A CULTURE CONDUCIVE to innovation is not only good for a company’s bottom line. It also is something that both leaders and employees value in their organizations.
In seminars at companies across the globe, I have informally surveyed hundreds of managers about whether they want to work in an organization where innovative behaviors are the norm. I cannot think of single instance when someone has said “No, I don’t.” Who can blame them: Innovative cultures are generally depicted as pretty fun. When I asked the same managers to describe such cultures, they readily provided a list of characteristics identical to those extolled by management books: tolerance for failure, willingness to experiment, psychological safety, highly collaborative, and nonhierarchical. And research supports the idea that these behaviors translate into better innovative performance.
But despite…
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Harvard Business Review Special Issues (Digital) - 1 Issue, Winter 2024