Helping Your Team Realize Their Full Creative Potential

When I was young in my career, even though I didn’t know what I didn’t know, I knew that I couldn’t build and cultivate a culture of creativity in my organization on my own. Despite being so naive that I forgot to get leadership on board, I set out to build my dream team of volunteers. Along the way, I had to make some difficult and unpopular moves to shift people off the team, but I also learned not to judge a book by its cover. Some of my most dedicated and creative team members have been the ones that I least suspected to be so creative.

The biggest impact on my team’s potential was speaking into all of the potential I see in them and in the creative culture we are trying to build.

Constantly remind your team of:

• Their importance. Each of them is vital to the culture of what you are building. Reminding them of this will reinforce your confidence in them, thus building their self-confidence.

• The vision. You must repeat the vision ad nauseam. Once you are sick of it, they are just beginning to catch it.

• Our potential together. No one creative is greater than the sum. Remind them of the unseen results that could be realized together.

• Wins. Celebrate what you want repeated. Do this authentically, and regularly, and watch your team’s potential skyrocket.

• Opportunities. Failures are just opportunities. Help them see it’s ok to fail because you will collectively learn to be better next time.

Put the above 5 on rotation for you each day or each week as you interact with your team. After a few months of this, you will begin to feel the creative tide rising.