Why corporate culture is key to innovation, growth, and success

The concept of corporate culture has been spreading around on different platforms, emerging as one of the important elements of corporate innovation among innovation managers. Therefore, we decided to take a closer look and unravel the elements that help build a successful corporate culture, finally leading to high levels of corporate innovation and growth.?

Keep on reading, we have a cool video at the end to show a small part of our company's culture!

Corporate innovation is a continuous process that every corporation should follow to improve its financial performance and market share. However, external partnerships and resources are not the only things constituting corporate innovation. A secure internal environment will create a strong foundation from which you can start implementing innovative solutions.?

The application and degree of adaptation to modern technologies and AI solutions are absolutely vital for a successful innovation process, but the internal environment also determines how quickly and smoothly the whole journey will unfold.

Let's have a look at how corporate culture plays a role in reaching corporate innovation. In order to do so, we should start by giving a definition of these concepts.

Corporate culture can be defined as a set of values and practices that guide how management and employees interact with each other as well as with third parties. It frequently emerges organically over time from the collective characteristics of the employees a company hires, rather than being explicitly defined.

On the other hand, corporate innovation is the deliberate promotion of unconventional thought within corporate settings. Many businesses set up appropriate shared office spaces to carefully follow this approach in order to network with entrepreneurs in their sectors and identify prospective markets and joint ventures.?

So, why is corporate culture so important? It is not just an abstract concept, but rather an important way to establish an internal structure that supports and values innovation. Furthermore, a proactive and supportive environment will encourage employees to be more eager to come up with new ideas and develop an experimental mindset. However, there is little general agreement about what corporate culture is, how it influences employee behavior, and whether it is something that leaders can change over time.?As mentioned, corporate culture consists of psychological behavior, like the relationships between employees and employers. However, it can be difficult to measure this type of psychological behavioral effect on innovation. One of the main aspects how to know whether employees are satisfied with the innovation implementations is through satisfaction surveys among employees.

Despite these statements, here are some psychological and behavioral factors to be considered a part of a supportive corporate culture.

Tolerance of failure through a willingness to experiment

Executives, with their words and actions, can help their employees overcome their fear of failure. Every leader should be able to do that, in order to reach innovation through multiple experiments and an ever-growing learning curve. Corporate innovation is a journey that consists of brainstorming, testing, collaborating, etc. All that comes through a willingness to experiment, test ideas, and understand whether there are elements that need to be reconsidered or if the idea actually fits the corporate innovation strategy the company decided to go after.

Collaboration with individual responsibility

There are two aspects that are implemented at the same time in a successful corporate culture - collaborative learning and individual accountability.

Collaborative learning refers to a method where ideas are shared and implemented together. Employees feel a type of belonging and risks are dispersed. Moreover, this mitigates the fear related to doing everything by themselves, especially in case of new problems, which are difficult to find a solution for. Oftentimes, someone within the company has experienced a similar problem before and solutions already exist internally. Understanding that, can reduce wasted effort and can inspire new collaborative creativity. Additionally, individual responsibility prevents the likelihood of “free riders”. Meaning that every stakeholder is accountable for specific learning and development within the company, which can be good at the individual and corporate levels. An employee feels a sense of empowerment and accomplishment, leading the corporate a step closer to innovation.?

Strong leadership

It can imply many things. In this context, it is a way for leaders to encourage employees to experiment, brainstorm and present ideas. Thinking too much about the budget or deadlines can kill the idea before it has even reached different stakeholders, and can grow into an internal blocker of brainstorming. Having a mindset where all ideas are acceptable, can open new discussions about concepts that have never been considered before. Going into the practical details represents a step for the future.

Having a successful and supportive corporate culture is an extremely important part of the corporate innovation journey. So, what does your corporate culture look like? Does it encourage the creation of new ideas or does it block the idea flow before it even begins?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Here is an example of? Novable’s corporate culture. Besides practical everyday tasks, the Novable team knows very well how to have fun after a long day working together toward the same goal.