This week I am excited for the opportunity to present at the Leelanau Chamber of Commerce Launch, Lead, and Learn Workshop about one of my favorite topics: how to foster a culture of innovation.
With experiences ranging from a boutique consulting firm to a Fortune 500 company to a family-owned company to a nonprofit and now my own business, I have seen a variety of organizational and departmental cultures and what works and does not work to promote innovation. It is rewarding for me to share these stories and insights to help other organizations prepare for 2025: should we call it the year of innovation?
Below is a sneak peak of my insights:
Innovation helps us develop and apply new ideas, methods, products, or services that create value or solve existing problems in novel ways (Source: IMD). Both incremental and disruptive innovation can positively impact organizations.
Why does fostering innovation matter in business? FasterCapital highlights the most significant benefits of innovation from cross-industry CEOS:
- Innovation is a key driver of growth – helping you stay ahead of competition and generate new revenue streams.
- Innovation improves customer experience – helping you better understand customer needs and creating products and services that meet their needs.
- Innovation attracts and retains top talent – today’s workforce wants to work for a company that values innovation, creativity, and personal growth.
- Innovation mitigates risk – helping you diversify product offerings and revenue streams.
Tips for success:
- Encourage experimentation. Some helpful tools include design sprints, storyboarding, and prototyping.
- Normalize failure. It is important to create an environment where discussing failures is encouraged and team members have the opportunity to reflect, identify lessons learned, and pivot into the future.
- Promote creative and active collaboration. I have enjoyed doing this as part of my recent Innovators on Wheels and Innovators on Water events.
- Broaden your perspective. Some helpful tools include analogous research and benchmarking.
Curious to learn more? I am happy to connect with you and your team. I offer customized workshops, team facilitations, and longer term customer discovery and prototyping services to help you foster a culture of innovation and bring your ideas to life.