Rather than being dismissed staff with their feet on the desk, or gazing out of the window as skivers or lazy instead they should be congratulated for seeking inspiration.

The call to encourage workplace cogitation is made in the run up to the first nationwide Share Ideas Day on September 12th amidst fears that too many UK organisations are failing to stimulate creativity at the workplace or in the community.

According to leading creativity expert Andy Green, of creativity@work, too many managers act more like Victorian mill-owners and should move into the 21st century.

New ideas are crucial to future success and are not generated by having staff with their noses to the grindstone.” said Andy. “A simple technique of letting people put their feet on desks enables them to let go of inhibitions, get into a dream-like mood where new thoughts and ideas will waft across their consciousness – and .great ideas can follow.”

He added: “In our surveys we have not come across one person who said they get their best ideas at work. Innovation and creativity are fundamental to future success yet we are creating workplaces counter-productive to cogitation and coming up with new ideas.”

Also backing the call for ‘feet-up inspiration’ is leading TV innovation guru Adam Hart-Davis.

Five warning signs for uncreative workplaces spotted by organisers of Share Ideas Day include:
· Nose to the grindstone – where people feel they have no time, or believe they are under too much pressure to try anything new.
· Blamestorming culture – overlooking the geniuses in most workplaces who get overlooked or ignored.
· No Feedback where customers and staff are rarely asked, ‘How could we do this better?’
· Output overkill – where work is defined by, and driven by narrow targets so people lose sight of the bigger picture.
· Prisoners of scripts - where organisations make people scrupulously stick to a script.

Based on the view that no one is smarter than everyone ‘Share Ideas Day’ aims to harness the tremendous abilities all of us have to create new ideas to improve services or save costs and celebrate idea sharing by inspiring ‘word-of-mouth’ creativity

September 12th was chosen as a symbolic date to mark renewal and the start of a new beginning and the need for new ideas for a better world.

Share Ideas Day is a non-for-profit initiative organised by the Wakefield Media and Creativity Centre and creativity consultancy creativity@work. Already, thanks to co-sponsors the Youth Action Network, internet developer eleventeenth, the RAC Foundation, and Euro Car Parts, there will be Idea Banks for tackling issues from speed cameras and spam e mails to encouraging young people to become active citizens.

The campaign features Idea Banks for specific Action Areas to provide a valuable on-line reference source to extend the sharing of the suggestions, insights and new ways of doing where anyone can submit their ideas.

“Idea sharing is a crucial mechanism for change. The best ideas can come from the unlikeliest of sources. If we can come up with ideas on emotive subjects such as speed cameras, involving young people, or spam e mails, we can all do a little to make our world a better place.” said Andy Green of creativity@work.