To thrive in today’s hyper-competitive corporate landscape, your business should not go with the flow but rather disrupt the current. Continuous improvement and innovation are important - not just in terms of products but also in work culture. However, while 84% of company executives acknowledge the value of workplace innovation, only 6% of them are satisfied with their strategies and performance outputs.
Improving your employee’s work environment and mindset can be challenging, but it is not impossible. Read on to learn four ways to build a culture of innovation in your company.
1- Encourage Disruptive Thinking
To create a culture of innovation and creativity, you must allow your employees to speak their minds. Do not reprimand them for recommending an unorthodox solution or for suggesting a shortcut to your established work process. Moreover, let them share their strange or novel product or service ideas.
Remember that disruptive and design thinking leads to breakthroughs. Think of industry-disrupting businesses with risk-taking executives like Netflix. If its executives lacked an open entrepreneurial mindset to transition to an online streaming service, then Netflix wouldn’t be valued at $125 billion today.
2- Promote Workplace Diversity
A team made of racially and ethnically diverse members is 35% more likely to outperform their culturally-restricted counterparts. This is not surprising since a team with people from different demographics has more ideas, knowledge, and experiences to share. If you want your business to be innovative, create a culture of diversity and inclusion.
Build an agile culture where impartial treatment, healthy interactions, and other positive core values are instilled. Moreover, help your minority employees be comfortable and familiar with other members of the team by facilitating constant collaboration and employee engagement.
3- Employee Autonomy Translate to a Culture of Innovation
As a leader, there are many ways you can empower your team and make them more productive and innovative. One way is by giving them more autonomy. While it’s alright to supervise them and ask for updates, avoid micromanaging every aspect of the tasks you give them. Micromanagement is not only counterintuitive; it can also impact morale and make your employees feel like you lack confidence in them.
Allow your employees to act on their own and initiate idea generation and solution experimentation. Don’t be afraid that they’ll make mistakes. Instead, create a learning culture where all outcomes — both positive and negative — are treated as valuable learning experiences that will benefit both workers and your company alike.
4- Incorporate New Technology
Around 76% of companies already use automation tools to streamline their employees’ workflow. Moreover, advancements in digital communication and security have increased the productivity and safety standards of many businesses. If you want an innovative workforce, the most straightforward way is to incorporate innovative technologies. By using these advanced solutions, you gain access to other capabilities like targeted marketing, open innovation, and automatic customer data analysis. All of these can help you stay ahead of the competition and adapt to the rapidly changing corporate landscape.
From encouraging design and disruptive thinking to incorporating advanced technology, there are several ways to build a culture of innovation in the workplace. To know more about entrepreneurship and the latest tech innovations in the corporate world, visit the James F. Kenefick website to find learn more.