As an employer it’s natural to want to minimise risk. Why go with a new, risky idea if you have a safe, predictable alternative?

If survival is your primary concern, then yes, play it safe. However, if you want your organisation to progress, expand and lead the way, you need to innovate.

So, what has risk taking got to do with involvement?

Well, quite a lot actually.

Let Your Team Take Risks

Creating an involved workforce means encouraging each of your team members to come up with new ideas, take ownership of them and drive them forward. If you can create a company culture that results in a different member of your team coming to you each week with new and innovative ideas that will help move your company towards your wider goals, you are almost there!

What’s frustrating is the number of companies who reach this enviable position and then fall at the final hurdle.

In order to stay involved, your team needs to feel valued. If you turn down each new idea that’s brought to you, your team members will quickly stop bringing them. Involvement, engagement and motivation will all drop and you will be right back where you started.

Failure is a Good Thing

True involvement comes when failure is not only an option, but something that’s actively encouraged and rewarded. To keep your team involved, and help move your organisation forward, you need to be prepared to run with ideas that have a high chance of failure.

If you punish failure you will very quickly kill of any innovation within your organisation. The key to managing these failures is to reward the lessons learned. By rewarding a team member for having an idea, learning from the failure and then coming up with a new, better idea, you will foster a sustainable, long-term culture of innovation.

That’s how you lead the way!

Would you describe your organisation as having a widespread culture of innovation? No? Why not give us a call to see how we can help?