Your employees are your greatest asset. As a business owner or manager, it’s a phrase you’ve probably heard countless times. And it’s 100% true. Your team is the best chance you have at driving your business forward.
However, if you’re not seeing the results you want within your business, it could be because your team is lacking creativity, innovation and motivation. It could be an indication that your employees aren’t achieving their full potential.
If you want to see positive changes within your business, it’s your responsibility to motivate and encourage your employees to think differently.
In this blog, we’re going to outline how you can encourage employees to think differently within the workplace and sustain the future of your business.
Encourage Employees To Focus On Themselves
If you want your staff to think differently and achieve results, they need to be bringing the best version of themselves to work. If your employees are tired, stressed, worried or struggling with something, it will have a negative impact on how they think within the workplace.
Encouraging your employees to prioritise their self-care and focus on their health and wellbeing is essential if you want to see positive results.
For example, if one of your team members is stressed or fatigued, they will struggle to think creatively and will be less motivated or productive in the workplace. Their professional relationships may suffer, and they may lose interest in their work.
So, before you start encouraging your employees to think differently, you must first provide the support they need to prioritise their health and wellbeing.
Make Time For Brainstorming Sessions
Brainstorming is a great way to get the creative juices flowing. It gives people the opportunity to bounce ideas off each other and challenges employees to expand on the ideas of their colleagues.
Brainstorming sessions encourage your employees to think critically and logically in order to solve problems. Within a brainstorming session, your employees have the chance to observe the way in which their colleagues think when they’re being creative. Understanding how other people think is useful when you’re learning how to think differently.
A brainstorming session can also provide a safe space for your employees to organise their thoughts and get their many ideas down on paper.
Focus On The Business Ethos Not The Sales Figures
Are your employees aware of your visions? Are they familiar with the goals you have set for the future of the business? Or do they only focus on sales figures?
Setting clear and measurable goals that are in line with the business ethos is a great first step in inspiring and encouraging your employees to think differently. Once your staff members understand your vision for the future, they will start to work towards achievable goals.
Nourish Ideas
If an employee has an idea that you think may work, don’t hesitate to take it on board and run with it. Nourishing ideas and turning them into reality demonstrates you’re listening to your employees. It also shows that you value the opinions and thoughts of your staff members.
Once your employees see that you value their ideas, they will work hard to come up with ‘out of the box’ ideas. If an idea works, remember to give credit where it’s due. Recognition and reward lead to productivity and motivation within the workplace.
Similarly, don’t be too harsh on mistakes. When it comes to creative-thinking, risk-taking is inevitable. Punishing an employee when an idea doesn’t work out can prevent your employees from coming forward with new ideas.
Encourage Teamwork
Teambuilding activities and bonding days are a great way to encourage teamwork within the workplace. Some of the best ideas come from people working together. Plus, your employees are likely to be motivated and productive when working as part of a team.
Working together gives your employees the chance to see something from someone else’s point of view. An employee might have to think differently in order to work alongside someone with a diverse approach.
Provide Training
If your team is lacking innovation and creativity, perhaps providing training could help. There are an abundance of workshops and training sessions out there that may help your employees develop a new way of thinking.
At Wellspace, we offer training that explores your staff’s current attitudes and provides practical tips and advice.
Get In Touch
If you’d like to find out more about encouraging employees to think differently, get in touch with Wellspace.
Here at Wellspace, we are experts in workplace wellness. We are aiming to revolutionise workplace wellness with our leading app, online portal and tailored wellbeing training.
