怎样让员工保持活跃的思路？

透视MPW是一个在线社区，商界内外最著名的大咖会在此及时回答有关职场和领导力的问题。今天的问题是，“上班期间如何确保员工有时间发挥创意？”回答者为在线教育网站Udemy人力副总裁Lisa Haugh。

“发挥创意”并不能简单变地成工作内容。好主意可能在任何时间冒出来，可能洗澡时，可能临睡前，也可能出门玩的时候。

然而，创意对公司的成功至关重要，对个人也一样。作为企业领导，我们总是要求团队成员打破陈规，发挥创意，尝试新方式，但如果陷在日常繁琐事务里，总被一堆貌似“紧急”的任务困住，想迸发灵感是很难的。

公司文化不能仅仅鼓励或是要求员工有创意，更要提供时间和空间让员工暂时逃离案头工作。这就意味着摒弃传统观念，不能只盯着员工在办公室伏案工作多久，更要给员工充分的自由，让他们保有自己的习惯，发挥最大的工作潜力并刺激思维创新。

我这家公司秉持的思路是，要招聪明有适应能力的员工，给予充分信任，对他们贡献的时间负责任。在旧金山湾区之类工作竞争十分激烈的地方，提供弹性工作时间和远程工作机会很有必要。当然了，员工也要有跟团队成员积极合作和沟通进展的意识，但不必死守朝九晚五的工作时间。每个人都不一样，有些人早晨创意特别多，有些人则到傍晚思路才活跃起来。

实际上，一天中的任何时间都应该灵活应对。如果有人下午3点就会昏昏欲睡，何不出去散散步或者趁机健健身呢？我们的办公地点离巴克迪罗海湾大道非常近，每次回办公室之前远眺海景都能让我精神放松。一天里只要换换眼前景色都能起效果。应该偶尔去咖啡厅坐坐让脑袋清醒下，然后回到办公桌前继续想办法解决头疼的问题。

公司内部其实也可以提供休息空间。我的公司就有个没安装任何设备的禅室，只在其中一角摆了个安静的小桌，任何人都可随时使用。有位同事是持证瑜伽教练，每周在此开课一节。如果日常工作环境中有太多活动、噪音或让人分心的事，而恰好外面又下雨了没法出去，合适的室内活动也能平抚心情，调整注意力。

我还有另一个建议：如果感觉思路卡住毫无主意，不妨拿起电话找个前同事或者跟工作不相关的朋友聊聊天。跟朋友讲讲手上的麻烦问题，听听客观中立的看法，朋友完全不了解这个行业也没关系。有时最意想不到的人反而能激发出灵感，解开眼前的乱麻。

有时办公室的无心闲聊也会激发创意。当然有时闲聊也会浪费时间。所以我建议需要集中注意力时用技术手段屏蔽干扰。有一些工具可以用，例如OmmWriter就很适合写东西，可以帮人集中注意力并且调整心情。还有很多实用工具可以选择，选个喜欢的就好。我还喜欢一款叫Noisli的工具，可以假装自己正在森林中一间偏僻小屋中工作，耳旁只有温柔的雨声，还有鸟儿吟唱。

最后，也可能有些员工选择完全抛弃电子产品，心无旁骛才能发挥创意。或者抓起笔和纸找个僻静的角落，或者找块白板涂涂画画。画图、头脑风暴，什么都行。形式不重要，也不必担心可行性。

如果你真心希望团队有创造力，首先就要在管理方式上有创造性。把所有人变成一个模子刻出来的不会激活思路，要给人们尝试和想象的空间才行。（财富中文网）

译者: Pessy

审校：夏林

The MPW Insiders Network is an online community where the biggest names in business and beyond answer timely career and leadership questions. Today’s answer for, “How do you give your employees time to be creative at work?” is written by Lisa Haugh, vice president of people at Udemy.

“Be creative” isn’t one of those items on a to-do list that you can simply slot into your day. Brilliant ideas pop up on their own schedule—whether you’re in the shower, about to fall asleep, or out for a run.

Yet, creativity is vital to the success of companies and individuals alike. As business leaders, we exhort our teams to think out of the box, innovate, and try something new, but it’s hard to get into that mindset when you’re caught up in the daily grind and all of those other “urgent” to-dos.

Rather than just encourage or demand creative thinking from your workforce, your company culture needs to be one that gives people time and space to lift their heads from their laptops. That means rejecting traditional preoccupations with how long people spend in the office and at their desks and giving employees the freedom to follow whatever routine brings out their best work and gets those creative juices flowing.

My company subscribes to the philosophy that we should hire smart, adaptable people and then trust them to do their jobs and use their time responsibly. In a hyper-competitive job market like the San Francisco Bay Area, it just makes sense to offer flex hours and remote work. Of course, employees need to be available for collaboration and communicate their progress with their teammates, but they don’t need to conform to a 9-to-5 schedule either. We’re all wired differently—some of us come up with our best ideas first thing in the morning, and others only get going late in the afternoon.

That flexibility should apply to the entire day, in fact. If people hit the 3 p.m. slump, why not let them go out for a walk or gym break? We’re lucky to work not far from the Embarcadero, and I’m not the only one who gets recharged just by looking out at the water before returning to the office. Any change of scenery during the day can have that effect. You could head to a cafe to clear your head and take another crack at the problem that had you bogged down back at your desk.

Companies can provide respites inside the office too. My company has a device-free zen room, and we’ve set up quiet desks in another corner that anyone can use any time. One of our employees is a certified yoga instructor who teaches a class once a week. When there’s too much activity, noise, and distraction where you usually work but, say, it’s raining outside, these alternatives can help calm the mind and bring a renewed focus.

Another tactic I suggest to people: When you’re feeling stuck and uncreative, pick up the phone and talk to a former colleague, or someone else unrelated to your job. Run your sticky problem by your friend for a neutral perspective, even if she has no expertise in the area. It’s not uncommon for the most unexpected person to say something that sparks an idea and clears the clutter.

Sometimes random office conversations generate creative thoughts. Sometimes they get in the way. For that reason, I recommend leveraging technology to block distractions when you need intense focus. Tools like OmmWriter, which was specifically designed for writing, are great for maintaining concentration and setting the right mood, and there are lots of different ones out there so you can find your favorite. I also like Noisli for pretending I’m working from a remote cabin in the woods, listening to the sounds of gentle rain and birdsong.

Finally, employees might consider ditching technology entirely to get their juices flowing. Grab a pen and paper and find a quiet spot. Or get in front of a whiteboard and start scribbling. Draw pictures. Brainstorm. You shouldn’t worry about format or feasibility.

If you’re going to expect creativity from your team, you need to be creative in how you manage them. Forcing everyone into the same mold isn’t likely to yield the best thinking, so give them room to experiment and imagine.