This comes from the March 2009 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. The author, Sara Wilson, gives 5 ways to spur employee creativity:

1. Engage employees from all departments in brainstorming sessions. I addressed this in the episode on brainstorming.
2. Encourage and enable employees to pursue outside interests. This was touched on in the episode on leadership.
3. Create an inspiring work space. This was mentioned a bit in the brainstorming episode in relation to the environment for the brainstorming session. And of course, having an inspiring work space in general helps spur creativity.
4. Fund extracurricular projects or classes. Related to encouraging and enabling employees to have outside interests.
5. Lower cubicle walls. This is similar to the traditional Japanese model where there are no cubicles, where peoples’ desks are just put together in a large room. The idea here is that it helps foster teamwork. (I would note that it’s also nice to have a quiet, private place to work.)