Encourage entrepreneurial thinking to innovate

Encourage entrepreneurial thinking to innovate

Experimentation is foundational to any team that’s serious about innovation. But what activities and behaviors encourage experimentation and make sure that new ideas see the light of day?

While there’s no formula or single initiative that will make a company an innovation leader, there are some ways you can get started:

Get comfortable with failure: If we look at any startup that has displaced an industry in the last decades, we're sure to find companies that prides itself on its failures just as much as its successes.

Shift to macromanagement: Simon Sinek has been quoted saying “When we tell people to do their jobs, we get workers. When we trust people to get the job done, we get leaders.” Macromanagement is not only critical to encourage a leadership mentality, but it also plays a role in helping to inspire creativity on your team.

Champion the pursuit of outside interests: Encouraging team members to get outside perspectives that have nothing to do with their work can help teams generate new ideas. Leaders need to acknowledge they don’t have all of the answers and let their teams try to find them.

If you want to see more innovation, put full confidence in your teams to try new things, and then promptly get out of their way.


Inspired by: Harvard Business Review - How to Encourage Entrepreneurial Thinking on Your Team, by Sergei Revzin and Vadim Revzin