On Becoming an Innovative Culture
Becoming a truly innovative culture is a long and arduous process. No silver bullet exists, and the process is fraught with obstacles. Some actions can help:
• Leadership Priority. Leaders must make innovation a priority for the organization. They talk about it, send out articles, hold ideation sessions, and provide resources for it.
• Innovative Attitude. Leaders can create a culture where risking is honored and mistakes are learned from, not punished. This type of attitude must pervade management actions and communication.
• Action Learning Groups and Round Tables. Innovation takes high levels of collaboration. Leadership can mandate creation of such groups. These groups can be coached or trained to excel.
• Scaffolding. Leadership can provide scaffolding for innovation to succeed. This training doesn’t literally create innovation, but it provides the conditions where innovation can happen.
• Resources. Leadership can provide resources on innovation. These do not have to be expensive: books, articles, training, or ideation sessions can have big impacts.
Cultural Pulse
Evaluate your organization by rating each question from 1 (Hardly ever) to 5 (Almost always). Calculate the average of your answers and rate your score:
1-2.5: Rigid and Life-Threatening
2.5-4: Getting There…
4-5: Innovation City!
• People in my organization learn from their failures.
• Management gives us space to be creative.
• People at all levels of the organization are brought into improvement schemes
• Diversity of thought is encouraged at my organization.
• There are places at my organization for informal gatherings.
• My organization keeps a repository of ideas and products that have not been brought to the marketplace.
• My organization brings suppliers, customers and other outsiders into new product/service discussions.
• Designated people in my organization are always on the lookout for new trends in the industry.