3 Simple Strategies to Foster Innovation at Your Company

1. Provide lots of free time to think

You know your team has good ideas. But when do they actually get to think them through? Accenture found employees have an entrepreneurial drive. Yet nearly 40% say they're too busy with daily tasks to pursue innovative ideas.

Think about it: most people get their best ideas in the shower, on a drive, or at the gym. Never at their desk. The office, or a cubicle, often feels like a restrictive space for creative thought. It’s not just a lack of time; it’s the wrong environment.

Consider letting your employees allocate 10-20% of their week to their own projects and ideas. Don’t expect them to sacrifice personal time – the hours they spend resting or with family. Instead, offer 3 to 5 dedicated days a year, beyond holidays, for focused thinking.

This time lets them concentrate on a problem or project in an environment they control, free from interruptions or directives. It signals their ideas matter. Why else would you “sacrifice” paid company time for an employee to explore new opportunities?

2. Encourage risk-taking

The global economy often pushes companies and employees toward caution. Yet, risk-taking drives innovation. It’s essential for your company’s survival and success. You can shift this aversion with two approaches: personal and professional.

The first involves helping employees take more risks in their daily lives. BrightHouse, an Atlanta innovation firm, hosts an event every March 4th. Each employee tries something new. New experiences grow people, stimulate creativity, and build connections.

The professional approach creates spaces where you reward employees for taking risks and trying different things. Some companies give year-end awards for ambitious ideas that failed. Not to shame failure, but to highlight, reward, and learn from the risk-takers.

Others create internal competitions for new ideas, rewarding the best. Employees then carve out time to think about fresh projects for these contests. It’s a way to earn public credit if an idea wins, and a strategy to raise their profile inside the company.

3. Embrace diversity

Diversity isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a competitive edge. It directly impacts your company’s capacity for innovation and adaptation. A diverse workforce fuels team creativity. Distinct minds come together, bringing unique ways of thinking, operating, solving problems, and making decisions.

Use new projects to connect people from different profiles. Company contests, like those mentioned earlier, are ideal for employees to collaborate across departments. This gives them a clearer picture of how the company works.

Each team member also gets feedback from outsiders, offering fresh perspectives on problems and potential solutions. Consider a policy: new projects, new teams. This ensures each project gets fresh eyes.

It helps team members start clean, without fear of sharing ideas. It teaches them to adapt, listen, and express themselves. These projects become strong learning opportunities, giving teams the freedom to work their own way.