If you are looking to create a fun workplace and retain talent, Joel Zeff’s philosophy may be the right template for you. Mr. Zeff, a noted motivational speaker, teaches you ways to create a fun workplace and retain talent without compromising productivity. In fact, Joel’s tips aim to increase it.
We all have brainstormed the same way for years. Everyone spends an hour in the conference room, bored and uninspired. Somebody throws out a recycled idea. Everyone rallies behind the idea because they really just want to leave the conference room.
We can find a better way. Brainstorming should be fun, energetic and productive. Creativity needs positive energy for fuel. If we make a few slight changes, improve our creativity habits, and just have more fun, our creative energies will increase. Here are a few tips that hopefully will inspire the next great idea.
1. Choose a leader during the creative process. Someone has to keep everyone on track, or you will spend the entire session talking about television shows about attractive detectives solving crimes; attractive doctors saving lives; or attractive detectives and doctors solving crimes, saving lives and romancing each other.
2. Notate everything. Yes, it is a pain to write every idea down. If you don’t, you will forget. We always forget. Take notes, audiotape or videotape the session.
3. Change your location. You don’t always have to meet in the conference room for a brainstorming session. Creativity wants variety. Take a walk to another floor in the building, go outside and sit on a bench or stand around the parking lot. Go to a nearby museum, store, mall, coffee shop or park to brainstorm. Use your surroundings to inspire and motivate you to create.
4. Create fast brainstorming sessions. Do not linger. Nobody looks forward to spending an hour in the conference room to brainstorm. The longer sessions create bad creative habits. Instead, use quick energy bursts. Everyone run into the room for 15 minutes and create as many ideas as possible. And then everyone must run out. Do this a couple times a day as a surprise. The shorter time will force the group to focus on the task and create more energy. Also, the shorter session will force the group to make better choices in the creative process. There is no time for ego, politics, analyzing, or grandstanding. There is only enough time to create ideas and build on each other’s ideas. Use that positive energy to focus and produce ideas. Shorter idea sessions will create more ideas.
5. Relax, and create ideas each day. Take five minutes each day by yourself and think. Don't think about anything in particular. Just think. Take a walk around your building. Go sit on a bench. Leave your cell phone and Blackberry on your desk. Now, just think. Each time you do this you will have an idea. Sometimes it will be a little idea. Sometimes it will be a big idea.
Hopefully, these tips will inspire you to create a fun workplace and subsequently retain talent. Don’t be afraid to try something different in the creative process. Find what works best for you and your group. Most importantly, have fun creating ideas. Even when we are trying to create very serious ideas for very serious business issues, creativity still wants energy. Fun will invigorate the creative process. No matter what, don’t let the creative zombies zap your energy. Contact Joel Zeff today to learn how you can create a fun workplace and retain talent.
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