Have you ever noticed that your best creative work often is inspired when you break our normal patterns or routines?
In his book DRIVE, Danile Pink explains a new program that a lot of organizations have started to adopt. This program – called Fed-Ex Days – and its concept were developed by the team that runs Atlassian, an Australian programming firm. A Fed-Ex day is a day where employees work on a project of their choice with only a handful of rules.
- First, whatever project they choose to work on cannot be a part of their normal job.
- Secondly, employees only have 24 hours to work on their project; hence the name Fed-Ex day.
- Finally, each employee must present their creation to the rest of the team the following day.
More and more companies are embracing these non-traditional concepts to engage employees and allow them opportunities to think, process, and develop their personal creativity. Good creative leaders understand that personal creative development – the development of better art in general – creates better, more creative, and more engaged employees.
What is a project you would work on if your organization adopted this strategy?
What are some of the ways you or your organization create space for employees to be their creative best?
Google does 80/20 or 20% time where employees are suppose to spend 20% or one day a week doing whatever they want that is not part of their job. A culture of innovation is one with margins.
Here is an old school article on it.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/googles-20-percent-time-in-action.html