In today’s fast-paced world, things change at a rapid pace. If your company fails to keep up, it will get left in the dust, so innovation needs to be a top priority. Talking about advancement and actually taking steps to forward are not the same. If your team is merely treading water, learn how to stop going through the motions and progress forward.

5 Ways to Encourage Innovation at Your Company

1. Focus on Employee Growth

Your employees will not get far without updated skill sets. Investing in training — i.e., tuition reimbursement, seminars, and conferences — requires a lot of extra cash, but when done properly, it is worth every penny. The sky’s the limit when your team is equipped with the knowledge to bring the company to the next level.

2. Make Failure a Non-Issue

Innovation is a process of trial and error. Employees need support to keep experimenting with different ideas to see what works and what doesn’t. If you punish them for failure, they will opt to play it safe, which will limit your company’s potential. Stop placing so much pressure on your team and try to remember that failed attempts are a valuable learning experience — not a waste of time.

3. Remove the Red Tape

Moving forward is impossible if every decision has to go through multiple layers of management. This is time-consuming and also very frustrating for employees because they feel like they have no control over the work in front of them. You hired smart, capable people, so allow them to do their jobs as they see fit.

4. Be Open to Change

Continuing to do something just because it has always been done that way is terrible for business. Being stuck in your ways will hinder progression. Change needs to happen to keep your company on pace with current trends.

5. Encourage Creativity

Your team is filled with bright people who are capable of coming up with groundbreaking ideas, so ignite their creativity! Allot a certain amount of time per month for creative side projects. This will allow people to test out new ways of doing things in a low-pressure environment, free of deadlines and performance goals. When these concepts pan out, they will be able to apply them to projects currently in their queue.

Rise to the Top

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