Creativity takes many forms. There are the great works of art that transform how we see the world but there is also the inventive friend that worked out how to connect to the speaker when Bluetooth stopped working. It might be a new way of working to get round a tricky situation and let's not forget the enterprising local businesses that were able to stay open during lockdown by changing their offering and adding a delivery service. Creativity is like smoked paprika; that special ingredient that makes practically everything better, even when it looked like it might be a disaster.

Lockdown was a great example of the importance of creativity in business, as businesses small and large adapted the services they offered and the way they operated. Creativity has a much bigger role to play in businesses; at every level it is the ingredient that allows business to thrive and grow, while keeping the team that make that possible happy and motivated.

Competitiveness and innovation

Operationally speaking, the area where creativity makes its clearest mark is in the way you offer your services and compete with others in your industry. The good use of creativity can make what you offer extra tasty in comparison and the obvious choice for potential clients or customers. It can go further than this though; a creative mindset leads to innovation, and innovation can transform the field for everyone.

Whether it’s a much better way to deliver your service or making use of something previously ignored. WeTransfer did this in the file sharing world when they developed a service that didn’t need sign-ups and created a new canvas for advertising. This shows the importance of creativity and the creative mindset, from the bottom line to the essence of how you operate - it can change everything.

Innovation in action

We had the honour of telling the story of WeTransfer through whiteboard animation, but one of the clients we have worked with that has shown the power of innovation and the way it can be used the most is ProxyAddress. Chris Hildrey created ProxyAddress as a way to help people experiencing homelessness overcome the challenges that come with not having an address, a defacto form of ID. Since its launch, ProxyAddress has won multiple awards and helped those experiencing homelessness access key services. ProxyAddress is a prime example of how a creative mindset can lead to innovation and something truly groundbreaking.

The impact of a creative workplace on your team

The importance of creativity in business doesn’t stop there. Beyond the ways innovation and competitiveness can be improved, a creative business mindset can also lead to a happier team - the people making everything possible. Best Practice Consulting list just some characteristics of a creative workplace as:

• Better teamwork and team bonding

• Increased workplace engagement and interaction

• Increased workplace problem solving and productivity

This can lead to a happier work environment, which brings its own benefits - beyond the most important of course, a happy, healthy and more actualised team. In his book, The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor found that a happy workplace results in a:

• 37% increase in sales

• 31% increase in productivity

• 19% increase in task accuracy

Creativity future proofs your business

The pandemic has reminded us, as if it were needed, how fast things can change. The pandemic just sped up the changes - however, we were already whisking our way towards the future of work. If the Future of Work were a movie, the synopsis might read (imagine it in the ‘movie voice’ as well):

“In a future not so far away, with automation on the rise, only one thing stands between inconspicuous companies and monotony - creativity! The last bastion of uniqueness and innovation, will creativity triumph or is the future … stagnant?!”

This is one movie ending we’re going to spoil, creativity wins! But automation is and will increasingly change how our companies run. It will pick up more of the basic tasks, making the need to be competitive and to innovate in every industry much more essential. This will bring the importance of creativity in business to a new level, as we develop better and better services, products and solutions to stand out against competitors.

This creativity and innovation start now, with the mindsets of our companies and the skillsets of our staff. The combination of vision and talent will stand organisations in good stead as technology continues to develop. The WEF predict that creativity, innovation and ideation will become essential skills, and their list of ten key skills the worker of 2025 will need include:

• Analytical thinking

• Creativity

• Problem solving

Embrace creativity in your comms

One area of business where the added flavour of creativity can be especially powerful is communications. A creative mindset here can result in marketing that stands above that of competitors and people in your industry. It also allows you to capture every part of you in the perfect way, from your tone of voice and your ‘why’ to your message in a form perfect for your audience.

Building authenticity and connection, this is an increasingly important part of comms, and something whiteboard animation is perfect for. We have written more about the whiteboard animation process here. From the script and voiceover to the illustration and animation, the creative and custom nature of whiteboard animation can reflect your personality and branding in visual language and storytelling designed just for your message and audience.

For us, whiteboard animation draws on the same core principles as the creative thinking that allows you to innovate and roll with what life brings - purpose, vision and imagination. This creative triangle cements the role of creativity in business - whether you’re improving your service, encouraging collaboration or sharing your vision with the world.

We are passionate about pairing creative ideas and design with the innovation and stories of business, using whiteboard animation to bring you, your ideas and your vision to audiences. If you would like to use whiteboard animation to stand out from the crowd, we’d love to hear from you. Book a discovery call today!