Your employees are the essential elements that keep your business running smoothly and successfully. In the competitive, creative market; fresh ideas and innovative focus are crucial to the development and growth of a company. Therefore, it’s vital that you invest in your team’s artistic talents and ensure that they’re happy and fulfilled in their workplace; they will appreciate the benefits, and you will reap the rewards. The following are some ideas to help you to guide your staff in the right creative direction so that your business can compete with the big guys.
Skills
You’ll have already hired each member of your team because of their qualifications and ability to do their job. However, you can invest further time and training into their talents, to ensure that develop and grow with the company; this will mean that you’ll be more likely to be able to hire in-house, rather than having to interview somebody new.
There are creative courses and seminars available nationwide, and internationally; so take some time and consider who would utilise what they’ve learned the most and how the investment would benefit the business.For some ideas on what’s out there, you can check out this list: https://qz.com/873151/the-best-design-conferences-in-2017-around-the-world-including-ted-sxsw-and-design-indaba/ and see where to send your staff to enrich their portfolio. Ensure that your team members go with their details and promote your company’s identity every step of the way; you never know what connections and leads that they could return with.
Using staff with higher abilities to coach and mentor those in a more junior role is another great way to push and develop your business’ skill set. The senior members of the company will learn more managerial skills, ensuring that you’ll build confidence so that you can delegate with ease. In the meantime, the newbies of the company will not only hone their creative skills, whether it’s using the Adobe suite or learning how to control equipment, but they will gain insider knowledge on the business and the way things are expected to run. Learn more about the positives of mentoring in business and take a look here. Using a mentoring scheme will strengthen work relationships and encourage communication, which is the perfect way to share knowledge and broaden abilities among staff.
Image source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/people-meeting-workspace-team-7097/
Equipment
If you’re running a business in the creative industry; you’ll need to have the latest software and quality equipment to be able to produce a standard of work that can compete with the rest. Your employees will be aware of what’s available on the market and how people are utilising new processes and technology. If a competing company has more to offer your staff regarding what they have to work with, they might be tempted to jump ship. Therefore, you’ll need to invest in the right equipment and tools for each department whenever you can.
The latest software and design packages, and manual tools and machinery don’t come cheap; make sure you budget for updates and maintenance and consider if you need to find a loan that will suit your business’s situation. The effort you put into your employees and the equipment they use, the more they’ll feel appreciated and the results will be better productivity and a happier work environment.
If your business uses less digital, and more hands-on manual creative processes; you might have less to worry about when it comes to updates. However, you’ll need to make sure that everything in the company is of excellent quality and enjoyable for your team members to use; this will encourage them to utilise tools more often and could spark creative inspiration. Looking after the company’s property well and giving it the TLC that it deserves will filter through to your staff members, and they will gain respect for you and what they’re using.
Motivate your team to try the various processes within the business that might not be part of their job role; they will learn more about what their colleagues do each day and gain a better understanding of the company as a whole. Going back to the previous points about mentoring and skills; asking each employee to spend some time with the co-workers to learn what they do and how they use their machinery, will help their ingenuity to gleam and i will a team building exercise that you don’t have to pay for.
Image from PEXELS
Environment
The environment where you and your employees work is where you can really get the design juices flowing. As a creative business owner, you’ll appreciate the impact that layout, colour, pattern, and details have on the mood of a space or surface. Therefore, you’ll need to make the interior of your studio, office, or warehouse, into a creative hub that can lift someone’s mood and spark some inspiration. Take a look at this co-working space article for some design inspiration and ideas. Cold, unfriendly, and lacklustre environment will lead to few ideas and low productivity, so ensure the place is bright and jovial.
As a creative agency; you’re likely to have produced some work that you’re pretty proud of. You should display all the best work around the space and remind people of what can be achieved and encourage them on their next projects. Give your employees some free reign when it comes to their personal desk space and wall area; everyone has a different way of looking at things and can trigger creativity in various ways, so let them decide what to surround themselves with.
You don’t need to shout about your competitors work; however, if you feel that something was a job well done, or something impresses you, then find a space to display those pieces. Employees can add to the space if the come across something that they feel inspired them in their free time. See how companies are harnessing the power of a cool workplace to retain their staff and to boost innovation here. Whether it’s photographs, imagery, or quotes; if something helps to give your team a creative boost, then it’s worth displaying so that everyone can see.
Image via here
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Vinh Van Lam & Stuart Horrex
Your Coaches ArtSHINE industries
