Finweek English Edition - October 24, 2019

w

e live in a fast-paced work envi-

ronment where people can easily

feel isolated. But another danger,

of “excessive busyness”, is that

colleagues stop discussing new ideas with one

another because everybody else appears equally

busy.

What happens when the result is a drought

in creative ideas – often the driving force behind

business growth? And how do you break such a

drought?

What kills creativity?

A recent article on wellness at the Huffington

Post warns that: “Perfectionism and fear of

failure often go hand in hand, and they can both

keep you from fully engaging with a creative

project or even starting it in the first place.”

Fear of failure is not all that is killing creativity

• being too pessimistic or trying to think too big
  can also be contributing to your creative drought.
  Rohit Desai, CEO of Awesome Confidence
  Coaching and registered mentor, says the
  negativity in the country often spills over into
  the mind of the business owner or entrepreneur.
  When this happens, they experience stress and
  even despair, and their creativity becomes the
  victim.
  “Many lose their fighting spirit or run out of
  ideas because subconsciously they focus on the
  negative. It is so easy to fall into the trap because
  when you meet fellow businessmen, or have a
  talk around the dinner table, it spirals towards the
  negative.”
  It is difficult, but not impossible, to escape
  the trap. He suggests meditation, breathing
  exercises, positive affirmations and walking. “If
  your mind is calm and at peace, more ideas can
  flow into it. It is important to first calm the mind.”
  Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of
  “owning the product instead of owning the
  process” of innovation and creativity, explains
  Tshidi Mathibe, post-doctoral fellow at the
  Gordon Institute of Business Science.
  She says when people are stuck behind their
  desks, or are isolated and too focused, they easily
  lose perspective.

on the money management

By Amanda Visser

48 finweek 24 October 2019 http://www.fin24.com/finweek

How to stay inspired and

innovative at work

Work environments can be fast-paced and very often stressful. This atmosphere tends to stifle creativity and

collaboration, which is detrimental to employees and businesses.

Tshidi Mathibe

Post-doctoral fellow at the

Gordon Institute of Business

Science

“You have to learn to collaborate. Talk to

people. Expand your networks. Get out and

involve people.”

Desai recommends communicating some of

the business’s challenges with employees. He

suggests an “ideas box” in the office and having

brainstorming meetings. This helps to boost

confidence and empower people. Managers or

business owners are not the only ones with new

ideas.

Vumile Msweli, a career coach and CEO of

Hesed Consulting, says sometimes people feel

like their work “becomes repetitive”.

“You tend to do the same thing over and over

again, despite circumstances having changed,”

she says.

Msweli recommends that leaders,

entrepreneurs and business owners spend time

exposing themselves to a different industry.

She is in the business of consulting, but she

“purposefully” spends time in education through

lecturing. She also creates opportunities to

engage with executives in different industries

to see what they consider to be their “best

practices”.

This engagement enables her to see how

they approach problems and how they service

their clients. “Try to pick up trends from other

industries that you can adapt to your own

industry. That makes you relevant.”

“Diversity in thought and experience is the

quickest way to breed relevance and innovation,”

says Msweli, who strongly advocates the power

of travel to expose yourself to other markets. It

can include visiting another city, another industry,

or another group of people that looks and thinks

differently from you and comes from a different

background to you.

Mathibe says you cannot be in the business of

ideas and be lazy to read. “The more you read, the

more ideas will come. You can read newspapers,

novels, manuals, but keep equipping your mind.

Keep reading.”

Get help

Desai says speaking to other business leaders

and attending seminars to improve your skills is a

Rohit Desai

CEO of Awesome

Confidence Coaching

Photos: Supplied

Vumile Msweli

Career coach and CEO of

Hesed Consulting