Unlocking Creativity: Innovation Spaces to Foster Intrapreneurship

Fostering intrapreneurship is a key ingredient in the recipe for sustained growth in business, not least because championing innovation is statistically shown to boost both revenue (by 11%) and EBITDA (by 22%). While innovation requires a comprehensive approach that covers many factors, establishing dedicated innovation spaces should be one of the top items on the agenda.

Innovation spaces are essentially designated areas for brainstorming and working on new ideas. Here’s why they, along with tools like KICKBOX, should play an essential role in your corporate innovation strategy.

The right surroundings actively encourage innovation

All employees are influenced by their physical surroundings. As such, well-designed innovation spaces can support creativity and productivity. For starters, simply removing themselves from the spaces where they complete their standard tasks can help employees be more creative and innovative. Meanwhile, open innovation spaces with the right tools can promote increased happiness, leading to a 13% increase in productivity.

Providing innovation spaces for employees to actively work on their ideas is a surefire way to boost intrapreneurship and encourage a culture of innovation.

 

Making time for intrapreneurship

Flexibility can play a big role in promoting intrapreneurship. Evolving workplaces play a key role in the process of fostering an adaptive corporate culture that promotes innovation. When you have spaces that employees can work from when creativity strikes, there is a clear sign that you want employees to innovate. When this flexibility is combined with the freedom to innovate at any time, rather than within set timeframes, the potential for success increases even further.

 

Innovation spaces take collaboration to the next level

Collaboration underpins open innovation in the modern era. It is now necessary to collaborate with multiple departments, as well as parties from other companies and the clients themselves. KICKBOX has helped ZF deliver customer-focused innovation through collaborative processes. Even with digital tools that support innovation with real-time insights, face-to-face interactions remain vital.

Open innovation spaces create this dialogue, which can help motivate employees and allow them to work on both the positive and negative aspects of an idea. Such spaces may include brainstorming areas, maker spaces, co-working spaces, and innovation labs, and they provide a safe and supportive atmosphere where employees, partners, and clients can engage in open dialogue and exchange ideas freely, without fear of criticism or judgment. 

 

Innovation spaces can help prevent burnout

Aside from the challenges from a mindset perspective, trying to shoehorn a few minutes of innovation into the standard working day can cause burnout. The strong links between physical burnout and reduced innovation have been statistically shown to support anecdotal suggestions. The short walk to a different part of the building can provide a physical and mental reset, thus leading to improved results from intrapreneurs.

In addition to supporting innovation, this may translate to improved results in a wide range of additional daily business matters.

 

Dedicated spaces for intrapreneurs remove the  fear of failure

The majority of innovations will fail. However, innovation spaces can foster a sense of psychological safety if employees feel reassured that any ideas generated in these spaces will not be judged. In turn, this encourages them to be creative without limitations, especially when a culture of learning from past failures has been cultivated. It will also promote company-wide innovation.

While intrapreneurship should never be limited to innovation spaces, those dedicated areas will form the foundation for building a better culture.

To learn how products like KICKBOX can integrate with your innovation spaces, get in touch today!

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