The Seasons of Innovation in the Workplace

Innovation is one of the most-prized qualities for any organisation. It is what keeps a business at the head of its field, keeps its products and services relevant, and keeps employees motivated.But how do leaders go about inspiring innovation in their teams? How can they grow it in the workplace?'Grow' is a good word to use because, in many ways the process of creativity is a natural one, much like the process of changing seasons, and agricultural cycles...The natural cycle of innovationCrops grow according to the natural cycle of the seasons. From preparing the ground, to planting, nurturing, growing, and finally harvesting the crops, there is a set process that needs to happen before the fruits of labour are ripe.The same concept can be applied to ideas. Many organizations expect people to be creative automatically and to generate ideas without the ground being 'prepared'.The best leaders ensure that the ground is fertile, and ready for seeds to be planted and to flourish, before they expect results. This requires an understanding of the creative process and a commitment to creating the right conditions for it to take hold within an organisation.Leaders expecting creative teams need to first understand their team members - their needs, the way they think and arrive at decisions, and how they generate ideas; they also need to understand more about the process of innovation. Then they must take decisive steps to get the best out of them in order for innovative mindsets to blossom.The seasons of innovationExtending the metaphor, leaders need to take their teams through the 'seasons of innovation':

Springtime - Planting of the seeds
Leaders need to instigate discussions with team members in order to create teams that are comfortable working with each other and are cohesive, agile, goal-oriented, supportive, and optimistic. They then need to apply practical steps to create an environment of trust, passion, connection and hope that will allow innovative team to develop. This can take some time but is crucial for developing a long-term mindset where innovation is a natural consequence of a group working together closely.




Summer - removing the weeds that strangle growth
In any team it is important to understand what is holding progress back. What are the obstacles to innovation? Some of these are obvious and other are less so, requiring insight in to why people think and behave the way they do. Overcoming these obstacles is key to developing a sustainable creative mindset in the team, where misunderstandings, confusion, stress, cognitive bias, and conflict are all minimised.

Harvest time - reaping what you sow
There are eight different mindsets that create an innovation culture. It's important to get to grips with these and to identify a sequence of steps that the team needs to follow in order to be creative. This involves evaluating team structure and learning how to harness individual strengths to the overall benefit of the team.Leadership should be able to see that trying to energise people and teams to be 'more creative' without creating a culture where innovation is possible is doomed to failure. It's impossible to encourage innovation without understanding the innovation process and team dynamics. That requires a little psychology and neuroscience, and a lot of leadership.