How to make your employees more creative

As Dan Bobinski points out in an opinion piece for Management Issues, managers need to spend more time listening to their workers and encouraging them to be creative:

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked into

businesses and seen people – okay, the leadership – walking around with

their shields up. Don’t they remember what it was like to be part of

the rank-and-file? Don’t they know that their employees have great

ideas for how to make things better?

And yet like a Klingon

cruiser patrolling the neutral zone, their domineering presence results

in people giving them a wide berth. I know it’s not always intentional,

but this kills creativity and productivity.

For senior managers

who believe that workers are trying to get away with as much as

possible by doing as little as possible, perhaps – just perhaps – it’s

how you interact that needs a second look.”

With this mind, Bobinski suggests (with a nod to Deming) that there are lead-managers and there are bosses. Lead-managers truly engage their workers and inspire them to contribute to the workplace, while bosses tend to put a damper on creative thought in the workplace.

[image: The bad boss]