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Writer's pictureDr. Babette Sonntag

Three quick wins for creative work in times of stress and overload



Tree in the desert
Creating creative oases

In today's fast-paced business world, it's easy to feel limited in your creative, innovative thinking due to stress and overload.

Creativity is not a skill that you can simply switch on and off. Recommendations for stimulating creativity are often: take your time, think calmly and reflect... This is often impossible because we live in a complex environment of obligations, expectations and demands and have to interact with many other people.

According to various studies, e.g. by the International Stress Management Association ( Press and Media | ISMA Stress Management Association ), over half of the employees surveyed report that stress negatively affects their creativity.

This highlights how important it is to know strategies that will help you keep your innovation mindset alive.


Here are three simple ideas, three quick wins for creative work in times of stress and overload that can help you:


Quick wins for innovative work

In a constantly changing world characterized by time pressure, overload and an overflow of topics, it is important to continuously look for new ways to stay innovative. Quick wins - small, easily implemented measures - can help you stay creative on a small scale and encourage new ideas in your company or in your private projects.

Here are three simple tips to keep your creativity alive:


#1: Conducting Brainstorming


Regular brainstorming helps to generate creative ideas and gain new perspectives. Use different techniques, such as mind mapping, starbursting or round robin, to satisfy your desire to try out new things and have fun. Here you can find a good compilation of different brainstorming methods: Brainstorming: 30 different methods for finding ideas! [2024] • Asana )


“Don’t judge new ideas right away!”

In every brainstorming session, it is very important to first collect all ideas without evaluating them. Some participants and facilitators of brainstorming sessions want to immediately evaluate or assess an idea and then react with: "But that doesn´t work because...!" or "No, that doesn't fit!". Instead you can always say: "Yes, and if we also consider x/y, then...". During brainstorming, don't evaluate at first and instead of "No", use "Yes, and...". This "affirmation" is good for creativity and positive thinking.


#2: Get brief feedback


Open communication promotes the exchange of ideas and collaboration. Encourage your team to share ideas and feedback more often in conversation or via digital platforms such as Slack or similar.


“It’s better to ask for feedback briefly and more often.”

Establish continuous feedback loops to implement improvements quickly. Fast and regular feedback helps to optimize processes and develop innovative solutions more quickly. These do not have to be planned meetings. You can also get feedback over a coffee in the coffee kitchen. It is better to do it more often and briefly than rarely and for a longer time. And it is better to do it early than too late. It is important that you formulate a specific question, such as "Do you find this argument understandable for customer xy?" or "What is the first thing that comes to mind that is still missing here?" At the same time, you promote networking and a general exchange of ideas.


#3: Form small, interdisciplinary groups


Small, interdisciplinary groups with people from different disciplines, experiences and personalities bring up new perspectives and skills. This leads to more creative solutions and sometimes brings unexpected views to a well-established question.


“Be inspired by unexpected perspectives!”

To work on a difficult topic, get feedback, or brainstorm, find a small group of friends or colleagues with diverse experiences. Unexpected positions are a source of inspiration. These small groups do not have to exist permanently. You may split up again after working on a question.


Conclusion

With a few simple approaches, these quick wins, you can immediately create small spaces for creativity even in stressful everyday life. This doesn't cost you too much time and increases the fun of finding solutions.

Brainstorming sessions can widely open the funnel for ideas in a short time and promote positive thinking. With feedback loops, you can sharpen the selected ideas very early, and together with people who have different perspectives, you can challenge your imagination and avoid entrenched ways of thinking.


All these three quick wins I have selected have something in common: constant exchange with other people.


Stay innovative and try out one or two of these tips at the next opportunity! Do you have your own quick wins that are easy to implement? Share with me!


 

Here are some links for more information:




Please note: This text is translated into English by using Google Translate - I apologize for any mistakes in this text I may have overlooked.

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