Blueprint For Innovation: What It Takes To Build A Culture Of Positive Change At Growth-stage Companies | CEOWORLD magazine

Most of the businesses considered to be the most successful today, like Amazon, Apple, and Google steal the spotlight when it comes to innovation. In fact, some believe innovation is reserved for these technology giants.

But many growth stage companies find themselves in a unique position to harness innovation as well. Growth companies aren’t bogged down by rigid, traditional cultures or outdated success metrics. They’re young and agile enough to pivot, enter new markets, and even rewire their company culture.

Growth companies are also looking to make the leap into their next stage of development and don’t want to be left behind the times. There’s a tremendous financial incentive for them to innovate considering the breakneck pace of change in industries around the globe. According to a McKinsey survey of business leaders, 80% of executives believe their business models are at risk, and 84% said innovation is important to their growth strategy. However, the survey also found that only 6% of leaders are satisfied with the outcome of their innovation performance, and very few understand exactly how to become a more innovative organization as a whole.

Companies in the growth stage find themselves at a perfect inflection point to begin building a foundation of innovation to fuel their next wave of growth. As a private equity firm that invests almost exclusively in growth companies, we’ve seen the power of innovative thinking and taking risks at our own portfolio companies. For example, employee engagement company Energage recognized an industry need for a software solution as opposed to its legacy consulting operations, and pivoted its core business model toward filling this need. Arrive made a similar transformation after seeing a greater opportunity to market to businesses like Ticketmaster Live Nation and national parking garage operators, rather than individual consumers, that can integrate its ParkWhiz mobile app to help over 40 million people find and book convenient, economical parking.

Both of these leaps were driven by the innovative cultures that had been built over the course of years by senior management. In our experience, the first step to becoming an innovative company is to start with your company culture. But for companies today hoping to build a culture of innovation, it can be difficult to know where to begin.

Based on our experience and our observations, below is a blueprint of what the best growth stage companies have in common when it comes to doing so:

Growth company leaders have a lot to gain by adopting innovative mindsets and leveraging new ways of thinking. But effectively doing so can present challenges. Businesses must start by looking inward at their organization. Outside perspectives from other business leaders with experience leading this charge is also invaluable. From there, executives can reflect on the best path forward based on their company’s unique needs and challenges. But the one common thread across all successful and innovative businesses is a company culture that’s dedicated to this pursuit. With innovation top of mind for every employee, from the CEO down to the interns, there’s no limit to what an organization can achieve.