What do you do if your workplace lacks a culture of innovation?

Let's be real, not every company moves fast and breaks things. But inertia can too often lock a company and colleagues into their outdated ways. Engaging your colleagues, getting them to participate in the conversation, is a MUST if you're going to help break out of that innovative rut. And remember, not every innovation has to be huge! Especially with companies that are adverse to process changes. Is there a problem everyone's constantly complaining about? Start there. Get them together to talk through ideas and solutions. More often than not, just getting people TALKING will spur the action you're after. Be prepared to lead the charge, even if the change is small. One success opens the door for more. #changeleadership #creativity

Emphasising the importance of experimentation encourages a cultural shift towards risk-taking and innovation. Employees feel empowered to step out of their comfort zones, challenge the status quo, and explore new possibilities without the fear of failure. This cultural shift fosters a dynamic and agile organization that thrives on creativity and innovation.

Some offices can have a culture that somehow just keeps coming up with the same ideas, over and over. One of the best ways to spark innovation is to combine people with different skill sets and life experience to work together. So consider shuffling teams around, especially for creative tasks. Conversations might be less comfortable to work with different types of people, but it's proven to generate fresh thinking. Another way to improve an innovative culture is to reward experimentation. If someone has an idea, give them permission to build a prototype or take it to user testing. When you encourage them to play out the idea with actions, outside of a PowerPoint, they will refine the idea, iterate, and have an even better idea to execute.

Don't focus exclusively on big projects. Jeff Bezos once remarked, "Doubling the number of experiments per year doubles inventiveness." This quote highlights the importance of risk-taking, demonstrating that even incremental, small wins and learnings from failures over time can yield significant results. By embracing experimentation and learning from both successes and setbacks, organisations can achieve a balance of wins that paves the way for further innovation and inspires others to follow suit.

When efforts go unrecognised, people may lack the motivation to engage in more new ideas, unless they're inherently passionate about them.

Everything becomes easier when you have momentum! It's really challenging to get going from a stagnant place. If you or your team are having a hard time starting a task, you may try getting some small wins under your belt in an adjacent area to help build momentum towards accomplishing your goals.