Innovation is one of the key differentiators for organizations today. It is this spark that enables some organizations to surge forward leaving the rest behind. However, innovation is not easy and can require a combination of skills, time, motivation, and a supportive environment. Above all, it requires substantial investment in people.
And who knows people better than HR leaders? You have the power to cultivate a workplace culture that encourages creativity and supports bold, fresh ideas. But how do you get people to innovate when everyone’s already juggling a full workload?
Here’s how you can spark innovation within your organization.
Create Time for Innovation
One of the biggest barriers to innovation is time—or the lack of it. People are busy with their daily tasks and don’t have the mental space to brainstorm new ideas. To address this challenge, organizational leaders and managers must give employees time to innovate, whether through dedicated brainstorming sessions or by simply lightening their everyday load. HR leaders can advocate for structured time blocks, like “innovation days” or time off from regular duties, to allow employees to focus on creative projects.
Google famously implemented a "20% time" policy, which let employees spend one-fifth of their work hours on projects outside their regular tasks. While the structure might not fit every business, HR can push for similar flexible time policies to support innovation.
Encourage Cross-Departmental Collaboration
Innovation doesn’t happen in silos. Sometimes, the best ideas come from mixing people with different skills and perspectives. HR can facilitate this by creating opportunities for cross-departmental collaboration. This could be in the form of hackathons, innovation workshops, or rotating project teams where employees from different departments come together to work on shared problems.
When departments interact, fresh perspectives are introduced. For example, someone from marketing might help an engineering team think differently about how they develop a product.
The HR team can design and promote programs that break down departmental silos and promote collaboration.
Build a Safe-to-Fail Culture
If employees feel they’re going to be penalized for trying something new and failing, they’re not going to take risks. Innovation is often born from trial and error, which means failure is part of the process. As an HR leader, you must build a culture where it’s okay to fail—where experimentation is celebrated, and learning from failure is seen as valuable as success.
HR leaders can work closely with managers to ensure that employees know it’s safe to pitch wild ideas or try something new without fear of negative consequences. This involves training managers to give constructive feedback and reward efforts, even if they don’t lead to immediate success.
Create a Growth Mindset
A fixed mindset will shut down innovation before it even starts. A growth mindset, on the other hand, encourages learning and curiosity. HR can promote this mindset through training and development programs that emphasize continuous learning. It’s about shifting the focus from "What if it goes wrong?" to "What can we learn from this?"
Encouraging a growth mindset doesn’t just happen in one-off training sessions. It must be embedded in performance reviews, company communications, and reward systems. Highlighting innovation and learning as key factors in career growth can motivate employees to think outside the box.
Empower Employees with Tools and Resources
Great ideas can only go so far without the right tools to bring them to life. HR can play a vital role in ensuring employees have access to the resources they need to innovate. This could mean providing access to learning platforms, software tools, or even partnerships with external mentors or industry experts.
If innovation is a priority, HR should align its training programs to focus on creative problem-solving, design thinking, and other methodologies that encourage innovative thinking.
Recognize and Reward Innovation
Employees must be appreciated for their innovative efforts to achieve continuous motivation. Recognition programs can be an excellent way to encourage more people to get involved. Whether it's through formal awards or informal shout-outs, acknowledging the employees who come up with innovative ideas will reinforce the importance of innovation within the organization.
You can introduce new recognition programs that focus specifically on innovation. For example, employees who come up with creative solutions or who drive change in the company could be publicly recognized at town halls or featured in internal newsletters.
Set Clear Innovation Goals
It’s important to set clear expectations if you want your team to innovate. When innovation is treated as a vague, undefined idea, employees might not understand what’s expected of them. This is why HR leaders must work with leadership to set specific innovation goals and communicate these to employees.
When employees know they are encouraged and even expected to innovate, it becomes a part of their job rather than an extra task on their to-do list. Make innovation a part of performance metrics, and encourage employees to come up with at least one new idea each quarter.
With such measures, the HR team can encourage innovation in their organizations.
Wrapping Up
HR leaders have the unique ability to influence a company’s culture, policies, and people, which makes them perfectly positioned to support and drive innovation. From creating time for innovation to recognizing employees who think creatively, HR can shape a work environment where fresh ideas flourish. It’s about building a culture that encourages employees to step outside their day-to-day tasks and think about what’s possible. Eventually, this can benefit an organization to stay ahead of its competition.