Grand Summary - Encouraging Innovation

I have talked a lot about innovation in the last five posts. They all revolve around the one theme of encouraging and fostering innovation in organizations, with each one bringing distinct perspectives and strategies forward. Obviously, different organizations and people will have very different opinions on the topic, and that is the reason I want to sum it all up by exploring the differences and similarities among them.

Let’s start with differences. There are many different approaches to innovation, with all of them probably having their credibility. The differences are generally not large, but a thing to note is that each company/organization is different, which in turn means that the approach will most definitely differ.

Some organizations may go well with small changes over time, whereas others need radical change in a short period of time. This all requires leadership, and there were tips in all articles about what to do and what not to do as a leader. Some different ones in the articles included: collaboration not competition, streamlining processes, encouraging safe risks, and having open doors between different levels of in organization.

Approaches will always be different since everyone has different views on everything in life and that includes innovation. In some of the articles I read, more diplomatic measures were introduced to encourage innovation such as idea portals and standard reward systems. On the other hand, Alexandre Janssen goes all out when he says that employees NEED to mess up in order to get somewhere with creativity. No matter what the approach may be, one thing still rings true: encouragement, empowerment, and healthy criticism, always!

Similarities were quite profound among all five articles. It must be noted that since research develops new ideas, these might differ a lot in a few years.

The first one that I noticed right when I was writing the summaries is that leadership is recognized as pivotal to having innovation flourishing in an organization. It is a common thread, which is honestly not surprising. Cultivating a culture of innovation, avoiding specific mistakes such as downplaying creativeness, all the way to being the model of creative thinking as a leader show the effect leadership has on an organization. 

The leadership ties in directly with the comment of culture within an organization. It was repeatedly noted that there is a need for a cultural shift within organizations to truly be able to foster innovation. This involves creating a safe environment (leadership again!!), promoting a mindset of innovation, and then getting rid of innovation-stifling behaviours such as rejection of any and all change.

Alexandre Janssen talks a lot about passion in employees but the article by Indeed mentions it too. Organizations need to empower employees aligned with strengths and weaknesses, but maybe consider hiring a bit more based on passion rather than bare skills. Either way, the idea of aligning work with a deeper purpose is an evident subtopic of innovation.

While deeper meaning and connection to a job is a great thing, Indeed and Robert Half emphasize the fact that employees should not be driven all the way to burnout. This is a real thing, whether it be work, school, or any other organization we would be in that pushes performance to the utmost limit. That decreases innovation and creativity to a minimum if not making it disappear completely.

Data and analytics makes innovation within organizations much easier as noted in several articles. The study performed by Michael Gibbs with the University of Chicago and research done by Robert Half highlights the importance of demonstrating to employees that their ideas can positively impact the organization. This can be more easily done by using data and analytics.

Although all the articles discussed in the previous five summary posts present different approaches and perspectives on fostering innovation, common themes are found throughout. These include the importance of employee engagement, learning from failure, the crucial role of leadership, use of data and analytics, and the emphasis on passion and purpose (but in moderation). These common trends underscore the overall nature of fostering innovation within organizations.

This research into innovation has really struck a chord with me. Definitely not everything can be pushed onto leadership, but they do have an important role to play when it comes to culture within organizations. That being said, employees are usually the ones driving the innovation and having been an employee at various companies for at least 4 years, I must say that attitude plays a huge role in everyday work life. Leaders can try and employees can try, but let’s find common ground and make organizations better wherever we may be and whatever roles we might play in them!