Council Post: 12 Smart Ways To Encourage Employee Innovation

The most innovative ideas often come from a business’ junior and mid-level employees. After all, who better knows what your company is lacking, or how it might improve, than the people who are on the frontlines every day? These employees can easily spot challenges and brainstorm possible solutions to the issues they encounter on a daily basis.

If you want to harness these insights and put them to good use, give your lower-level staff members a voice in strategic management decisions. Below, the experts of Young Entrepreneur Council share ways to encourage employees to present their solutions to the leadership team.

Members of Young Entrepreneur Council discuss ways for business leaders to incentivize employees to innovate solutions and bring them to management.

1. Set Aside Brainstorming Time

There are many ways to incentivize internal innovation, but most are tied to individual achievement (or worse yet, team success), despite research proving time and again that successful innovation is the direct result of process and practice. Google was one of the first to implement dedicated time (and resources) for employees to work on personal projects. But the real genius behind Google’s decision wasn’t dedicated time, it was the freedom to explore! We keep a running list of “stuff that sucks,” and I allow my team to work remotely on Fridays with a simple ask: When not on deadline, spend a few hours tackling things on the bleep list, and return Monday with some candid feedback. The focus of this exercise is not on the outcome, but on practice. To be effective, you must have an organizational strategy (70% incremental, 20% acquired, 10% new, etc.), then empower your team to practice the habits required to achieve those goals. – Scott Kitun, Technori

2. Develop A Culture Of Constant Improvement

The most important value that companies can build their culture around is one of constant improvement, both as individuals and as an overall business (and your processes, workflows and the way you handle customers). If members of your team know and understand that the business is always looking to improve itself, then it becomes easier to talk about gaps and areas that may be able to be improved. Be accepting of proposed solutions or changes that are brought to you by employees, and reward them for what they are doing—which is actively working to make your business better. It is hearing these suggestions out and giving them serious thought and discussion rather than brushing them aside that is the ultimate incentivization for employees. – Keith Shields, Designli

3. Attend Workshops

A fun and easy way to encourage innovation with your employees is to take them to workshops. Look for innovation workshops in your area or, if you’re in tech, see if there are any local hackathons you can attend. At workshops like these, your employees can take part in projects and contests, sharpen their skills, and collaborate with like-minded individuals. Taking your employees to events like these can really spark their imagination, boost their brainstorming skills and encourage them to come up with innovative solutions for your business. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

4. Create A ‘Startup’ Program

At our organization, we love to give our team members opportunities to grow within the areas where they feel they can achieve the most—for better wellbeing and professionally, of course. Their ideas and plans also bring more responsibility and, at times, cost to implement, so to be effective and incentivize our team, we have come up with the “Startup” concept, in which our team members need to do their research to validate their product and present it. Winners get the opportunity to work with our project managers to roll out their idea, and if done well, we help them launch it and manage it as if they were a service provider or vendor. – Jonnathan Trilleras, LED Truck Media

5. Brainstorm Together

I have a weekly strategy meeting with my team specifically for strategic innovation in our services and delivery. We are constantly asking new questions, seeking new perspectives and speaking to people outside our industry to see how they handle certain issues. I love the idea of conducting new experiments based on my employees’ observations so we can try something out without committing to it. My team feels satisfied and rewarded knowing that they have a real impact on the company. – Rachel Beider, PRESS Modern Massage

6. Don’t Just Acknowledge Ideas—Act On Them

I believe it begins with having a culture where ideas are welcomed from all levels and collectively there is a mindset of restless improvement. We have found that most people are inherently incentivized simply by feeling that their ideas and solutions are acknowledged and acted on. A culture that doesn’t do this creates employee apathy, and that is the killer of innovation. Of course, employee appreciation, bonuses and awards programs matter, but without employees feeling like they have a voice and an impact, material incentives risk being ineffective. – Patrick Bardsley, Spectrum Designs

7. Hear Them Out And Put Them In Charge

I think there are two things to keep in mind here. First is to create an environment where people’s ideas are listened to. I like the approach of listening to someone fully explain their idea before saying anything. Then always try to find something positive about the idea, even if it is not something that you would actually do. This allows the person to feel heard and respected. The second thing is that I try to give the person with the idea ownership over the idea. Allow the person to run with the idea if possible since they will be far more motivated to see it accomplished. – Tony Peccatiello, Parallel Markets

8. Make Them Responsible For The Outcome

I’ve found the best way to incentivize an employee’s innovative contribution to a project is to empower them with responsibility for its outcome. If you give them a level of ownership or authority over a project, it will help personalize the results. In this way, the success of a project can truly be their success—motivating them to proactively cultivate ways to achieve it. – Eric Saleh, Circle for Roommates

9. Make Time For Deeper Conversations

The best way to incentivize employees to innovate solutions and bring them to management is to first understand more about your employees and show that you care. People want to be heard, and as someone that they should look up to, it is imperative for you to take time to see what really inspires your employees. It is very good to have an open dialect with them and to never shut down ideas—rather, allow all people and ideas to be heard. Also, take time to meet with the employees and team. Sometimes having a 30-minute block of time to talk to an employee creates time and space for a creative and deeper conversation to be held that may not have ever occurred had that time not been set aside for them. – Alec Friel, Prosperity Flow

10. Have Them Work On It On Their Own Time

Ask your employees to prove out their idea on their own time first. Almost 50% of HubSpot’s revenue is generated from their partner program. The program got started when a rep brought the idea to their CEO, to which he responded, “If you want to do it so bad, start doing it nights and weekends and show us this will work.” The rep did just that, and their multimillion-dollar partner program was born. – Sara Rose Harcus, Dmanna

11. Find Out What Motivates Each Employee Individually

The best way to incentivize your employees to innovate solutions and bring them to management really depends upon the employee in this day and age. If they’re older, you might want to go with a straight cash payout, as they’ll value it more. Younger folks who are of a different demographic might appreciate a more experiential reward, like a gift card to a local business, or an educational course related to their professional development. There’s no easy answer, but if you think about the needs and wants of each staff member who might benefit from the reward, you’ll be able to come up with a more appropriate answer. – Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

12. Build A Company Structure That Fosters Dialogue

Innovation comes from collaboration, so build a flat company structure that encourages open dialogue and communication without bureaucracy. I love Jeff Bezos’ two pizza rule: Every internal team should be small enough that it can be fed with two pizzas. – Alexander Bird, Kiss My Keto