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Learning My Way L2-4 Skills, Behaviours and Personal Development

Adding Value, Creativity and Innovation

Introduction

Businesses are constantly seeking to improve performance and keep ahead of the game.

The most successful businesses review their products, services, systems, and procedures to find new and more efficient ways to trade and attract customers.

Creative thinking is a key part of coming up with new ideas or new approaches to business. New ideas could result in a new product - for example, an app or a new service. They could also result in a new process that cuts costs or improves quality - for example, the introduction of artificial intelligence.

Fresh ideas give businesses a competitive advantage and help make their goods or services stand out in the market place.

Entrepreneurs can make use of several different thinking techniques to improve their creativity.

By deploying these skills where appropriate, you could be adding greater value to your employer.

Watch

For those of you who like to watch a short video, here are just a few interesting ones that consider different aspects of creativity and innovation including how to build creative confidence, and the secret to creativity.

How to build your creative confidence

Creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship

The Secret to Creativity

Read

If you prefer to read, here you will find a range of articles that cover many different aspects of creativity and imagination ; is creativity a skill that can be taught or we inherit in our DNA, 10 habits of highly creative people and what are the tangible benefits to a workforce of having a creative team.

Why Employers Value Creative Thinking | CleverismCreative thinking is a key skill that delivers tangible business value to employers.

How to Show your Value at Work: 20 Ways to Prove Impact - WiseStepTo demonstrate your value to your employer, it is important that you know your own strengths and weaknesses. Here are some ways to show your value at work.

Adding Value: How To Get Your Ideas NoticedWhat if you could get people to pay attention and get excited about your ideas and suggestions?

8 Ways to Add Value as an Employee | Career MasterclassEmployees who know how to add value to their job often command higher salaries, more exciting projects, and better job...

Are we born creative?"How brain areas talk to each other is critical when it comes to originality, fluency and flexibility." In highly creative individuals this connectivity is thought to be especially widespread in the brain, which may be down to genes that play a role in the development of pathways between different…

Council Post: 13 Smart Ways To Add Value And Become A ‘Network Benefit’Building a strong network helps you connect with people who can refer customers or provide insights that give you a competitive edge. The key is to ask not what your network can do for you, but what you can do for your network.

Ten Habits of Highly Creative PeopleScott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire explore how to develop creativity as a habit and a style of engaging with the world.

Eight Ways To Add Value To Your CompanyLearn why adding value is important and discover eight ways you can add value to your own work for your employer and customers.

4 Ways to Increase Your Value and Earn a Pay Raise This YearHere are four specific, powerful actions to take to increase your value, advance your career, and earn more money.

Why You Should Think Like a Boss, No Matter What Your Job Title

Do

As with all knowledge, it only becomes truly useful when we start to use it! Here we have sourced a range of short courses and fun exercises to help you develop your creative skills in different ways. Pick what may interest you and start turning your knowledge into useful business skills.

Ignite Your Everyday Creativity

7 Fun Exercises to Quickly Improve Creative Thinking

Stretch and Challenge Yourself

Learning to stretch our thinking skills is integral to accelerating our development. This is a really important part of the learning process, and gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your skills and show progression in your Apprenticeship.

Here are two challenges for you to pick from- should you choose to accept, this will help you to develop critical thinking, evaluation skills and encourage creativity

Challenge 1

Identify a new way that your team could add value to your organisation, Consider the different interactions with other departments, organisations and clients. Create an action plan presenting your recommendation evaluating the advantages and disadvantages to the organisation. Discuss your plan with your manager and ask for some feedback. Reflect on the feedback and identify an area where your recommendations could be improved. Discuss your reflection with your Talent Coach, justifying your conclusions.

Challenge 2

Look at the website for your business. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the site including the current level of creativity and innovation. Recommend at least two improvements to the site, justifying your conclusions. Try to demonstrate creativity and innovation in your recommendations.

Update your Learning Journal in OneFile with your evaluation and your reflections ready to discuss with your Talent Coach at your next review.

Reflect

Reflective practice is, in its simplest form, thinking about or reflecting on what you do. It’s a really important part of learning from experience.

Within your apprenticeship you will be encouraged to reflect throughout your programme, the reason for this is two-fold.

Regular reflection will accelerate your development and help you to identify areas to develop helping you to constantly move forward.
A summary or log of your reflections on your development will be required as part of your endpoint assessment activities. These reflections should demonstrate your ability to 'critically evaluate' your performance and development.

Reflection is a skill and practice will make it easier, it should also be an enjoyable experience and a chance to concentrate on what you need.

To support you to develop this skill we have gathered a range of resources and articles to help you find a reflective model that works for you.

Click on the button below to access the Reflective Practice page for additional resources.

Reflective Practice

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