Innovation, Don’t Just Leave It To The Experts!

Research shows that 59% of managers believe that innovation is critical to business, yet many organisations are still struggling when it comes to creating an innovative culture.

So why are business leaders not putting their good intentions into practice?

Is it simply not understanding what innovation is, (and how important it is) and understanding the impact it can have on employee engagement, or simply down to other challenges taking priority. Innovation experts Lucidity survey results report that 82% of people are simply too busy to innovate.

Innovation comes in all shapes and sizes, large or small, but even the smallest idea can lead to significant time and cost savings. For example, a simple idea that helps improve admin processes could save someone 10 minutes a day would lead to a whole week of time (and money) being saved by the year-end. But unless an employee truly cares about their role and your organisation, that idea won’t be shared, it is all about creating the right culture. By encouraging employees to have a voice and by welcoming employee feedback, employees feel valued and connected to your organisation and will go the extra mile, leading to increased productivity and profit and more great ideas!

We asked Innovation expert, Director and Founder of Lucidity Lucy Gower her thoughts on why organisations should make innovation a priority and how it can lead to increased employee engagement.

“Innovation is a business strategy for survival. However, all too often people think it’s about whacky ideas sessions, green beanbags or having a table football in the office. Innovation is about solving problems or making life better for your colleagues and customers. It should not just be the remit of an innovation team – when innovation becomes part of everyone’s role good ideas happen”.

“Every culture is different - for example, do your people work in the same office or are they all over the country, do they work the same hours or shifts, is your business new and keen to test new ideas or are you trying to change a well established culture with a ‘if it’s not broken don’t fix it - that’s how we do things’ attitude. By creating a culture of inclusion where all staff (and especially those who work directly with customers, because those frontline staff will have greater insight into the problems that the business can solve for them and spot opportunities to improve what you offer and make their life better) feel their ideas are encouraged, listened to and actioned, everyone feels part of something- and if done right, this can increase engagement, people stay longer because they feel valued and connected to your organisation, this is when innovation flourishes”.