The article discusses how to implement a culture of innovation and creativity in the workplace, and what it means for an organization. An innovative and creative culture can lead to refined products and services, strengthens employee retention, the company’s brand, and the ability to attract talent. The article also suggests ways to implement an innovative and creative culture by defining a clear strategy. By hiring the right people, creating an environment that fosters communication and engagement, as well as involving employees organization you can promote an innovative culture.
The macro-environment has become more complex and adds a lot of requirements for organizations to keep up. One way to ensure development within a company is by integrating innovation as a natural part of the corporate culture. This refers to a work environment that encourages employees to share creative ideas and solutions. It is a culture where employees feel confident to brainstorm and shape ideas and are involved in the company’s development. What does the roadmap to an innovative and creative culture look like? This article dives into the topic of what innovative and creative culture is, its perks, and how it’s best implemented.
What is a corporate culture of innovation and creativity?
A corporate culture of innovation and creativity is a work environment that encourages employees to share creative ideas and solutions. It is a company culture where employees feel confident to brainstorm and shape ideas. Thereby, feeling involved in the company’s development. At the heart of this type of work environment is management. When management recognizes the importance of culture and how it can contribute to the development of the company, eventually it will generate growth for the organization. No strategy can promote innovation more than the company’s culture.
What can an innovative and creative culture contribute?
It refines products and services
Having an innovative and creative culture gives good chances for product/service development. It means that the company is up-to-date with the industry and can find areas of potential development.
You can find your blue ocean
All companies strive to be unique in their offering, which means finding the ‘blue ocean’. The term comes from the book ‘Blue ocean strategy‘ (2015), written by Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, which means that companies are product differentiated and have low costs, leading to a non-competitive market – a blue ocean. The opposite, ‘red ocean’, is a highly competitive market where ‘blood is spilled’, the market is tough and players struggle to survive. In addition, all the rules and practices of the red ocean are accepted. The blue ocean is based on the idea that there are no limits to the market. Instead, its rules are set by the players themselves – they shape their own markets.
Employees feel a sense of belonging
Having a culture where employees are empowered to come up with their own ideas contributes to the company’s development. Furthermore, it strengthens the individual sense of belonging and affinity, which is important for employee retention.
It becomes part of the company’s brand
As an innovation-focused organization, it can help strengthen the company’s brand. It indicates that the company is driven and innovative. Moreover, this in turn leads to the next point:
It attracts talent
When an organization’s reputation is innovative, creative and empowering employees to contribute, then talent is more likely to be attracted. According to a survey by Glassdoor, company culture is a key factor in how employees choose their workplaces.
Ways to implement a culture of innovation and creativity
And now the big question: How can I start implementing this kind of culture? Below, we will look at different important points for fostering innovation and creativity.
Strategy
For a company to have an innovative and creative culture, the most important thing is that it is part of the company’s vision and mission. Based on the vision and mission, a company can build its strategy for how to operate, which we explain further in this article. The strategy should include guidelines and a system that can capture innovations and take them forward. This process differs from company to company, so it’s important to meet with corporate governance to discuss appropriate solutions for your strategy and how you manage ideas. By having a clear strategy, you have a clear foundation to build on, which permeates the company in all its activities. Based on a clear strategy, you can set targets for employees, link the company’s purpose to organizational goals and also set goals that encourage creative thinking.
Employees
An organization is only as strong as its employees. Therefore, you must hire people with the specific skills or mentality required to maintain an innovative and creative environment. Sometimes it only takes a few people to express these abilities to influence their co-workers positively, these can be called ‘champions’. The most important thing among employees is that they are motivated, and content with their work situation and feel that their work has a purpose to which they are allowed to contribute. This engages employees and increases the chances that they can take personal responsibility for idea processes.
Communication
Organizational communication plays an important role in whether culture is implemented. In order to ensure a climate where ideas thrive, communication should be driven with a flow within the organization. This means that communication is inclusive and reaches all departments without a hierarchical order. Deliberate communication efforts that promote participation and can stimulate new ideas are essential for an innovative environment. To create these conditions, there must be an acceptance to discuss areas that are not working and demand improvement within the organization.
Engagement
Engagement is closely linked to idea generation. And there are several ways that an organization can increase employee engagement. For example, you can offer employees the opportunity to attend workshops and pieces training. There are many experimental workshops and brainstorming methods that are effective in increasing engagement and creativity.
Another way to increase engagement is to create participation in the organization’s decision-making. When employees feel involved, they are more likely to help the organization, thus creating a drive that is important for an innovative culture. Finally, the organization can use results as a yardstick for things that can be improved. Using results creates expectation and purpose, which also drives engagement.
The organization
The final point involves the organization and how it can be optimized to foster an innovative culture. Among other things, the physical work environment should be conducive to innovation. This means an environment where employees can be creative, using equipment such as different materials and whiteboards to experiment with ideas. A permissive physical environment can also mean an open-plan office where there are no boundaries between employees and everyone can mix regardless of departments or titles. The open office landscape helps break the typical silos that exist between departments. A permissive physical environment can also mean that there are spaces and activities to disconnect from typical work tasks, for example by having ping pong tables, Rubik’s cubes, or the like. Allowing breaks for activities that are irrelevant to the organization also has the potential to motivate employees and provide unexpected input.
Many large organizations with innovative cultures give their employees working time to develop ideas. Google, for example, allows its employees to use 20% of their working time for development and innovation. And it makes sense – if innovation and creativity are part of the company philosophy, they should be incorporated into the schedule.
How we can help you
Do you want to develop your organizational culture but don’t know where to start? For us, it always starts with the board, management, and leadership team. If you have questions regarding corporate governance, we can support you with a board and management evaluation. If you want to learn more about our evaluations, follow the link below and it could be your first step to shaping new innovative strategies.