How to Create a Community of Innovators

If you want a thriving culture of innovation in your organization, you need to make it happen.

How? Inspire, equip and train your staff to innovate. ??

Last week, I was in New York City with Syska Hennessy Group for a full day to build (upskill) innovation capabilities for their Innovation Coaches. ???? It was the first time these coaches met in person since the program started. I shared two of my workshops, Supercharging Ideation: Creating Bigger, Better, Bolder Ideas and Seeking Out New Thought (Collaboration as a mindset). ??

My heart was SO full of gratitude to be part of this. ???? It brought me back to my fond years when I led the Innovation Coach program at Chick-fil-A Corporate Support Center . I taught staff how THEY could be innovative. At its peak, I had over 85 Innovation Coaches spread across all the different departments at Chick-fil-A.

Back in those days, I didn’t have an innovation curriculum to teach from. I spent lots of time, one on one, sharing with each Innovation Coach what I knew about how to be an innovator. It was a scrappy, grassroots, initiative, but wildly successful.

It was my favourite thing to do — empowering others to unleash their innovative potential and see them grow into amazing innovators.

Years later, I have the JOY of doing this again! ?? This time, with a new cohort of individuals, a different company and with my own innovation curriculum.

As I spent time with the Innovation Coaches, I could see the passion of each person — eager to learn and apply what I was teaching & grateful for the opportunity to be there. There was a special bond in the community. A feeling I knew very well. ??

Being surrounded with like-minded individuals, eager to learn and apply innovation is special. I love serving organizations that see the value of this and make the investment in it, because innovation transforms people and people transforms organizations. ????

?? What’s particularly special about Syska’s Innovation Coaches is that they are physically distributed across all across the US: San Diego to Boston, from Chicago to Charlotte. This creates an amazing opportunity for a thriving culture of innovation.

Innovation belongs EVERYWHERE. ?? In all teams, departments and offices in an organization. That's the true test that you have a culture of innovation. ??

It’s why having a program like Innovation Coaches in your organization is so powerful. ???? It embeds innovation into every aspect of your business.

So, how can you get started?

1. Find people who are passionate about innovation in your organization. They might not call it innovation, but they'll get really excited about it when you talk to them. These individuals will be people who enjoy problem solving, love to learn, are curious, open-minded, are creative and interested in innovation. You'll have to connect them to the fact they can become innovators.
2. Create opportunities to gather these people, regularly. You'll need to bring this community of people together, regularly. Give them opportunities to get to know one another.
3. Create a safe place to learn. Learning innovation will take time and there's nothing more important than creating a safe place for everyone to learn. They're not going to get it perfect out of the gate and that's completely okay!
4. Train them on innovation. This is critical. Teach this community HOW to innovate. Teach them the right innovation mindsets AND skillsets. If you need help with this, let me know — it's why I developed my innovation curriculum.
5. Give opportunities for coaches to share their expertise. Invite the Coaches to lead the program WITH you. They'll be more than happy to participate and this will give them ownership and a safe place to grow their innovation skills.

How are YOU creating a community of innovators? Comment and let me know. ???

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P.S. Need help training innovation in your organization? DM me. I'd love to bring my innovation curriculum to you! ????