Innovation can be an elusive concept that many chase yet often struggle to grasp. To cultivate innovation and nurture the ideas of any kind in the workplace, the right conditions need to be met.
As a business owner, it is your job to help create and care for these conditions. There is no need to start panicking, however, as this should be a team effort that thrives on talented individuals’ input and grows with time.
Navigating the pitfalls of management and business is imperative to get to a point in your career as a strong, reliable leader.
Here are some tips to help you and the workforce flourish in an environment of innovation, develop an inspiring company culture, and direct you on your journey to success.
Promote the Value of Education
It can be easy to become complacent in business. If your processes are running smoothly and your employees know exactly what it is they need to do at any given moment, you might feel entirely comfortable with rejecting change.
The ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ mantra may provide results for a while, but failing to strive for positive change and innovation can be a quick way to land your company in a state of stagnation.
Committing yourself to continuous learning and promoting the value of education among your team is a superb method of nurturing an environment that thrives on progression rather than inaction.
Getting an MBA
If you need to hone your existing skillset in a highly respected academic environment, or you want to fully prepare yourself for the modern landscape of business and how to support your company as you move toward a brighter future, getting yourself an MBA might be the right way to go.
Even in a virtual sense, returning to the classroom comes with a wealth of various benefits that stretch far beyond that of a certification (although that is exceptionally good too).
In fact, remote learning opportunities are worth exploring regardless of how busy you happen to be, as the flexibility offered can make them viable for those of you with the most crowded schedules.
Advanced learning opportunities are ideal for bouncing ideas off like-minded individuals, ideas that can lead to practical application, thus driving innovation and change.
You might want to check out Leading Change: 5 Ways an Online MBA Can Help, for some much deeper insight into how great institutions can support your professional development.
- It is never, ever too late to return to education. It is often the catalyst that reveals an opportunity and drives progression.
Listen to New Ideas
If one of your employees has a new idea, why not listen to it? Just listening is a good place to start, as it can help people feel like they are free to speak without judgment.
It can be difficult to urge people to reveal their ideas, however, but thankfully, there are more than a few steps you can take to make sure that you nurture an environment of ideas.
Create physical space to collaborate – If everyone is always sat at the same desk, never moving around the office to talk to colleagues from different departments, the levels of communication will start to break down, and people will have a hard time expressing their ideas to anyone other than the clique they have formed. Creating a physical space for your employees to get together and collaborate is a must.
Hotdesking might be a good way to do this – if you feel comfortable doing so and can stay COVID safe, that is.
Developing a Nice Atmosphere – Working in a grim and depressing atmosphere is likely nobody’s idea of a wonderful vocational experience. Not only does it hurt productivity, but it can dampen the ideas creation process, thus leading to a decrease in innovation across the board. Developing a good atmosphere can be done simply by smiling, encouraging your staff, and making sure they are comfortable and that they feel safe and cared for.
If your workforce is entirely remote, they might need some extra support, so checking in on how their wellbeing is doing and whether or not they have the right equipment is vital.
A Good Old Fashioned Ideas Box – Some people are terrified by public speaking, so a big brainstorming session in front of the entire department might not work out that well for everyone. Until the employees in question learn this valuable skill, a good old-fashioned ideas box for anonymous thoughts could be a good addition to the office.
Even if none of your employees have a problem speaking their minds, this can still be a good way to catch some thoughts on the fly and allow people with busy schedules to put their ideas on the table.
Seek Advice from Experts
Reaching out to those who have gone before you is part of the networking process, a business essential in many ways.
Sifting through your list of connections, even fot just call up an old friend or colleague for a chat, can help you get an idea of what others did to cultivate their own culture of innovation.
This can also pertain to reaching out to your own employees and asking them what they would like to see changed or what they would do to encourage ideas.
Employee Feedback
Employees having to suffer their way through a toxic company culture is a mightily upsetting affair, and unfortunately, an aspect of the modern business that still happens today.
Encouraging feedback and acting on it is essential to avoid this happening to your own team members.
Employees might have a hard time generating ideas if they do not feel comfortable enough to talk about the quality of their everyday working life.
As a leader, your role should be to support your employees and supply them with the means they need to thrive.
Moreover, feedback is incredibly important in the product development phase, from both employees and customers.
Customer Feedback
No matter what kind of products or services your company has to offer, the customer needs to be kept in mind. After all, they are the ones who you need to impress!
Customer feedback can be used to influence new ideas, develop products in the eyes of those who will utilize them, and increase your brand’s marketability.
Implementing customer feedback does not just serve innovation alone, it is an undertaking that generally tends to improve many aspects of business, such as:
- Areas of improvement – Areas that need improving can be difficult to see when you are too close to a product, which is why outside input is so important.
- Creating Loyal Customers – Customer loyalty is invaluable in business. Loyal customers can become brand advocates and help bolster those sales figures overall.
- Brand Image – Brands that commit to altering their products to suit their customer’s needs tend to be well received by their fans. Saying that you listen to customers is all well and good, but actually showing them by making tangible changes is even better.
- Marketing – You can put yourself in a strong position if you can market a product that the customers essentially helped design. Just think of that age-old marketing sentiment: You Talked, We Listened.
Innovation should be a company-wide concept to adhere to, one that is not confined solely to the product development process or your business planning efforts. This is why cultivating a company culture that accepts positive change and innovation as part of its very values and foundations can be so important.
Listening to the customers and working alongside them and their feedback is a fantastic way to begin building a great all-encompassing outlook on modern business.
It is not always easy to get hold of customer feedback unless you actively implement channels and incentives for them to deliver it to you.
Surveys, vouchers, and follow-up emails are all fairly decent ways of getting hold of this information when done properly, but for a more immediate approach, you could consider introducing live chat options to your company website.
Embrace the World’s Diversity
The world is beautiful because of diversity, and your teams should represent that same diversity if you hope to come up with the best possible ideas.
Innovation often thrives on a vast array of inputs instead of just one or two perspectives and lived experiences.
This can also help create a workplace setting where people feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, ideas, and experiences without feeling ignored or overlooked due to a lack of inclusivity.
Despite the many benefits that diversity in the workplace can bring, some businesses still lack the common sense to make it happen, even if they say otherwise.
Leading the charge and promoting your workplace as a diverse, enjoyable working environment where satisfied employees come up with spectacular ideas on a regular basis may help you attract top-tier talent. Plus, you can be part of a better business landscape as you move into the future.
Supporting Talent
Top-tier talent can make big waves in a company, and efforts should be made to try and attract and support candidates who fit this description.
This can make a business better for everyone, not just the talent in question. A company that actively supports its employees and sees them as more than just a number at the end of the day sounds like an enticing option.
In many instances, this means investing in your team. Offering them training opportunities and courses fairly regularly is a good way to keep your team engaged while supplying them with the tools required to thrive.
Employees need to be able to progress throughout their careers to avoid feeling stagnant and disillusioned, so giving them the chance to move to the next rung of the ladder is a must.
Implementing Software
Perhaps the old days of sitting around a whiteboard and shouting ideas at each other across a table full of coffee cups are not exactly gone, but rather, have taken on a different form.
Remote working is probably somewhat to blame for this, but this does not have to be a negative.
Implementing software solutions can help you drive innovation, while in some cases, allowing you to keep up with the whiteboard brainstorming session in a virtual sense.
For example, collaboration software like Slack, Trello, and Teams can allow your employees to communicate and edit documents in real-time, wherever they happen to be in the world. You may also consider getting an ECM software so your team can better manage your business documents.
Sometimes, this can be easier and safer than trying to get everyone together in the same room at once. If people have a eureka moment out of the office, they can simply jump on the shared collaboration platform and share it with the rest of the team.
Of course, this by no means entails banning the physical meeting entirely, unless you want to. But since the world has had to get used to their bedroom offices, it might be worth utilizing the services of Virtual Office London and adopting an amalgamation of in-person and remote working when moving into the future of business.
Without some great software to support you, this will likely be extremely difficult indeed. Innovation management software might be a good fit for anyone specifically looking to support the ideas side of the business, and there are plenty of great options to choose from.
Avoiding the Burnout
Pushing your employees too hard to come up with ideas can be the antithesis of what makes innovation rear its head.
Moreover, it can lead to burnout, a rising problem since the start of the pandemic. Burnout can be exceptionally hard to have to deal with, and it can bring the atmosphere of the entire workplace down.
Remembering to allow time for rest is crucial, as thinking becomes a challenge when all you do is work constantly. Be sure to give your staff the opportunity to take regular breaks and not feel pressured that they have to constantly be working all of the time.
Avoiding burnout and checking in on your staff can help you avoid a dip in productivity and performance, hopefully keeping those innovation levels rising through the roof.