
How can leaders encourage innovation?

- Employees who are familiar with your processes would know which ones are working, and which ones aren’t (and haven’t been so for a long time).
- They can draw from customer feedback and find gaps between service requests and availability. For example, the demand for an old product or a new service. Consequently, they can relay this to product design and development and recapture interest by marketing the launch of such items.
- It can simplify routine work by finding an easier or quicker workaround.
- The company can follow market movements and recognize what users are asking for. Consequently they can evolve and keep their head in the game.
- Innovation raises satisfaction scores. In another Gallup survey, it was found that 74% of engaged employees give their customers new ideas, thereby helping them maximize their use out of a company’s product and/or service.
How to get innovative ideas from employees

Cultivate the right mindset
One person having the right frame of mind isn’t sufficient. It has be a movement, and this is where hiring comes in. Hiring the right people makes all the difference. You need people who are doers and approach problem-solving as an interesting challenge. It only takes one bad hire to create discord amongst a team, which is why attitude tests matter just as much as aptitude tests. Put simply, they do not conform to the’ my way or no-way’ ideology that thinks only they are always in the right. The right mindset can open you to new experiences.Creative freedom
Dedicate a space, either in a collocated office or digital channel, for expressing ideas, collecting feedback and raising concerns. Furnish the room (or hub)with idea and mood boards, motivational posters, decor and stationery to help get the creative juices flowing. If your team is remote, schedule an hour that everyone’s available for and have them convene at a central channel for brainstorming. You can further segment and organize this space by team member and designation to keep track of where ideas are coming from, and from who.Breaking free of convention
Employees can come up with the best ideas only when they are given the independence and freedom to pick up projects that interest them. So long as they can meet deadlines and manage scheduled work, there should be no reason to deny them the opportunity to work on things that they are passionate about. It can even open doors to corporate social responsibility initiatives. For example, if a worker wants to get more involved in charity, the company can support them and post updates on causes they take up, featuring that particular employee. Visual representations of what your company values beyond the business can promote you. It can attract investors to back your product, and can increase engagement with customers.Gamify problem solving
Who doesn’t like the feeling of winning a challenge? Gamification strategies can make problem solving interesting and pave the way for innovation. You can catch the attention of your employees by inviting them to participate in gameplay. It helps you crowdsource ideas, i.e. Collect input from anywhere. You can use a poll to see which ideas are popular and assess them for feasibility. Games conducted outside offices can also fuel creativity, owing to the change of environment. Gamified problem solving helps employees bounce ideas off each other. They consequently collaborate in competitions and would come to love working as part of a team as well as flying, whether it's a coding puzzle, logical reasoning or a bootcamp experience.Create agility for innovation toolkit
Curate a list of items you need for inspiration. It can be a collection of books, music playlists, travel spots, or even technologies that people are familiar with. Invite your staff to donate old belongings in reasonably good condition to the office library so that others can have something to go on. An innovation toolkit supports diversity and inclusion. It gives people the confidence to present their ideas and credit who, or what inspired it.How does employee engagement cause innovation?
