7 TIPS FOR KEEPING YOUR
C R E AT I V E T E A M I N S P I R E D
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MO S T P EOP L E S EE C R E AT I V I T Y A S A G IF T
— an innate trait
that’s always with you. But when being creative’s your job, it can feel more like
a mood — something that naturally comes and goes, ebbs and flows.
With a job like yours, you need to be creative all the time. So how do you always
stay on?
Ensure your team’s creativity by keeping them inspired, both on the individual
project and at the company level.
Here’s what you can do to keep your team feeling positive, productive, and
inspired as much as possible.
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C R E AT E S W IP E F IL E S
Ever yone has their go-to creativity boosters. Whether it’s
a cer tain insightful website, poem, photo, or movie, let
your team share what inspires them.
Let ever yone compile things into a repositor y of
ever yone’s favorites. You can use a shared Dropbox
folder, spreadsheet, Trello board — any thing , really — to
give your team easy access.
Additions can star t discussions that get people thinking ,
and ser ve as inspiration to turn to if anyone’s ever feeling
a creative block.
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G O O U T S IDE
If your location allows it, a little fresh air, vitamin D, and
physical activity can do your team wonders. Encourage your
staff to spend time outdoors when work permits.
Whether it’s sitting out for lunch or taking smaller depar tment
and project team meetings outside, the time with nature (or a
city) has been proven to help creative thinking.
In 2014, researchers at Stanford found that a person’s
creative output increased 60% while walking , with the
effects even lasting once they sit back down. Isn’t that a
great reason to make your next one-on-one a lap around the
block, or even the parking lot?
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K EEP B R IEF S B R IEF
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S E T A S IDE T IM E F OR L E A R NIN G
Creativity requires a cer tain amount of freedom and “room.” It can
To get people’s brains turning , promote the motto of “always be
be difficult to really innovate when there’s not much flexibility in a
learning.” This encourages your team to search out inspiration and
project brief. The magic happens when your team feels autonomous.
continually experience new perspectives.
Work with your executives or clients to come up with a briefing
At the agency Shif t Communications, creatives are asked to dedicate
process that conveys all impor tant information, but still leaves
30 minutes ever y day to browsing — reading , taking in new ideas,
breathing room for creatives. You don’t need to include more than
and exploring things that drive curiosity and creativity. They go to
what your team needs to know.
and search for information instead of waiting for it to come to them.
This might mean creating a summar y that includes the campaign
Give your team time to let inspiration find them.
or project’s overall goals, as well as its personality (visual themes,
tone of copy, and so on). Example photos, colors, and fonts can be
ver y helpful, too.
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C AT ER T O S T R EN G T H S
The biggest damper on creativity can be not having the chance
to be creative.
It’s easy for teams to get bogged down in administrative work
or following processes. Hours spent on timesheets, logging
work in three or four different tools to document progress —
these are not the tasks someone becomes a designer or creative
professional to do.
Create processes loose enough that they won’t stand in the way
of actual work. This goes hand-in-hand with building good briefs.
You’ll also want to make sure you choose platforms that focus
on doing what you need quickly instead of creating friction or
adding more work.
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P R OMO T E C OL L A B OR AT ION
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C HEC K IN ONE-ON-ONE
Fostering the right culture and environment for your team is
Finally, keep your creative team inspired by knowing what’s going
impor tant, too. Shape how people interact with each other so that
on with them. Invite them to share with you what’s going on, how
ever yone feels empowered to share ideas and run with them when
they ’re feeling , and how you can help.
appropriate.
If someone’s feeling uninspired or like their creativity is stifled, that
Instead of competition, encourage collaboration. Coworkers should
can be a big roadblock for your entire team. Checking in with your
suppor t each other and their ideas instead of just tr ying to outdo
creatives of ten will help prevent this or catch it early.
one another. (Although a small competitive factor can be a great
motivator.)
This kind of environment lowers the pressure a team member
may feel as par t of a larger group, and can help build your staff ’s
confidence.
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