How to free up more space in your business for creativity

Like most business owners, you probably wish there were more hours in the day. Finding a balance between meeting the required deadlines and keep space Being creative can be hard. But creativity is essential in business, and losing it means losing innovation, efficiency, and (ultimately) revenue.

Therefore, it is important to free up some space in your business for creative endeavors – especially considering Three-quarters are small business owners said inflation had hit their bottom line between July 2021 and July 2022, and 56% expected to feel the pinch at least through the summer of 2023. Creative solutions can mean the difference between financial success and failure.

From a survey of over a thousand executives, Deloitte So-called “high-growth brands” have been found to value creative ideas more as part of long-term success. These brands—unlike brands with less measured growth—also intentionally create an environment that fosters creative thinking and cross-collaboration. Creativity is a key factor in innovation, which ultimately determines a company’s growth over time.

A common reason business owners struggle to find creative time for themselves is because they hire people but don’t delegate effectively. As an owner, you cannot handle everything on your own. While ensuring quality is important, you have to find a way to delegate tasks if you want to maintain balance, stability and creativity. Research According to the Annual Review of Psychology, we need time to allow our brains to wander between tasks in order to fully realize our creative potential. However, it’s hard to find the time when you’re trying to do it all yourself.

The simple truth is that a business cannot thrive when its owner is consumed with micro-managing every aspect of the organization. Instead of spreading yourself thin, focus on the part of your role that adds the most value, prioritize it, and let it grow. Delegate tasks and share authority where you are able. The goal? A company that can operate without your constant supervision, leaving room for you to bring new passions and creative ideas.

Qualities that create an efficient system and leave room for creativity

As a leader, you should strive to create systems that help you find A more creative space Instead of more tasks for your list. Here’s where you should focus your efforts:

1. Procedures

Routine processes enable you to monitor various aspects of the business and maintain quality without micro-managing every detail. Poor or inefficient systems or strategies can not only lead to chaos and loss of capital, but efficient processes also mean spending more time doing what you’re good at, being creative and making better strategic decisions.

A great start would be to improve the day-to-day routines that keep your company running. Successful processes are evidentCan be copied and documented, has support tools and is easy to access.

Well-designed and well-implemented systems (including financial, technology, marketing, people, and operations systems) create consistent experiences for customers and employees and make your business run more smoothly. Solid processes outline how things should be done and provide a way to improve them, saving you time and energy that you could spend elsewhere.

Related: How to take Marie Kondo’s approach to workflow and processes

2. Roles

A big challenge in creating more room for creativity is having well-defined tasks for everyone on the team. You must have a clear job description for each role in your organization. As your company grows, you’ll assign tasks to many employees, and defining roles helps you more effectively manage payroll, set performance expectations, and outline opportunities for innovation.

Fully assigned roles are critical to business because, according to LinkedIn, ineffective management Can lead to low morale and budget overruns. This may manifest in poor planning or role definition, or in more personal matters such as failure to coach or innovate in a role. Buck this trend by clearly defining your team’s scope of work.

Related: What if the roles of boss and employee are reversed? We tried it.

3. Skill

After you’ve determined your company’s roles, you can assign specific, required skills to each. By clarifying what skills are valued and required in each role, you empower your employees to focus their time and effort on the skills that will help them grow in their role. By narrowing their focus, you free up more time and headspace for innovation and creativity.

Skill assignment also ensures that you hire the best-qualified candidates and place them in the most productive roles for your organization. Skills testing should also be an important part of hiring. McKinsey says that 87% Employers see current or potential skills gaps in their companies. Skills testing and clarification can help bridge that gap.

Related: How to acquire soft skills and measure them successfully

4. Structure

The best way to create an effective organizational structure is to create it before you need it. As with systems optimization and role definition, providing organizational structure means employees spend less time fumbling and more time doing the important work you hired them to do. If an employee has a question and doesn’t know where to ask for an answer, progress will stall. Provide structure and reduce confusion.

Toyota is a great example of how structure can affect time management. This Toyota Production System (TPS)

is a program that encompasses all of Toyota’s practices and philosophies, from sourcing materials to customer interactions. TPS was a key factor in the development of “lean manufacturing,” a focus on efficiency in manufacturing. The right systems help you prioritize and manage your time so you have the freedom to work on developing your business with creative solutions instead of just maintaining it.

One way to quickly smooth out inefficiencies is to eliminate unnecessary steps in a company’s operations. Auditing is one way to accomplish this, but automation is another modern solution. Automation can identify and solve a company’s growth problems, reduce wasted resources in poorly designed systems, and increase profits.

As a business leader, your priorities should be achieving great customer results, maintaining a healthy company culture, and finding innovative opportunities for growth. By optimizing systems, processes and roles in your company, you spend less time managing and more time doing what you do best.