Blackstreet bumps from the speakers.

Petite rubber fish go sailing across the room.

A chorus of laughter, giggles, and the potential burst of singing echos about the building. All tied together with a melody of fingers tapping on keyboards and the click of mice.

Now Say Hello to the CharTec Marketing Department!

Before I started working for CharTec back in June, I would have never thought I would grow to become so attached to a group of coworkers. Prior to working for this company, I had never experienced a work environment where at any point you can find the department manager, events coordinator, and senior designer chanting “Aye, must be the money.” Housing six creatives in one department makes things a bit chaotic, but that chaos is what fuels our greatest asset: creativity.

But creativity is not something that should be isolated to a marketing department alone, it should be practiced in all aspects of the business. It is the basis for all success, as it’s the ability to think in tough situations, work within your means, and identify and solve problems.

For the first installment of our creativity in the workplace series, we’ll focus on building spaces for creativity in the office environment.

  1. Physical Space: Whether large or small, a designated room or place for brainstorming helps your employees separate themselves from distractions and set aside their usual responsibilities for a time, to focus on the task at hand. By being consistent with your brainstorming place, you signal to your staff that creativity will be achieved.
  2. Personal Space: Your employees deserve the freedom to work in an environment where they can feel at home (within reason of course,) and comfortable. In places like this, the employee is more able to create out of the box solutions to your work-world issues.
  3. Head Space: It’s no secret that everyone enjoys some sort of quiet or “me” time. It allows us the ability to think in a space free from disturbances and to truly focus on ourselves. For introverts especially, this time is vital for a healthy work balance.
  4. Clock Space: Without regularly scheduled creative time, it tends to be left until an emergency occurs that demands a timely, innovative solution. Regular creative times and meetings help to keep everyone informed and allow for you to come up with solutions to problems that you may not have known even existed.
  5. Exploratory Space: Here at CharTec, the marketing department is known to take a field trip or two. Whether it’s around the corner to the local market, or together for a team lunch, our department makes sure to invest the time in changing our scenery, which helps to bring about innovative ideas. Don’t be afraid to take the time out to expose your staff to new things as it’s a great way to ignite the creative process.

By keeping these spaces of creativity in mind, you can ensure long-lasting productivity and loyalty amongst your staff. As business owners, what could be more special than that?