Introduction
Welcome back to Linking Our Libraries! This week we are going to talk about Creativity in the workplace.
We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, and we are here to chat with you this season about building your leadership skills. We provide support and training for all types of libraries, and our work can be used by anyone who wants to build skills, and to become a better leader in your own organization.
Do you want to talk with us further about leadership skills? Do you need some training organized for your organization? We are here for you! Check out our website: cmle.org and let’s get this started!
And now, on with the show! Who is here this week? This week we also have special Guest Host Emily Kissane, from the Minnesota State Libraries Services
The Basics
Creativity in the workplace is such a great skill to develop! In any organization, the way work was done five years ago, a year ago, or potentially even yesterday, is just not good enough anymore. Society changes pretty quickly, and we need to not only keep up but to be out front providing leadership. The horrifying phrase “…but we’ve always done it that way…” probably means things need to change.
But you may be slightly panicking here. Maybe you don’t know how to sing, dance, draw, or paint – so you think you are not creative. Don’t worry! Creativity at work does not require any of these skills – though if you do have them, feel free to incorporate them into you work.
Instead we define creativity in the workplace as seeing different ways to accomplish goals, and bringing forward new ideas. Anyone can do this! Our best advice is to emulate Ms. Frizzle, from the Magic School Bus: take chances, make mistakes, get messy. Dive in and try some new things! Not everything will work out just as planned (check out our Planning episode for more ideas there), but you can really help your organization by bringing in some new and potentially better ideas for service, for staffing, for programming, for materials, and literally every single other thing!
So let’s talk about some strategies you can use to help you think about your work in some new, creative ways.
- Read! If you read a bunch of different things: fiction and nonfiction, articles, books, social media – everything and anything – you will find all kinds of ideas you can try for yourself.
- Walk! Get up during the day and move around. Physical exercise helps to keep your blood flowing and keeps your brain oxygenated, and helps you to shake loose some new ideas when you need them.
- Flip it! If you have something in your library that has been done the same way for a long time, it is time to try it a new way. Don’t make things complex just for the sake of trying something new, but think about a different approach, or time it can be done, or person to do it.
- Take a break! Even a ten minute break will clear your cobwebs, and can help you see things in a new way. Get in the habit of taking your breaks, including lunch breaks, instead of working at your desk.
- Eliminate! Consider whether a task or a process really needs to be done at all. A surprising number of things can just be eliminated while you do other good stuff for your patrons.
- Sit! Try sitting in a new place. Either change seats at meetings, or try moving your desk around. If you usually work at one end of the Circ Desk, try moving to the other end. A new physical perspective can bring a new mental one.
- Color! Write with colored pens and use every single color. Organize ideas into different colored folders. Stick multicolored post-it-notes to the desk and the walls. If possible, paint one wall a new color. Colors can be cheerful, and can help to stimulate some creative thoughts.
- Nature! If at all possible, bring in plants to your office space. We talked about their value in our special episode on busting workplace stress; but they can also help you to be more creative. If you really cannot have plants, at least have some pictures of nature around to inspire you.
Now we have some theories about making our workplaces more creative. So let’s build on that and talk with Emily about how to really make that happen!
Books We Read
Everyone shares a book (or two) they have enjoyed, or are currently reading:
At twenty-seven, Anne Elliot is no longer young and has few romantic prospects. Eight years earlier, she had been persuaded by her friend Lady Russell to break off her engagement to Frederick Wentworth, a handsome naval captain with neither fortune nor rank. What happens when they encounter each other again is movingly told in Jane Austen’s last completed novel. Set in the fashionable societies of Lyme Regis and Bath, Persuasion is a brilliant satire of vanity and pretension, but, above all, it is a love story tinged with the heartache of missed opportunities.”
We don’t just live in the air; we live because of it. It’s the most miraculous substance on earth, responsible for our food, our weather, our water, and our ability to hear. In this exuberant book, gifted science writer Gabrielle Walker peels back the layers of our atmosphere with the stories of the people who uncovered its secrets:
• A flamboyant Renaissance Italian discovers how heavy our air really is: The air filling Carnegie Hall, for example, weighs seventy thousand pounds.
• A one-eyed barnstorming pilot finds a set of winds that constantly blow five miles above our heads.
• An impoverished American farmer figures out why hurricanes move in a circle by carving equations with his pitchfork on a barn door.
• A well-meaning inventor nearly destroys the ozone layer.
• A reclusive mathematical genius predicts, thirty years before he’s proved right, that the sky contains a layer of floating metal fed by the glowing tails of shooting stars.”
The dead guy in Row S, Seat 18, is no joke. Elliot Freed, recovering writer, socked all his savings-and the alimony from his ex-wife-into the Comedy Tonight movie theater, never suspecting it would become a murder scene. And murder can’t be good for ticket sales…
Death by popcorn was the cause. Poisoned popcorn. To the chagrin of the police, Elliot takes to his bike to start his own investigation. A growing attraction to a beautiful detective, the discovery of a DVD pirating operation, and one missing employee later, Elliot’s still waiting for the punch line. But this one might knock his theater-and Elliot-out for good…”
Conclusion
Thanks so much for joining us today! Thanks to Emily for helping us build our own workplace creativity! Remember to check out our website for all the information we just discussed. And support our Patreon to be part of our community of leaders!
Tune in next Thursday for another important leadership skill! We are looking forward to chatting with you then.