In order to create such a culture the companies should:
- Act with competitive urgency and decisive action
- Use knowledge of employees and data to make decisions in a timely manner
- Tolerate mistakes of employees in pursuit of continuous improvement
- Act with swift resolve to maintain the highest customer satisfaction
- Never rest with the customer’s status
- Continuously seek ways to improve their business and themselves
Changes must be made in virtually all parts of an organisation, from management style to measurement systems. Obviously, such transformations don’t happen overnight, but you must gradually bring about modified employee behavior, leading from the top. But once a company sets out on the innovation journey, the results can be dramatic.
Below are the five characteristics that help to create a company culture for continuous innovation:
- Make Everyone Accountable
Because a few individuals at the top cannot possibly plan all of a company’s activities, give employees a set of rights, responsibilities and rewards that make them accountable for their own actions.
- Encourage Employee Innovations, and Reward Them Accordingly
Companies are often fast to turn to outside help, when in fact they already have the capabilities within their organisation to do the job.
- Replace Rigid Processes With Clear Business Objectives
Too often innovation is stifled because companies define business processes in great detail, then hand those designs to the line that is expected to execute them from memory.
- Challenge Employees to Compete
When challenged by external (or sometimes internal) organisations, groups are kept on their toes.
- Focus on Your Core Strengths…and Outsource
Another way of using innovation to stay nimble and competitive is by focusing on competitive differentiators, and relegating everything else to partners who have that expertise already.
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