Yesterday we hosted a Twitter chat with Chicago Ideas Week. During the #ideaschat we picked up some great, practical tips for scaling creativity.

Here are six tips we wanted to share with you:

Create the right environment

The environment that your employees work in and the culture that surrounds them plays a large role in your company’s ability to scale creativity. At Doejo, we do not believe that creativity and scalability are mutually exclusive: having an interest in scaling widely has helped us work on a variety of client and in-house projects, forcing our team to think outside the box. 

Be flexible

During the chat, someone commented that being nimble is in the DNA of Doejo. We realize that not all agencies are set up this way but most, if not all, are trying to adapt to this format. Today all businesses need to be nimble. Being flexible and lean gives the team the breathing room they need to be creative.

Build Trust

Trust gives employees the confidence they need to be creative and try new things. This trust is essential on every level to ensure that team members can create their best work. The members of the #ideaschat all agreed that no trust equals no creativity.

Because trust is essential to idea execution you must believe in the ability of those around you. A simple way to increase trust is to have your team work in small comprehensive groups. Keeping these groups small helps the team trust everyone present. This intimate knowledge allows people to be more creative.

Understand that skillset trumps job titles

Just because people have complimentary skills doesn’t mean they will create the best ideas or work. It is important to remember that the skillset of your team trumps their job titles. Today job titles rarely cover all that we does anyway. These titles should communicate what you are responsible for but shouldn’t limit you. How you work, your passion and your skills speak volumes.

Be constantly learning and perfecting your skills

We all agree that focused genius is far better than widespread mediocrity. That said, all agencies should be constantly learning and adapting to change and add to their services. When trying to scale creativity don’t ignore a skill or opportunity because it’s ‘not what we do.’ Keeping things very flexible is important because it allows for future growth.

Trust your employees to grow in the culture you provide

Talented people rely on a great environment and a great culture to produce their best work. Trust is helpful here: in addition to sparking creativity trust also retains employees. When a manager shows that they trust you, you want to stay and work hard for that. At Doejo, we believe trusting your team members to ‘own’ a project unlocks a ton of potential. This greater risk often provides a greater reward for the company.

To see larger agencies that are successfully scaling creativity check out RGA and IDEO. We also recommend checking out Coudal’s Theory of Creative Relativity.