Creativity should be seen as indispensable in the workplace and wherever the inspiration may come from employees should be given a freedom to create and develop new ideas.

From Auckland’s waterfront for Air New Zealand Fashion Week (ANZFW) to Wellington for the World of Wearable Art Awards (WOW) I had a week of being totally inspired by the incredible examples of creativity that poured onto both catwalk and stage.

On every occasion over the week I went away feeling compelled to add more imagination and creativity to my own job and life in general. Creativity is not dependent on your age, your level of education, or the kind of work you do. You can be a creative electrician as well as a creative secretary. The talent comes from an ability to think in new ways and a love of what you do. The important factor is being inspired to perform creative acts whatever size, shape or complexity they involve and have an innate motivation to follow them through.

So how easy can it be to apply these creative aspirations in the workplace? We consistently have candidates saying that they want to change jobs because they would like to be involved in more creative tasks. They do not realise that true creativity needs to come from the person and can be made a part of any job. Creativity is about personal flair, taking risks and experimenting.

if you create rules that are too stringent employees will become frustrated that their creative thinking is not appreciated

Unfortunately it is far too easy for a company to develop a work environment that discourages creative ideas. A very structured business will often stifle imaginative thinking in order to stick to predetermined policies and procedures. Methodical work practices are of course important for business efficiency. However if you create rules that are too stringent employees will become frustrated that their creative thinking is not appreciated. Then potentially fantastic solutions could be brushed aside because of traditional or habitual thinking. Employers should ensure that employees are given the permission to work on the development of new ideas and products. Even those seemingly ‘crazy’ ideas should not be restrained and employees empowered to speak up. If you keep on doing something the way you’ve always done it you will get the same old results!

Once a creative idea has been shaped there is still plenty of development to be done in order to turn it into a finished achievement. All the designers at WOW and ANZFW would have gone through a process of feasibility once they had come up with that exciting idea. Will it make impact, have a lasting effect, be understood, possible to implement, financially viable and generate continued success.

Creativity is not an autonomous process. The Wearable Art Awards had entries not only from individuals but also couples and groups. Ask anyone at Fashion Week how they put together the fantastic ranges they did and they will tell you it was a team effort. Interaction and communication is vital and the sharing of information can produce a flow of creative ideas.

The people involved in showing their examples of creativity at both ANZFW and WOW have not simply stumbled across it. Everyday they exercise themselves with innovative ideas. However they do not overlook the possibility of fortunate accidents forming successful opportunities. Creative ideas will not always present themselves when you are labouring at your desk.  Instead schedule some recreation time to trigger a flow of possibilities. Perhaps, as I did, enjoy a display of other peoples creativity to get you inspired. Anything can lead to the discovery of creativity.