There are many different innovation workshop exercises and processes. But what type of culture should the workshop have in order to create the best experience?
During the workshop on innovation people may not share their ideas, divisive conflict breaks out, us vs. them happens and people don’t buy-in to the ideas. This can leave people feeling frustrated, disengaged, and discouraged.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. An innovation workshop can be a great tool that brings people together, encourages creativity, and gets people to buy-in to new ways of doing things.
We’ve been working with teams for over ten years. Helping them come together in a way that is safe, collaborative, and productive.
In this post, we will share with you the culture that we have seen create a happy and productive innovation workshop.
Innovation Workshop - How To Create A Culture Of Innovation
Culture of innovation
Embrace failure as learning
There is no innovation without failure. When we create or try something new, there isn’t a way to know exactly how it will turn out. We can do the best guessing we can, but without experimenting, we will never know.
People can feel emotionally stuck when it comes to not getting the perfect outcome. So instead of focusing on an outcome, we shift the focus to learning with curiosity.
What happened, what didn’t happen, why and why not. Once we learn, then we can apply that knowledge to the next experiment. Getting closer to the outcome we are looking for.
Having a learning mindset allows your team to feel safe to take risks and try something new. Letting the team know that failure is an expected part of the process.
Want to learn more about the process? Check out our blog post on the six simple stages of innovation
Make it
It's easy, but not productive, to sit at a table and talk about an idea. Why it will work, why it won't, what will get in our way, and so on.
So instead we take the idea from abstract to real-life through innovation workshop exercises. The process of creation deepens our understanding of it. It also helps us focus the conversation.
Start with small targets
Starting off small helps people get their sea legs. When we focus on small targets, it increases the likelihood of getting the outcome we are looking for.
This helps build confidence. The confidence to walk through the process. The confidence of learning from the failures. The confidence in engaging in the experience.
We can then take that confidence and apply it to bigger and bigger targets.
Separate ideas from people
The conversations should be about the topic and ideas, not about people. It’s very easy for a conversation to be about why someone is wrong, or how little knowledge they have. There are a variety of innovation workshop exercises and techniques you can use to help keep anonymity while still hearing everyone’s voices.
We want to focus on the merit of the idea, rather than who it came from.
Iterate, iterate, iterate
A large part of innovation is trying new things, or thinking about ideas differently. Try to prevent your team from getting emotionally attached to any single idea. Chances are very small that one idea will be chosen. Especially since we are going to come up with a ton of ideas.
Also getting stuck on one idea stifles the possibility of finding a better solution.
As you try, try and try again, apply what you’ve learned from the workshop on innovation to the next experiment.
Let your team know that the process will continually adjust and the potential solution will change. The goal is to find the solution that works exactly for what you need. In order to do that we have to go through a variety of tests to figure that out.
Create psychological safety
Psychological safety is creating freedom for everyone to share their ideas without the fear of negative consequences or judgment. Feeling fear around sharing can kill creativity, engagement, and buy-in.
Do everything you can to create a culture where people can share their ideas, worries, and mistakes. This can help speed up the process and create much more engagement.
Inclusion
When people share their ideas, it helps them feel included in the process. It's very common for the two or three loudest voices to dominate the conversation.
Having everyone share their opinions helps them feel like they are true members of the team. The more people feel included, the more they will care. This leads to more buy-in and innovative ideas.
Equitable
Look to see how you can make the process accessible for everyone.
For example, people process ideas and concepts at different speeds. Give them time to process what is talked about. For some, It can feel scary to share ideas in front of a group of people when you haven’t had the time to think about them.
We often use the concept of working together, alone. Part of that process is allowing people time and space to think about ideas and reflect upon them in the workshop on innovation.
Conclusion
Creating the right culture of innovation will help your team feel safe to engage with the process. They will be more supportive, collaborative, and get things done faster with the right culture. No more worrying about divisiveness or disengagement. Instead, your team will feel closer to one another and have more buy-in.
If you are looking for more help in leading an innovation workshop, we are here to be your guide. Go ahead and click the button below to find out how we can support you and your team’s innovation!