Stumped? Ways 3 Companies Boost Creativity Routine can be a creativity killer. These three companies break the cycle.

Keeping teams thinking creatively is no easy task. To keep employees from getting stuck in a rut, these businesses took out-of-the-box approaches to challenge staff to think in new ways. Learn their strategies -- and soak in their lessons learned.

Mix it up.

Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Gimlet Media makes popular podcasts such as Startup and Reply All -- but early this year, all work froze for a week. Its 45 employees were scrambled into groups and given two days to dream up a new show and produce its first episode. "It was an unreasonably difficult exercise," says cofounder and president Matt Lieber, but the real goal was to shift comfort zones and encourage risk taking. If the exercise spawns new shows, that's a bonus.