Want your team to come up with better ideas? Try this

"We all know the stories. The best ideas come in the shower, on a walk, doing dishes, or even during everyone's beloved folding of laundry. Here's the thing: it's not a quirk. Movement helps foster creativity. It occupies the body in a repeating pattern that doesn't require the brain to do too many mental pull-ups, which is why it reliably restores access to insight."

"When employees end up performing creativity instead of accessing it, their attention often tightens around the problem. They start monitoring, judging, checking. That pressure narrows perception and makes it harder to notice new connections. If your team is struggling to find creative solutions, do not ask people to push harder. Instead, try to get your team to move so people can relax enough for their creative ideas to flow without force."

"Here are three moments when leaders should watch for and what they should do when they happen. Red-light moments are "fight or flight" situations, with "burn it to the ground" imagination at play. This looks like: Let's scrap the entire project and start over, fire off an unprofessional email, or make an impulsive, on-the-spot "yes" commitment. Perception narrows, patience disappears, and rarely does acting or creating from that charge produce a positive, generative outcome."

Workplace practices often push people to strain for creativity through visible effort and rituals, which usually tightens attention and stalls insight. Simple, repetitive physical movement—walking, showering, doing dishes—occupies the body without taxing the mind, calms the nervous system, and broadens associative search, restoring access to creative connections. When people perform creativity they monitor and judge, narrowing perception and reducing novel linking. Leaders should stop asking teams to push harder during creative blocks and instead prompt movement so staff can relax and allow ideas to surface. Leaders should monitor high-stress “red-light” moments and use brief vigorous movement to discharge fight-or-flight arousal.

Read at Fast Company