Empowering Your Team - Connect the dots - The newsletter for Innovative Leaders - Friday March 10 - 2023
How to Foster a Culture of Innovation?
Empowering Your Team: How to Foster a Culture of Innovation
In today's fast-paced and ever-changing business landscape, innovation is crucial to the success and growth of any organization. As a new leader responsible for a large team, motivating long-term employees to innovate can be a daunting task.
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However, by empowering your team members and fostering a culture of innovation, you can create an environment where employees are excited to try new things and contribute to the growth of the organization.
Empower Your Team
The first step in creating a culture of innovation is to empower your team members. This means delegating responsibilities and giving employees the autonomy to make decisions within their job description. As a leader, it is important to step back from micromanaging and allow your team members to take charge of their work. By doing so, you can create a sense of ownership among your team members, which can motivate them to innovate and improve their work.
Provide Resources
In addition to delegating responsibilities, it is important to provide your team members with the necessary resources to innovate. This can include access to training programs, funding for new projects, and support from senior leaders. By providing these resources, you can create a sense of support and encouragement among your team members, which can motivate them to take risks and try new things.
Encourage Risk-Taking
To foster a culture of innovation, it is important to encourage your team members to take risks and learn from their mistakes. As a leader, it is important to create an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas and taking calculated risks. By doing so, you can create a sense of experimentation and innovation among your team members.
Support Growth
Finally, it is important to support the growth of your team members. This means providing opportunities for professional development, mentoring, and coaching. By doing so, you can help your team members develop new skills and knowledge, which can contribute to their ability to innovate and contribute to the growth of the organization.
Fostering a culture of innovation requires a shift in leadership style and a focus on empowering employees to take charge of their work. By delegating responsibilities, providing necessary resources, encouraging risk-taking, and supporting growth, you can create an environment where employees are excited to try new things and contribute to the growth of the organization. As a leader, it is important to create a culture of innovation that encourages experimentation, risk-taking, and continuous improvement. By doing so, you can position your organization for success in today's rapidly changing business environment.
This blogpost is fueled from a recent HIQA Episode (Human Innovation Questions Answered). The topic was corporate innovation and how it can change business results. The questions covered included how to innovate while saving costs during the pandemic, how to promote real innovation rather than small improvements, how to motivate long-term employees to innovate, and how to measure innovation efforts in finance administration. Another question unrelated to innovation was also addressed, concerning how to get a new headcount approved in a large organization. Finally, a manager who was experiencing micromanagement from their own manager asked for advice on how to handle the situation.
Have a listen or watch the video of episode.
Have questions?
Feel free to reach out I am happy to help.
Podcasts to innovate:
Natalie Turner joined me to talk innovation capability development and we used a case study of one specific team to explore this concept further.
Natalie is an experienced innovation specialist with over 25 years of experience working as a corporate innovation director, business consultant, and entrepreneur. She has worked with some of the world's leading organizations, including Cisco Systems, GSK, LEO Pharma Asia, Edgewell, and the Singapore Government, to help them build innovation systems, culture, and capabilities, as well as generate new ideas to help them grow their teams and businesses.
Videos that touched a nerve:
Personal branding can play a significant role in building credibility, connecting with clients, and establishing a unique identity that sets one apart from competitors.
Jason Cercone joined me for a podcast interview and shared his view on personal branding.
Books that help me innovate:
Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"Skin in the Game" is a book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb that emphasizes the importance of personal accountability and risk-taking in decision-making.
It argues that having a personal stake in the outcome of a decision leads to better decision-making and a more ethical society.
And don’t forget to Innovate the human way
Jens
P.S.
Have you heard about SUCCEED my leadership Startup?
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