How to promote inspiration and creativity within your organization

Are you on the lookout for trends? It's hard to be and work on your day-to-day projects if you don't have the luxury of surfing the web, reading, questioning and learning about the subjects that interest you. We've come up with a number of ideas to stimulate curiosity in your work teams on a daily basis. The important thing is to adopt realistic initiatives. Keeping your brand's personality, knowing it well and defining it, takes time. 

Wandering budget  

Have you heard of the "wandering budget"? The expression describes it well. It's about setting aside time in your schedule to get out of your comfort zone, to get away from what you know, to learn, to get inspired, to look elsewhere. We're talking about a budget, because time is money, of course.

At Winston, we use this method by blocking out time in our schedule to stay on top of trends, test tools, dig around and read up on subjects that interest us. We then share our findings with the team. 

#CanvaDesignChallenge 

If you use the Canva tool on a daily basis, you may find yourself in a creative pattern. To challenge and hone your skills, I suggest you encourage your team members to take part in the monthly challenges the platform launches to engage its community. The challenge is sent by e-mail each month, and you can submit your creations. A great way to get out of your comfort zone while practicing with the tool.  

Cultural activities 

Winston has set up cultural activity days. Every quarter, team members are invited to take part in an activity that takes them out of the office to enjoy a different experience and be inspired by other people's art, popular culture or whatever. We allow ourselves a lot of creativity in the choice of activities. It's also a great opportunity for team building. 

Taking risks 

Do you dare to take unconventional directions? Are you bold in your work, no matter what field you're in? Taking risks lets you explore new avenues, break out of the norms of an industry and shake things up. We love to draw inspiration for our customers from very different fields. It's surprising and keeps us relevant. 

Leveraging technology 

Artificial intelligence is an unparalleled tool for testing, questioning and challenging ourselves on a daily basis. Using technology at work also means setting up efficient processes, automating repetitive tasks and equipping ourselves with work tools that meet our needs, so that we have time to be creative rather than chasing ideas. 

There are a thousand ways to promote creativity within a company, but it's especially important to value the time it takes to allow ourselves to be creative. Keep in mind that ideas blossom differently in every employee. Sometimes, we just need to change our processes, to do something differently to get out of our comfort zone. You don't have to be sensational to be innovative.