How to create a culture that drives innovation | Gabe Stein

 

In this tech-savvy world, it would have been amazing if we were able to order a culture of innovation online. But unfortunately, we do not have the option to click on the button to do so. One needs to build it brick by brick and put in a lot of effort and hard work to come up with breakthrough ideas.

To do this, we need to foster a culture of innovation. So, I make it a priority to establish an innovative mindset within my vertical. Since innovation is part of our culture, we always strive to drive work in a way that delivers a regular flow of incremental improvements for the vertical and the organization as well. The best part is that our organization is already hard-wired into a culture of innovation. Innovation platforms such as BPS (Best Practice  Sharing), GIC (GeBBS Innovation Council), automation tools such as iCODE suite of technology, iAR, iCAR, iCB, and so on motivate employees to always experiment and innovate. As a leader, to further take this innovative culture forward, I follow these 5 essential steps:

Forward-Thinking: Innovation is everyone’s job. As leaders, we need to entrust and empower our people to innovate. Innovation is not restricted to any particular team or group of people; it can come from anyone and anywhere. I believe involving everyone in an organizational innovation leads to better client satisfaction, employee satisfaction, new partnership, and of course high revenue. So let us abide by our organization’s tagline and continue forward-thinking.

Collaborate and Discover: The key to any success is collaboration, which is one of our core values. Hence, as a leader, I always motivate and encourage my team to have an open mindset and discover new ways of thinking and working which with time will foster innovation.

Continuous Learning: Innovation does not happen without learning. As I mentioned earlier, to make innovation everyone’s job, it is important to back it up with an intensive learning process. So, make learning a habit and apply the learning methods whenever and wherever you can.

Set Goals and Measure Progress: Try to first think about the intended results for the organization and the different stages at which innovation happens (ideation, evaluation, selection, re-iteration, development, and implementation). Based on that, start measuring how many ideas you have created, what is the quality of your ideas, how many ideas can be implemented, and finally, what is the result of your idea.

Open Communication: Needless to say, that to make innovation succeed, communication is paramount. You need to understand your innovation in and out and communicate the benefit and importance of it to your stakeholders. 

Our organization has a lot of scope for innovation. Hence as a leader, I always encourage my team to have the capacity to think and work together to reduce pain points and drive creation on any given project. A path to an innovative culture that our organization follows is beneficial both for the team and individual development. It will not only help the business as a whole but will also become a magnet for talent since innovation is the key to any organization. So always work towards it to achieve it.