3 Ways To Build An Innovative Culture - Forbes

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When Accenture surveyed 1,000 C-level execs about their culture in late 2021, only 20% of participants were confident that their company culture supported ongoing innovation. With rare exception, an innovative culture doesn’t happen by accident: It’s mindfully nurtured by leaders so it can be embraced at every level of the organization.

In these kinds of workplaces, people aren’t just expected to innovate — they’re given time for it. Like the CEO of GoodRx, who blocks out six hours on his calendar every week for innovative thinking. Or Intel’s “Thinking Time” program, which encourages employees to take their work offline and activate out-of-office messages every Tuesday morning.

If innovation is a low priority in your company, gather leadership and other influencers for an exercise called Commit to Innovation. Inspired by insights from my book, Kill the Company, this technique uses three simple questions to jumpstart innovative activity.

1. What activity will you start doing today to be more innovative?

Examples of innovative activities could include:

I’ll set up and help maintain an idea-submission portal.
I’ll seek one new perspective a week through conversations with an industry resource, vendor or fellow employee.
I’ll collaborate with X unit or Y team member to improve idea-building.

2. As an influencer in your organization, what daily action will you take to encourage innovative behavior from others?

These types of actions might include:

Sharing my own works-in-progress with other business units for feedback and expertise.
Publicly supporting smart risk-taking — and encouraging my direct reports to take smart risks.
Publicizing innovation efforts in real-time across the org.

3. What innovation accomplishments will you help the organization achieve a year from now?

Examples of specific deliverables could be:

I will cultivate and/or nurture external relationships for potential joint-development projects.
I will deliver X project or Y initiative.
I will establish innovation metrics and monitor/report them.

The Commit to Innovation technique helps employees find individual ways to contribute to the collective innovation effort. It also provides a public forum for communicating innovation as a top priority — and committing to it.

To incentivize people beyond this session, consider tracking and rewarding innovative activity, like Tesla and SpaceX do. Or ask employees to provide monthly progress on the innovation activities to which they’ve committed. Over time and through constant re-enforcement, your culture can shift from status quo to a place where innovation thrives.

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