How can a large organization build an innovation culture?

Organizations that 'Walk the Talk' - drive cultural change, not the ones that put mission statements on paper. Successful organizations, back their innovation ambition with an investment roadmap and results of early experiments. Especially in the current climate where AI is evolving rapidly, you need to find early indicators that your strategy is working or you need to go back to the drawing board.

In a large corporation, executive sponsorhip and a system of rewards is crucial to the success of innovation efforts. It signals to the rest of the organization that they can be enthusiastic, involved and helpful.

Innovation should be seen as an engine, as opposed to an add-on to the organisation. As an example, in FMCG and foods, there is a high failure rate for new products. This is not because the ideas are bad, but because there is not enough marketing budget to support these new products, for fear of diverting too much from the core. Addressing this common challenge from the start would go a long way to create an innovation engine that delivers.

Para fomentar una cultura de innovación es crucial que los líderes se comprometan y apoyen nuevas ideas, incluso aceptando riesgos y fracasos. Fomentar la creatividad y la experimentación, proporcionando recursos (tiempo, presupuesto, herramientas). Establecer sistemas de recompensas y reconocimientos para ideas innovadoras y promover la colaboración y diversidad es fundamental. La capacitación y el desarrollo continuo son claves. Es necesario mantener una comunicación abierta y transparente. Integrar la innovación en la estrategia corporativa y evaluar y ajustar regularmente los esfuerzos son pasos necesarios. Por último, es importante incentivar un aprendizaje continuo y estar al tanto de nuevas tendencias y tecnologías.

Innovation, to become an integral part of the corporate culture, must be a clear component on the management dashboard. However, if disruptive and powerful outcomes are desired, it requires the CEO to assume the role of an innovation leader. This implies a need to shift the mindset of CEOs to increasingly embody the essence of 'founders

The innovative vision of someone within the company is of course a good start, but more important is the first supporter of that vision, because it's a leading example for others to follow this idea as well.

In addition to the defined goals, it is equally important to know how to communicate them to the entire organization, considering all the broad factors that surround employees in particular

Simple, fast start option for leadership in large enterprise: start ending sentences with question marks rather than periods

Consider the impact global and remote teams have on driving innovation cultures. Agile teams that work in person do not require the same process, structures and tools as those who are working across time zones and geographies, and may even require additional talent to help facilitate information sharing and project consistency with the wider organization.

Drawing inspiration from Barsh, J., Mogelof, J., and Webb, C. (2010), fostering a culture that embraces innovation and creativity, while acknowledging and learning from failures, is paramount. As a leader, I firmly believe that success naturally ensues when team members feel secure in their pursuit of innovation. This positive framing of organizational culture aligns with my core beliefs on a global scale, where behavior, lifestyle, and culture collectively impact the complex, wicked problems our world faces. It's essential to recognize that loyalty is a reciprocal commitment. Navigating the uncertainties of innovation requires a leader to demonstrate courage, exhibit leadership, and build mutual trust through tangible actions.

Incentives is a really important one - and they vary by industry, role and also personality. Of course a firm's culture plays a huge role in driving engagement with innovation. But on a personal level, we may need to pull other levers. In a professional services/time-based role, recognition of time spent on innovation-related activities may simply count towards targets. In a product development-related role (E.g. FMCG industry) incentives will be very different. However many people look for other incentives; for example recognition internally (i.e. within their team & firm) or externally (i.e. within their industry or for their clients) or other non-monetary rewards.

To empower is not enough; a disruptive approach is to REQUIRE and DEMAND continuous innovation from the diverse teams within a company. How can this be done without causing additional stress that might undermine the culture of innovation? Hire a founder who may not have had great success but has successful experience testing MVPs in the market. Put them in charge of the company's strategic planning.

In addition to implementing resources to provide existing technical and professional capacity, diversity of thought must be massively promoted to create different angles of vision in solving problems.

At this juncture, I suggest going further: one must create an EXTERNAL innovation ecosystem outside the company. Companies excel at establishing and sustaining sales channels. Within academic communities, among entrepreneurs and inventors, there are individuals with exceptionally high creativity and an excellent grasp of market needs

In addition to your employees and customers, you can invite your suppliers and distributors to contribute ideas and test pilots in a spirit of continuous improvement and innovation. However, beware that if you only engage people from within your industry, chances are that the ideas will look very familiar. For disruptive innovation, you need to go outside your industry and outside your comfort zone.

An open innovation strategy including startups and universities can add to more radical innovation ideas and you can benefit from the scientific know how.

👉 A few actions you can initiate today: - Build adaptability: Remind teams to regularly revisit their goals in response to markets changes. - Feed the narrative: Regularly communicate internally about failure and learning in the face of change. Remind everyone of their importance in the innovation process. - Lifelong learning: Take inspiration from peers at direct competitors, but also from organisations that on the surface share nothing in common with yours. - Recognise and reward: Celebrate behaviours that support the culture of learning and growth, not just the end results. Innovation teams who demonstrate the right attitude, experiment and learn, deserve public recognition — regardless of the outcome of their latest project.

Again, the key is for the company's CEO to put on the hat of a startup founder. We need to instill a startup mindset within both the employees and the management. This entails a much greater tolerance for risk and, of course, for failure. This doesn't happen overnight, and not everyone is ready for i

Incorporating agile methodologies like design thinking and lean startup in your innovation process leads to faster validation of hypotheses.

One of the greatest examples of leading by example is to continuously share thoughts and experiences regarding your role with organization in order to show that you are a part of it and that as you everyone can contribute with something more to the organizational ideology