Human-Centered Culture Unleash Innovation

I worked in an organization that has a culture by default that resists any out-of-the-box thinking from employees. I came up with an idea based on my interactions with the customers, instead of excitement at the idea, I was greeted with indifference.

I coach employees to be innovative and create value. One of the biggest challenges for employees has been that when they come up with ideas to make things better, their employers hardly buy into it or make an investment to make it a reality. I believe when we get used to a certain way of doing things that work, it becomes a sacred cow. People worship their sacred cows. However, they need to understand that if they don’t eat those fattened cows, someone will eat them for lunch.

The way business executives and owners respond or react to ideas from their employees results in the culture they create. The story of the Five Monkey Experiment illustrates how organizations get to the point where they create anti-innovation cultures.

A researcher puts five monkeys in a cage with a bunch of bananas hanging from a string, with a ladder leading to the bananas. As one of the monkeys goes for the bananas, all the monkeys are sprayed with freezing water for five minutes. That continues for a while with any monkey that goes for the bananas. Interestingly something changed when it happened to the second monkey.

When the third monkey tries to go for the bananas, the other monkeys attack it to prevent it from climbing the ladder. They are afraid of what will happen when the monkey tries to go for the bananas.

Then, the monkeys are replaced one after the other until all the monkeys have been replaced with new ones. When the new monkey introduced tries to go for the bananas, it gets attacked. Before you know what every one of the monkeys has developed a mindset never to go for the bananas. Eventually, no one goes for the banana.

The moral of the story is that when an employee comes up with an idea on how to make the business better and experiences resistance, he tells others about it. Eventually, that becomes a culture. Even if they have an idea that will help the company, they don’t share those ideas for fear of being resisted or not taken for granted.

The way business owners and executives treat employees determine the culture of the organization. This has nothing to do with the values you choose for your company and behaviors that you expect everyone to follow to be a culture fit. If you don’t openly celebrate people who come up with ideas, you will be building a culture that is against innovation. Perception is powerful.

What I have realized is that organizations create anti-innovation cultures unconsciously. When the need arises, they ask their employees for ideas after they have doused their creativity by failing to appreciate the idea someone brought. No one can manage, control or predict innovation. It happens when people feel treated as humans.

What makes us humans is our ability to learn, adapt, master, empathize and create. We have to feel human to act human. That is why we are advocating for a human-centered culture, an environment or workplace where people are treated as humans, not function. When we feel like humans, we spread our humanity.

Innovation is natural to nature. It's part of the DNA of humans and every living thing. Spiders innovate by creating the web. Beavers innovate by building a dam that will serve them. Every animal has a way they innovate to serve one another. We, humans, are in our best element when we are treated as humans.

The Human-centered culture is an environment that nurtures human ingenuity. When people feel valued, respected, and important, and that what they are doing matters, they feel they are human. The culture encourages humans to be curious, rethink, reimagine and challenge how things are done. It creates an environment where everyone loves what they are doing. They find meaning in their work. They are working for a higher purpose and a cause that is bigger than life.

To create a human-centered culture, you will need to first transform into a Truly Human Leader. A Truly Human Leader measures success by the impact the business makes on people. They treat people right as humans and create the right environment that ensures that people unleash their creative potential and ingenuity to make the place better.

There is no end or limit to human ingenuity; it is an unlimited resource. It can only stop when people don’t feel respected, valued, honored, and celebrated. The trigger is a culture that makes them feel they matter and that what they do is important in the lives of others.

Have you unconsciously created a culture that is dousing the creativity of your people? We can help point you on how to create a culture that unhinges their creativity. Your employee’s creative potential and ingenuity is your greatest asset. You don’t pay for it, but you can tap into it by creating a human-centered culture. Chat us up at [email protected] so we start transforming your culture intentionally.