Fostering a culture of innovation in a business is essential for staying competitive and driving long-term growth. Businesses that embrace and foster innovation are better positioned to thrive by developing new ideas, products and services that allow them to response to changing customer need and environments.

But although you might be personally creative, how do you go about creating a culture in your business that both values creativity and innovation, and allows it to flourish? Below we have outlined some of the key ways you can start building a more innovative-minded workplace.

Leadership commitment

Demonstrating that your business values innovation and creativity starts at the top. Leaders should demonstrate a genuine commitment to innovation and lead by example. When employees see that innovation is a top-down priority, they are more likely to embrace it. Share ideas, celebrate those of others, and be open to challenge and change.

Vision and strategy

Develop a clear innovation vision and strategy that aligns with your business objectives. Then communicate this vision to all employees, so they understand why innovation is essential and how it relates to the company’s mission. Viima has created a good overview of how to create an innovation strategy.

Create a ‘safe space’ for innovation

Even if you’re bursting with ideas, it can feel intimidating to voice them out loud. You might worry about being ridiculed or dismissed. Encourage an environment where employees feel safe to share their ideas and take calculated risks without fearing negative consequences. Foster open communication and ensure that employees at all levels will be supported, not dismissed, for proposing new ideas or initiatives.

Empower cross-functional teams

Innovation can be difficult if you are only used to working in a silo. New viewpoints can bring fresh perspectives to problems and challenges. Encourage collaboration across different departments and teams. Cross-functional teams can bring diverse perspectives and skills to solve complex problems and drive innovation. If you’re not quite large enough to have several distinct teams, facilitate more conversations between different staff in different roles through projects and discussions.

Provide resources

An initial idea can come from anywhere, but people will need support to explore those ideas and find a way to bring them to fruition. Make sure you recognise that by allocating resources, including time and budgets, for innovation initiatives.

Training and development

Not everyone starts from the same place in terms of their creativity skills. Invest in training and development strands to help employees build innovative thinking skills, such as creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking. These will benefit your organisation in a variety of ways, as well as upskilling key employees. Encourage a culture of continuous learning. Stay up-to-date with industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices to inspire new ideas.

Reward and recognition

As with demonstrating the importance of innovation through leadership behaviour, a system of rewards and recognition to celebrate and acknowledge employees’ innovative contributions also establishes it as a key value in your organisation. This can include monetary incentives, promotions, or public recognition.

Feedback

Implement feedback mechanisms and processes that enable employees to provide input on processes, products, and services. Ensure that feedback can be given in confidence. By openly reflecting and acting on this feedback, you demonstrate that you value colleagues’ ideas.

Innovation metrics

Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) for innovation and regularly track progress. This can help measure the impact of innovation efforts and ensure you are also thinking about tangible outcomes. These might include number of new ideas, ideas that became new processes / services / products, financial savings / profits from new ideas.

External partnerships

Collaborate with external partners, such as other businesses, academic institutions, or researchers, to bring fresh perspectives, knowledge and resources into your organisation.

Remember that fostering a culture of innovation in your business is an ongoing effort that requires consistent commitment and reinforcement. By creating an environment where innovation is encouraged, supported, and celebrated, you can unlock the creative potential of your employees and drive innovation that contributes to your business’s success.

Learn more

Find funding to support research and innovation in your business

Top five barriers to creativity in business

Get funded support for digital innovation and training