Innovation is the word of the day in companies. However, many still find it difficult to put it into practice new ideas, especially when they come from their employees. There is no way to measure the number of development opportunities that organizations miss because they do not know how to listen to or follow up on the ideas of those who live the company's day-to-day.
Thinking about this recurring problem, in today's post we highlight 3 insights from strategies presented by Fast Company, a technology and innovation magazine, to help you develop a work environment that encourages and rewards the creative ideas of your employees.
Check it out!
Creativity: problem or solution?
Have you ever stopped to think about how many amazing ideas are overlooked within a company? But why?
The truth is that many companies still treat employees' opinions on processes as a problem. And when this happens, one thing is certain: in these environments, innovation is probably not a priority.
Companies that are experiencing digitalization and movement 4.0 They should see these ideas as opportunities for development, learning and optimization. Another important point is that listening to employees and discussing their opinions makes them feel part of the business.
In addition to the lack of openness, many companies also do not have an adequate system for receiving proposals from their employees. The lack of a formalized workflow to evaluate employees' ideas is another barrier to the development of innovations.
Check out what some companies are doing to foster creativity in their work environments:
1 – Implementation of a clear and intuitive system
It is essential to ensure that all employees know how to submit their ideas for evaluation. There are a variety of ways to submit ideas, such as creating a suggestion box, a communication channel, forums to promote the topic, and workshops to develop projects.
No matter which format is chosen for the case, the main objective is for the system to be intuitive and accessible, so that all collaborators feel comfortable sharing their ideas.
2- Bypassing company bureaucracy
You can also encourage creative ideas by making the evaluation process more transparent, fun and democratic.
Rite-Solutions, an American IT company, for example, has developed a clever way to generate new ideas and bypass the bureaucracy of decision-making. They created an investment market, where the shares are the employees’ ideas. All employees receive a sum of digital currency to bet on their colleagues’ coolest ideas.
The purpose of this system is to further encourage and encourage the collaboration of ideas by professionals.
3- Fix the problems
How many companies launch a flawed product on the market and then improve it over time? When we innovate, we are subject to getting it right or getting it wrong.
Forward-thinking companies embrace risk and the possibility of failure. They embrace agile methodologies to be able to stimulate innovation with high-performance teams that meet demands with speed and perfection. To do this, a team with multiple profiles and extensive knowledge of the processes is necessary.
Every failure that arises brings with it an opportunity for learning and improvement. This does not mean that we should test any idea, but rather that, when this happens, there is the possibility of failures and that these failures can be adjusted along the way.
So, do you have any other tips that weren’t covered in this post? Share them with us in the comments!
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