Over the past six months as Product Development Manager, I have had the opportunity to evaluate our organization’s approach to product development and innovation. I’ve concluded that many of our practices are outdated and inefficient. In order to keep pace with our competition, we must adopt new practices and procedures that ensure that our employees are in an environment that encourages the development of new thoughts and ideas for our products.

Creating a comfortable environment in the workplace is one of the most crucial aspects in inciting employees to create to new and innovative products and ideas. I’ve noticed that many of the employees seem to be fatigued throughout the day and that the employees don’t seem to connect and communicate as a whole. We must facilitate our employees with the tools they need to think innovatively and correspond with their colleagues. I have found that when separated in groups of four to six people, employees are able to thrive off of each other’s ideas and develop brilliant ideas. This also allows the employees to get to know one another better and in return, creating a closely knitted work environment.

Fulfilling our employee’s needs also includes creating and easygoing atmosphere and giving them breaks when necessary. We can accomplish this by setting up a break room with a fun, relaxing feel that they can use at their digression. We can also let our employees know that they can talk to us if they are feeling stressed or overwhelmed. I think we can also get ideas flowing by holding weekly meetings to get an idea of what the employees would like to see happen and what we can do to help them create new and innovative ideas.

I have observed that when employees get into a daily routine of doing the same activities, their creativity falls well below the average level. Bringing fun and different practices into our workplace would spark creativity and allow our organization to thrive in the development of new products and innovation. Overall, there are many simple changes we can make that will make this organization the best it can possibly be.

Olivia HoveyProduct Development Manager