1. Company Culture: A Driving Force For Innovation
Real innovation will starts with your company culture. Your shared values will help your business
grow while stale company culture can sink you entirely. Your company culture can change in
subtle ways over time but there are many ways to keep your infrastructure on task and in line
with your overall mission. Simply stated, a good company cultures drive innovation.
Buzzwords fly off people’s tongues faster and farther than one can spit. Some words are sensationally
silly but many words have set themselves apart and demand your attention and reflection. In the
business world, no other word quite rings (and let’s be honest, stings) quite like the word “innovation.”
And for good reason. To quote the great company culture catalyst, Tony Hsieh:
“I view my role more as trying to set up an environment where the personalities, creativity and
individuality of all the different employees come out and can shine.”
An innovative business idea is absolutely essential in a market that now rides on the best and brightest
minds in technology, economics, and best-business practices. Innovations puts new products into the
hands of happy consumers. It streamlines complicated processes and helps heighten employee
engagement and overall happiness. Ultimately, innovation is what keeps your company cutting edge.
Whether your company is just starting off or whether your established business needs a new trick and
some serious organizational dusting, innovation can be a serious entrepreneurial catalyst.
innovation starts with defined values
Values are always going to drive the majority of your company's priorities and decisions. Your values
will be reflective in how you collectively spend your time and money. Your employees should have a
clear sense of your expectations, long-term goals, and values.
Truly innovative or online learning innovation companies will, in turn, create a mission statement that
rests on an entrepreneurial mindset that promotes creative and continuous learning. Your values will not
only be promoted through your annual reports and overall company presentation, they will also be
manifested in how people behave and spend their time in your shared common space.
It is never too late to redefine your values. Let employees know what your big dreams are and ask them
to take part in their creation.
Creative climates
Great CEOs understand that innovation will not thrive under a regime of micromanagers. After you
have defined and circulated a company mission that details several guidelines, it is time to shift your
attention towards creating an innovative climate.

2. Innovative climates are set-up to cultivate engagement and enthusiasm. Your company culture should
challenge people to take risks within a safe environment. You should be finding ways to foster
employee’s continual education and independent thinking.
There are some simple and easy ways to change the space so that you can foster creativity. One simple
way is to remove cubicle walls and allow the employees to face each other. You can add places for
structured breaks or side-projects. If your budget allows, replacing office walls with glass windows can
help facilitate innovation since you will seem more approachable.
However, these changes will mean little to nothing if they are not coupled with a habituation of trust.
Employees will not take risks if they do not feel secure.
In an operationally-minded world, companies often try to eliminate as many potential business risks as
possible. But if you want to innovate, risks are inevitable. Risks take a certain level of trust because if
people get penalized for their failure, they are going to quickly move towards higher and “safer”
ground.
Leaders: your essential resource
So many business tools are now automated and it is easy to find ways to replace human labor with
various types of apps and technology. Yes, a lot of these programs help us streamline our lives but an
innovative company understands that human resources will always be their most valuable asset.
Before taking stock of current employment, it is always a good idea to reflect on your company’s hiring
process. Ask yourself:
 Is my company taking time to seek out and hire talent?
 Are we finding employees who believe in our mission and services?
 Are we hiring people that will add to our company culture in a positive way?
 Are there ways we can improve on our hiring process?
It is always important to keep an eye out for “innovation champions.” Among your many awesome
employees there will hopefully be a few leaders that you can truly count on. These people are critical.
They tend to have a powerful impact on the organization’s value and overall climate.
If you find leadership potential in one of your employees, find ways to challenge him or her. Put them
in charge of a variety of tasks and invest in their leadership skills. Your innovation champions will be
able to carry your company into uncharted territory. They are most certainly worth the extra time and
investment.
Taking calculated risks
It’s already been stated: innovation means being open to taking risks. But what is a calculated risk and
how do you sort out ideas with potential from a larger company pool?
First of all, many people believe that the creative process is simply about intuition. However, intuition
results from large inputs of regular and useful data. True intuition is helpful but it is habituated over
time.

3. Company risks can feel like base-jumping but in reality, there are many different levels of analysis that
should be taking place before a decision is reached. Obviously, there is numerical research and analysis
(i.e. what sorts of items your target-market buys, etc.) but a lot of companies also do ethnographic or
cultural research. This type of research might not be able to be crunched out in a spreadsheet but that
sort of knowledge can be invaluable to a creative team.
After lots of research and debate, it is time to make a decisive call. At this point, it doesn’t pay to be
wishy-washy. If you trust the structures that have been built within your company culture, you can feel
confident that you are getting the best ideas that are promoted through trustworthy leaders and that
have been thoroughly researched.
You may fail.
Failure, unfortunately, is a part of life. But a well-formed company structure can take a lot of the
guesswork out of the changes that have stemmed from your newly minted innovative mindset. Don’t
forget that great thing come out failure. All great innovators have failed and that’s what has allowed
them to succeed.
”I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. - Thomas A. Edison”
In conclusion, it is important to remember that the success of innovation can really be captured at three
levels.
Externally, you may receive recognition because your company is regarded as innovative by its
customers and competitors.
This may occur even if your innovative ideas were not paid off in a financial gain. Generally speaking,
your success will reinforce your enterprise or company’s creative and organization structures. This
means that individual employees can feel personal responsibility and happiness in the overall
achievement of their employers.
Innovative success is not an overnight decision. It takes hard work and dedication. However, if
innovation is truly one of your goals, taking steps to change your company culture will ensure your and
drive your company’s success.
By: Jeffrey Fermin
References
http://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/how-do-you-build-culture-innovation
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-23/jumpstart-innovation-by-transforming-corporate-
culture
http://www.innovation-point.com/Culture_of_Innovation.pdf
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-innovative-is-your-companys-culture/