If this is the case, you are probably not performing at your peak level of creativity. Harvard University research has found that when people are rewarded with cashola for performance, they tend to avoid risky behaviour. Creativity, of course, requires a degree of risk.
So to enhance the creativity of your organisation, ensure that tasks given to employees are matched to their skill level (i.e. provide a good degree of challenge) and that the importance of creativity is communicated and emphasised. And instead of rewarding people for hitting sales targets, reward them for the number of ideas they generate. Remember, it can take hundreds of ideas before you reach to a great one.
Forward this idea to your boss.
Are you feeling blue?
If so, you are probably not performing at your peak level of creativity. Contrary to the popular belief that the majority of “creative geniuses” suffered from depression, studies have shown that people are more creative when they are happy. Indeed, a study that asked several hundred people to keep a work diary showed that people were more likely to come up with breakthrough ideas when they were feeling happy, even if this happiness was experienced the day before the idea was generated.
What is RIM?
RIM (Research in Motion) is that little American company who created the Blackberry, the drug of choice for many employees around the world.
If you are lucky enough to one day work at RIM (they receive over 200,000 resumes per year), you will have access to meditation rooms, where you can sit quietly, think about the world, and perhaps even generate an idea for their next big “thing”.
Create a petition to get your workplace to install a meditation room. Every good workplace should have one.
