How to Innovate at the Organisational Level

If every organisation is claiming that they are innovative, what does that really say? These days innovation is pervasive, it is hard to get beyond the word and stay ahead of its definition. If you are the leader of an organisation, you are at length responsible for setting the stage and tone for creative thinking. There are a multitude of ways to nurture creativity within your organisation, but certain strategies have proven more effective than others.

Innovation Requires Time

The big question is, how much time does it require? Our branding agency in Dubai has seen different companies do it in different ways. One way is the 15% culture, where employees dedicate 15% of their time to innovative thinking. From this strategy, the company 3M came up with the Post-It note.

Taking it further, Google allocates 20% of an employee’s time to be dedicated to innovation, and as a result, their employees have successfully established Gmail and Google Earth.

Innovation Requires Space

Our brand and design consultancy in London has observed that a culture of innovation often stems from people being comfortable in their own workspaces. Providing such spaces for thinking outside of the box effectively encourages innovation amongst your workforce. Companies like Zappos have optimised its campus for innovation by giving employees various workspace options like a rooftop patio, a miniature golf course, and perhaps most importantly, a nap room.

Innovation Required Recognition

Leadership is vital to innovation because if they want innovation to play a key role in their organisations, elevating it has to be among their top priorities. This means that they have to go beyond talking about it, and openly reward those that are doing it. Our financial services brand consultancy has witnessed some companies offer compensation and gifts for those who demonstrate progressive ideas, and doing so acknowledges the importance of innovation throughout their organisations.

Innovation Requires Interaction

In order to innovate at an organisational level, leaders must make a conscious effort to inspire it at a personal level too. As a professional services brand consultancy, we have acknowledged that dialogue is important because innovation can be inspired by conversation. Rather than challenging ideas, leaders should allow people to openly share them and leaders should actively listen without judgment.

In Conclusion.

Finally, remember that innovation doesn’t happen; it must be led. The right leadership teams can ensure that innovation thrives by giving it the time, space, recognition, and interaction it deserves to permeate throughout the organisation and truly drive change.

 

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