5 Ways to Promote Innovation in Your Company

Aged Care and Disability Beverage Manufacturing Blog Digital Transformation & CX Field Sales Field Service How To

There are billions of businesses around the world today. With such density, it can be challenging to set your company apart from thousands, if not millions, of competitors. The answer is innovation! Innovation has always set apart great companies from the rest. Companies that focus on innovation have always stayed relevant and well ahead of their competition.

Companies such as Apple, SpaceX, Tesla, or even Amazon, have not always been the giants that they are today. Through innovative products and services (and visionary leadership), they have managed to beat the traditional giants of their industries.

The main characteristic we see in these companies is that they all have a rich company culture that promotes innovation from top to bottom. This is headed by leaders who believe in innovation to their core.

If you’re wondering how you can transform your business into an innovation-forward company, look no further!

1. Create the Right Office Culture

Creating a company culture has always been a top-down approach. Unless the leadership demonstrates that they live and breathe the culture within the organization, you won’t see the results.

Leadership that encourages its people to find solutions to tough problems breaks traditional departmental silos, eliminates strict hierarchies, and highlights the reason to care (The WHY) are essential leadership qualities in a culture that promotes innovation.

2. Encourage Your Team to Experiment

Truly innovative companies are always known to support employees in experimental ideas. Employees are free to explore their creative ventures and maximize their creative potential.  These companies reward their employees for experimenting, and failure in the process is not punished. Companies must have processes in place to capture and promote each and every idea which comes out of their people.

Let’s take the example of Buzzfeed; its video producers constantly create out-of-the-box video content. Their employees having creative control over what they produce motivates them to keep creating and innovating for their company.

3. Upskill Your Team

This is one of the areas that some more traditional organizations fall behind the tech giants. The companies that stay relevant in their respective markets ensure that their staff are always up skill and always look at ways to do things better.

Therefore this can be seen as the birth of innovation. In order to create a truly innovative culture within your organization, you must have a team willing to embrace technology and change.

4. Promote Honest and Open Communication

This is a must-have for any healthy organizational culture. When it comes to promoting innovation, a healthy work culture based on trust, respect, and openness is extremely important.

Open and honest communication between all levels of employees and their leadership is the foundation for this. The goals, the why, and the rewards must be communicated openly across the organization.

5. Hire the Right People

We all know about companies such as Apple, Google, and Tesla that they know how to hire people who fit into their culture. Hiring the right people is one of the most important things in running a business, as having the wrong people can destroy the very culture you are trying to build.

Don’t forget to hire people who believe in thinking outside the box and who are not scared to challenge the status quo.

Bonus: Revamp Your Office Space

Some of you may not agree with me here, in my opinion the office layout and its interior decoration will play a massive role in promoting innovation within your organisation. I personally believe all the fancy office environments you see in organisations such as Google, Facebook and other tech companies are all focused on encourage innovation within their employees.

Final Takeaway

These are the six most important things you should consider when promoting innovation at your company. Also, don’t forget that you won’t see results overnight; patience is a must!

About Author

Dasun Premadasa is the Founder and CEO of DASCX, the premiere B2B CX consulting firm for manufacturers in Australia. With over two decades of experience including four large CX and digital transformation programs at 4 different manufacturing and automotive firms in Australia, he's one of the best business technology experts for B2B customer experience.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts