1. Let Employees Innovate on Their Terms
Studies show that innovation is cited as a key strength of a company, by 81% of digitally mature companies, compared to just 36% of other businesses. For innovation to become a core feature, though, you must allow all workers to innovate. More importantly, it must be both convenient and accessible for them.
Innovative ideas may surface at any given moment - whether it's while enjoying a morning walk or in the midst of a coffee run. You cannot simply allocate a specific time-slot for employees to be innovative. This is why a year-round innovation program is critical, as it allows for continuous idea generation and fosters an open culture where workers feel free to innovate when the time is right for them.
The right innovation management tools can help facilitate this process by providing a platform for workers to submit and develop their ideas in real-time. This can result in a more productive and dynamic work environment, where employees are encouraged to think outside the box and bring their unique perspectives to the table.
2. Encourage Innovation at All Levels
As well as taking a flexible approach to innovation, it should also become a central feature of your company culture that extends to every member of the team. Junior members are often reluctant to offer up their ideas because they know that they’ll have to jump through several hoops just to get heard.
Employing innovation management tools ensures that all employees can work on innovations and have their ideas heard and seen. Given that 79% of employees quit due to a lack of appreciation, it isn’t only a key step for streamlining the innovation process, it also aids employee retention rates.
3. Use the Right Tech Tools
Business landscapes have evolved at a rapid rate, not least thanks to tech. Its role within the innovation process cannot be emphasized enough. At least 30% of companies now actively want to embrace technology to improve innovation strategy, as well as product development speeds and cost-efficiency.
It is important to utilize tech tools that are easy to use and simplify the innovation process. From idea submission through to implementation, the less complex the tools are, the easier it is for all employees to partake in company-wide innovation and the more democratized innovation becomes.
As part of our end-to-end innovation suite for example, employees can submit their ideas using a simplified process via the innovation platform. All that is required for an initial idea submission by the innovator, is for them to fill out a form in which they enter a title, along with brief descriptions of both the problem and the proposed solution.
4. Stop Dwelling on Failed Ideas
If you want to truly make innovation a part of your company's DNA, you have to accept failure. The reality is that 95% of product innovations fail. Sadly, dwelling on failures could prevent you from identifying a potential success story.
Psychological safety should be on the agenda. Various tools like KICKBOX Intrapreneurship for example, promote internal communication, autonomous working, and “thinking out loud” without ridicule. It streamlines the process of separating successes and failures. It also encourages employees to keep presenting their ideas.
5. Create a Clear Company Ethos
It is far easier for innovation to take place when every member of the team both understands and expresses the company culture through the way they work. This enables them to think about new ideas within the context of the firm’s existing frameworks and ongoing objectives.
However, a survey of executives found that nearly 60% of them were unsure if they had the right people on their team to drive innovation. This uncertainty can have a negative impact on even the most talented innovators, as it creates ambiguity and makes it difficult for them to understand how their ideas fit into the overall framework of the company. To ensure that innovation thrives, it is important to foster a clear and inclusive company culture that encourages creativity and innovation from all employees.
Streamlining the process of corporate innovation requires a multi-angled approach. While it is crucial to create a company-wide innovation culture and encourage innovation at all levels, you won't reap the fruits of it if the right innovation management tools are missing.
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