In today's rapidly changing business landscape, innovation is a business imperative. But many organizations fall short of their innovation goals. We find that success in innovation requires two main components: effective leadership and a supportive culture that fosters innovation in daily business.
When leaders understand innovation, they can create the culture that fosters an inventive mindset at all levels of the organization. But without an understanding of innovation at the leadership level, it’s difficult for organizations to overcome common challenges such as fear of failure and excessive attachment to one’s idea rather than the problem that needs to be solved.
Effective leaders can combat these challenges by creating a culture of innovation centered around the following:
To succeed in innovation, you must make a commitment to embed experimentation, trust and collaboration within your organization’s culture and daily operations. These values create a supportive work environment that fosters creativity and ideation.
They play a key role in promoting innovation by providing strategic direction, aligning innovation efforts with the company's business priorities and goals and securing the organization's commitment to pursue ambitious and forward-looking projects. Leadership involvement also helps overcome internal resistance and promotes a culture that values and encourages creative thinking and collaboration across all levels of the organization.
Additionally, effective leaders can support large innovation projects by championing innovation at the highest levels, creating an environment that encourages the sharing of ideas and the process of experimentation. By promoting a culture of psychological safety and inclusivity, effective leaders help remove the fear of failure and encourage measured risk taking, which are vital for successful innovation projects that drive growth.
Effective leaders advocate for innovation by ensuring that all employees feel involved in the process and understand their role in contributing to ideation and breakthrough ideas. They stress the importance of early testing to assess viability, marketability, feasibility and adaptability, and prioritize understanding problems at their core.
To overcome the challenges of innovation, effective leaders:
We recommend a blended portfolio of innovation, mixing incremental changes (often to existing solutions) with larger, disruptive ideas. To encourage innovation among employees, WTW sponsors all-employee programs like Horizons, an Innovation Masterclass Training Program and ongoing innovation network discussions through the Extended Innovation Network. Horizons offers employees — companywide and in all geographies — the opportunity to submit ideas and solutions that could address client needs and drive future growth. Those whose ideas are selected for development, learn from senior business leaders and test the feasibility of their concepts through prototyping and market testing.
In today's dynamic business landscape, innovation is crucial for organizational growth. Effective leadership plays a pivotal role in fostering a creative and open mindset by embedding values such as psychological safety, risk taking, learning and collaboration. To foster an innovation culture, leaders should encourage involvement, celebrate efforts, focus on collective success, test ideas early and seek external perspectives. Embedding these behaviors across the organization will build a robust and sustainable culture of innovation that can drive financial performance and improved business results.
