3 New Tips in Revisiting Leading a Culture of Innovation

For many leaders the next few months, and most likely next few years, are going to be uncharted waters. We’ve certainly had disruptions and unfortunate events before, but nothing like this complete reset of the foundational approach to the way leaders do business. While there will be ongoing talk about “back to work,” the “talent shortage,” and a rethinking of the “work-life balance,” there is one area of leadership that I think isn’t being talked about enough: how the disruption is impacting the ability to lead a culture of innovation.

For those readers of this blog who have been through one of Advantexe’s Business Acumen programs and subsequent business simulations, you know that we always start with strategy. The most important thing for any company to do is to choose and stick with its value proposition of either Customer Intimacy, Operational Excellence, or Product Leadership. You also hopefully will remember that the concept of innovation is not just about inventing new shiny products; it’s about getting better at everything you do. Walmart is an innovator because of their world-class inventory and supply chain management systems despite being the low-cost player. The Home Depot is an innovator because they train their staff to help customers and achieve outstanding Customer Intimacy. Tesla is an innovator because they have figured out a way to make electronic cars scalable.

So, what’s different now? What should today’s leaders be thinking about when trying to create a culture of innovation to meet the needs of the disrupted business environment? Today, I am facilitating a High Potential Leadership virtual training program for an extremely sharp group of leaders in Asia and the topic is Innovation-led growth. As preparation, I went back and researched some of the literature on the topic of creating a culture of innovation and am pleased to share three tips for current-day leaders to use as you are trying to figure out how to successfully accomplish this goal.

3 New Tips to Create a Culture of Innovation

Demand a safe environment for failing

Innovation takes work. It takes experimenting. And it takes failing a bunch of times to figure it out. In this new remote and hybrid work environment it is easy and logical for employees not to take risks. The fear of failure and losing your job in an environment where you’ve never physically met your manager can be overwhelming. Your job as a leader is to do everything possible to make people feel safe to try and fail. That requires a culture where the blame game is eliminated and the ability to learn from failure is embraced. Now, at the same time, it is also imperative that ineffectiveness can’t be tolerated. Making the same mistakes over and over again will lead to a systemic business failure so there is definitely a right balance that you will need to figure out.

Teamwork AND Individual Accountability

In this new work environment where teams may never meet in person, it is even more critical to create an environment that encourages strong teamwork and figures out the best tools to be collaborative. The good news is that the tools are there. I don’t think there is anyone in this business environment who still believes sitting in the same room together to figure “stuff” out is the ultimate way of collaborating. However, in this new world, individual accountability on a team is even more accentuated. There is no hiding. There is no getting lost. Everyone’s contributions matter and the team is literally as strong as its weakest link. If you have a weak link, it is important that it is addressed and taken care of quickly. There is no more waiting until the year-end performance review or simply ignoring it and hoping it goes away or gets promoted out of your department.

Coaching and Feedforward

By definition, creating an innovative culture is going to be messy. You’ve got to establish the safe environment, encourage teamwork and individual accountability, and you must have a culture of giving positive coaching and feedforward. In this new work environment organizations are a lot flatter and getting innovative work done is spread across people and functions who have never worked like this before. When things don’t go as planned, and they inevitably will not go as planned, it is critical that everyone is equipped with the right tools to have in-the-moment coaching and feedback dialogues. Every conversation that is not had detracts from the culture of innovation and ultimately the execution of the strategy.

In summary, everything has changed and leaders must change and adapt to this new reality. Being innovative in the way that you execute your strategy will absolutely mean the difference between thriving and surviving. Helping your people to succeed by creating that safe environment to fail and learn, creating an environment of team and individual accountability, and creating and environment of positive coaching and feedforward is the way to do it.