Business Solutions for Spring 2021

SPRING 2021 7 SOLUTIONS Foster Creative Thinking With the Four C’s H ow many times have you said, “Why didn’t I think of that?” We’re often surprised by, or envious of, great ideas we see at trade shows or in industry publications. We admire those with seemingly innate abilities to create something from nothing but sometimes discount our own potential for creativity. Or we simply wait for breakthrough ideas to emerge spontaneously as the result of “eureka”moments. While new ideas can turn up “out of the blue,” successful compa- nies make a point of actively and consistently fostering creativity. Now more than ever, your business needs to adjust to changing circumstances to stay competitive and profitable. To encourage the creative process at your workplace, keep in mind the four C’s of creativity—Culture, Conditions, Context, and Collaboration. Culture – Establish a business environment where creativity is solicited, rewarded, and celebrated. Let your employees know that cre- ativity is valued. Ask for new ideas and creative solutions to problems. Reward employees when they come up with ways (big or small) to increase efficiency, improve service, or reduce costs. Finally, celebrate those ideas that make an impact and add value to your organization. Conditions – Give your employees the resources they need to be creative. This can be as simple as allotting time during the business day for discussions, research, and brainstorming. Context – Provide a clear target or specific goal. “Go be creative” is too vague to produce meaningful results. Instead, ask your employees to develop solutions for specific challenges. Give enough direction to point the way but resist being too directive, since that could actually inhibit creativity. Even “crazy” ideas frequently con- tain a bit of brilliance in them that can lead to practical applications. Collaboration – Diverse groups tend to generate the most creative ideas since a range of expertise and viewpoints stimulates the kind of discussion that leads to innovation. To take advantage of this dynamic, establish teams comprised of people from different depart- ments. You may also want to involve customers, vendors, and key stakeholders in the creative process to bring outside perspectives to the process. TRIED-AND-TRUE APPS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES There are thousands of productivity apps out there to help you do everything from managing your to-do list to staying on top of business expenses. If you don’t have the time to wade through a long list of apps, check out this short list of some of the best and most popular ones: • Best for time tracking: RescueTime, Toggl, Eternity Time Log • Best for project management: Basecamp, Trello, Asana • Best for team communication: Slack, Stride, Skype for Business • Best for customer relationship management: Streak, Insightly, Nimble • Best for accepting payments: Square, PayPal Here, Dwolla • Best for accounting: QuickBooks Online, Freshbooks, Wave • Best for creating and sharing to-do lists: Wunderlist, Evernote, OmniFocus Of course, apps are just one category of tools to boost small business efficiency and productivity. Others include the services provided by Panora Telco and Guthrie Center Communications. Visit panoratelco.com or guthriecentercom.com to learn more.