9 Ways Your Company Can Encourage Innovation

This allows employees to spend 15 % of their paid work time daydreaming, doodling or experimenting with ideas that don’t necessarily have to do with their work at the company.

This kind of daydreaming is the genesis of invention and fosters passion for one’s work.

Beyond just giving your employees time to experiment, you should also reward innovative habits. 

Nothing kills creativity faster than the fear of failure, so celebrate the success as well as the failures.

Encourage your team to do their own research as well. 

Let your employees’ personal interests and passions do the leading as they look into new technologies, reading articles and writing reports for your company.

Whether it’s a weekly all-staff meeting or a company bulletin, foster a space where employees can meet across teams to discuss and present their research, experimentation or intrapreneurial ideas from their 15 % time.

Get your employees to think outside the box by assigning them new and exciting projects outside the scope of their daily activities.

Successfully innovative companies know that they are more than just their products and services.

Instead of only defining your company by what it sells, identify your assets and strategic skills.

Studies show that certain activities that foster a truly unplugged environment, such as hiking in nature, can actually boost creativity by up to 50 %.

Encourage your employees to use all of their vacation time despite work pressures so that they come back to the office refreshed and full of new ideas.

Innovation starts at the top -- leaders should be role models for workplace passion, positive outlook, clear direction and vision, and of course, embracing change.

Start small, with any one of the mentioned ideas, and slowly layer in more until your company is a pinnacle of creativity and innovation.