Innovation is the key of any successful company today. For many companies, however, the pursuit of innovative ideas is missing a key element of creativity. Today, the term creativity is being embraced in offices around the world with some of the top companies. Being creative at work generally means taking risks, which might make you hesitate. Fear of the unknown is a powerful thing, especially when it means you might fail.

Linda Naiman, Founder of Creativity at Work, stated that unlocking creative potential is key to economic growth. For innovation to grow, organizations must create an environment that supports creativity; exchanging knowledge, ideas and shaping the direction of the future. Organizations led by creative leaders have a higher success rate in innovation, employee engagement, change, and renewal.

There are two simple ways to start being creative at work, which are willing to fail and don’t be afraid to try. Here are more details about those two ways.

Be willing to fail

Behind every creative genius are stories of failure. Likewise if organizations wish to cultivate creativity they need to establish cultures where the risk of failure is accepted as part of the deal. The truth is if you’re not failing some of the time, you’re not stretching far enough outside of your comfort zone to keep learning and growing.

One of Sue’s clients recently added the ‘The Best Idea That Didn’t Succeed Award’ to their suite of annual awards to give employees the permission to fail and boost innovation. Owning, discussing and sharing our learnings from failure gives us the courage to be creative, teaches us the value of failing quickly, and normalizes failure as part of the innovation journey.

Let Them Test Their Wings

Laura DeCarlo from Career Directors International stated that, to learn to fly we have to test our wings, and that can mean being given the chance to test and try things, within reason. Like any parent watching their babies fly for the first time, some guidance must be given to avoid death (and disaster). But the truth is in the workplace, you either let them try to express their creativity or you will kill their drive and desire to contribute.

As future leader, you can learn creative thinking in your employees, but it’s also good to remember to recognize and praise it. It can be all too easy to turn down an idea because you think it won’t work, but holding the creative thinkers in your workplace means that innovation will be limited, and they’ll be less likely to keep coming up with new solutions. It’s not just the employees who shouldn’t be afraid to try new things, and possibly the managers as well.