Inspire - Involve - Innovate: 7 Tips to

Creating a Culture of Innovation

We all admire organizations that came up with an innovative business model or product
that changed the industry – Patagonia, Starbucks, Apple, Google, Qualcomm, FaceBook,
Uber, Airbnb, Alibaba, Instagram, Netflix, Rakuten, Natura Cosmeticos, Cisco, Whole
Foods, Tesla, Disney, etc.

Organizations have always engaged in continuous improvement. However, rarely has that
innovation been truly “disruptive” - literally uprooting and changing how we think, behave
or do business. Rarely do organizations create something totally new, more efficient or
eminently worthwhile, or something that redefines the industry by creating opportunities, a
new market or a value network.

The reality is that sustained business growth and wealth comes from building a culture of
innovation, essentially creating a new business ecosystem, where every employee in every
department works cooperatively and competitively to develop and support new products
that will satisfy customers and create the next round of innovation in existing and new
markets.

How can we create an innovative culture that comes up with great ideas and products?Here
are 7 ideas that will help you become that kind of organization:
Define the mission - An innovative culture comes from leaders and people who dare to
dream. Skilled leaders also know how to deal with niggling distractions, naysayers and
cynics that don’t want to lose power. True leaders explain to employees the difference that
they make in people’s lives and the benefits that their work brings to the economy of their
country as a whole. Leaders create a shared value or a “higher purpose”. Leaders reframe
the role of employees, encouraging them to see themselves not simply as employees but as
members of a highly respected organization that has a long history of service. An
organization that helps families improve their quality of life, or helps commerce, or helps
businesses to grow or helps create jobs or moves the country’s economy forward. It's not
simply a vision of what your company aspires to be in the future; but a mission of the
organization's "big-picture-thinking", grand purpose or why it exists.

 IKEA creates a better everyday life for the people that they aim to serve.
 Facebook gives people the power to share and make the world more open and
connected.
 Starbucks inspires and nurtures the human spirit – one person, one cup and one
neighbourhood at a time.
 Twitter gives everyone the power to create and share ideas and information
instantly, without barriers.
 Microsoft empowers every person and every organization on the planet to achieve
more.
 Patagonia builds the best product, causes no unnecessary harm and uses business to
inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.
Engage employees and customers - Celebrate, highlight and reward employees that
exemplify the mission and the vision; that are doing the right thing and doing it right. Value
the employees that go the extra mile for customers. That’s how you build employee
engagement. Engaged employees also increases customer satisfaction that directly
improves the bottom line. Customers can be engaged in your mission, social responsibility
and new product creation.

Create the infrastructure - Create the infrastructure that fosters innovation – allow
unstructured time to pursue ideas (10%-15%), create innovation awards for new products
that achieve revenue threshold, encourage ongoing idea discussion groups (jams, panels,
councils, workshops, etc.), define an uncomplicated process to present new ideas for
approval, celebrate successes, give opportunity to test ideas, etc.

Lead by example - In 3 words, leaders “Walk the Talk” every day and in every way. Great
leaders talk to people; they mentor and coach. They walk the shop floor and visit stores
every day. Listen to what front-line people have to say about improving the process.
Leaders are positive and passionate motivators. They lead through integrity, transparency
and ethical behaviour. People want to emulate them. They don’t accept mediocrity. They
allow people to talk to them about the impediments to success. They respect customers,
employees and shareholders.

Inspire every day in every way - Promote the proud history of your organization. Go
beyond advertising taglines and define the real value or benefit you provide to people, the
community, the environment and the world. What is behind what you do? Frame it as
something that can inspire, rally and will sum up the tone and premise of your brand.
Communicate extensively - Develop alignment by articulating a written, formal case for
change. Ensure that department leaders take ownership for completing aspects of the
change plan and that they are able to communicate the change plan and the end-state goal.
Who you are, your social responsibility and what you stand for should also be articulated to
your customers in your store design.

Measure your success - Most innovation effectiveness metrics are traditionally tied to
return on investment in Research and Development - number of approved and ongoing
projects, number of new products launched, amount spent on product / project, patents
filed, percentage of employee unstructured time for skunk works, R&D budget as a
percentage of sales, etc.

A better approach may be to broaden the focus by preparing three separate accounts and
evaluate your success on each of the merits – how are you doing on social responsibility, on
environmental (or ecological) impact and on financial or economic value. John Elkington
introduced this concept of triple bottom line (TBL or 3BL) in 1994 as a measure of real
success. It is also known as People, Planet and Profit.

Some points are key among the common denominators of truly innovative companies -
inspiring leadership that focuses on growth, the removal of the barriers to innovation,
leading by example, rallying of employees and customers through an articulated mission
that expresses the soul of the company, the creation of commercializable products that are
taken very quickly to market and the very deep respect of customers, employees and
stakeholders.

Frank Cianciullo is the lead advisor at Leapfrog Business Consulting. He writes on

leadership, disruptive innovation, management, adapting to the accelerated rate of change
impacting us as well as issues affecting the postal and logistics industries.