Research shows that innovative organizations are more collaborative, flexible, and democratic in their communications. These organizations offer safe spaces and supportive leadership, encourage boundary spanning, embody innovative missions and vision statements, and properly incentivize innovation.
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Below are five reasons you’ll want your organization to implement a company culture that’s focused on innovation.
1. Engaged and Proactive Employees
Overall, companies with innovative cultures inspire more proactive and engaged employees. Employees who engage in democratic communications and who are offered more flexibility are more proactive.
Employees who are more proactive are more engaged, productive at work, and happier, which leads to healthier bottom lines for organizations. Proactive employees solve problems when and how they need to and collaborate with others as needed also. Innovation is not possible without employees who are empowered to ask questions and seek answers on their own.
2. Highly Satisfied Customers
When employees are part of an innovative culture, they feel empowered to help customers in new and inventive ways instead of simply following a script or seeking a manager’s guidance whenever there’s a problem.
However, innovative employees will seek leadership’s buy-in to develop and improve products and services to continually meet customers’ demands and concerns, which will significantly improve customer satisfaction ratings.
3. More Revenue
When customers are more satisfied with an organization and employees are more engaged at that organization because of the more innovative company culture, the organization will earn more revenue.
If employees are continuously encouraged to develop and improve new or existing products for an organization, that organization will be able to remain competitive and top of mind in its industry, which will ensure that it consistently earns more revenue than most of its competitors.
4. Demonstrated Thought Leadership
When organizations innovate, they become thought leaders in their industries. Instead of following and adapting to industry product trends, they invent new products. Instead of turning to competitors to see what new services they should offer, they develop those services first. Organizations with innovative company cultures are usually first to market and set the pace for what is going on in their industries.
5. Competitive Recruiting and Hiring
People want to work for innovative organizations that are thought leaders and that are continuously innovating products and services that change the course of entire industries. And they want to work for organizations that allow them to be proactive and innovative while being supported and properly incentivized to complete the best work they can.
As you work to develop your company’s culture, consider the five reasons you’ll want to implement a company culture focused on innovation highlighted above.