It takes courage to put your idea out there, test it in the real world, and see if it resonates. When it does resonate, and you refine, adjust, and keep iterating based on valuable customer feedback, groundbreaking ideas become reality.
At Intuit, for instance, our executive leadership team made it a point to regularly visit customers as part of their planning sessions. They wanted to understand firsthand what was working and what wasn’t with their products.
And for our teams, Innovation Days provided a dedicated platform for every employee to experiment with their ideas, often inspired by customer feedback on persistent challenges. People were genuinely excited for the opportunity to tackle these tough problems and create a better experience for our customers.
One example of the incredible benefits of an innovative culture is the story of Peter Thomas, an Intuit engineer in India. During one of Intuit’s Innovation Days, he conceived a groundbreaking idea to improve our web services testing using open-source technology.
His innovation, “Karate,” reduced web services testing time by 75 percent and significantly improved quality. So valuable was Thomas’ innovation that it spread like wildfire—first within our business unit, then across Intuit, and eventually became a global success.
Because of the support and freedom to take risks, to fail, and to try again, Peter’s groundbreaking ideas became a reality, eventually leading to his roles as CEO of Karate and a speaker at major tech forums.
That is how innovation comes to life in the workplace.
When employees feel empowered to explore new ideas, they unlock opportunities for groundbreaking solutions. For instance, 3M’s Post-it Notes originated from a failed adhesive experiment. Instead of discarding the idea, the team reimagined its potential, creating a product that transformed the stationery industry.
Why Risk-Taking and Experimentation Matter
- Sparks Creativity: Allowing employees the freedom to experiment encourages out-of-the-box thinking. This leads to creative solutions to complex problems, often producing results far beyond traditional approaches.
- Builds Resilience: Experimentation naturally involves setbacks. By normalizing failure as part of the innovation process, organizations can cultivate a workforce that learns from mistakes and continuously improves.
- Drives Engagement: Employees who feel empowered to take calculated risks are more engaged in their work. This empowerment fosters a sense of ownership and pride, boosting productivity and morale.
- Adapts to Change: The ability to test and iterate quickly allows companies to remain agile in an ever-changing market, ensuring they stay ahead of the competition. Netflix continuously experiments with its recommendation algorithms to improve user experience. These iterative updates have played a significant role in the company’s success.
Best Practices for Encouraging Experimentation
- Establish Psychological Safety: Leaders should create an environment where employees feel safe to share ideas and take risks without fear of ridicule or punishment. Google’s Project Aristotle revealed that psychological safety is the most critical factor for high-performing teams.
- Set Clear Parameters: While freedom is essential, establishing boundaries ensures experiments align with the company’s goals.
- Celebrate Failures as Learning Opportunities: Highlighting lessons learned from unsuccessful experiments helps destigmatize failure and encourages employees to keep trying. Amazon’s Fail-Fast approach to innovation is a great example and involves launching numerous experiments and learning from failures. For example, their Fire Phone was a commercial failure, but the lessons learned contributed to the success of Alexa and Echo devices.
- Provide Resources: Equip teams with the time, budget, and tools necessary for experimentation. This could include innovation labs, hackathons, or dedicated time for side projects.
- Foster Cross-Functional Collaboration: Encouraging diverse teams to work together often leads to innovative ideas by combining different perspectives and expertise.
If you’re looking to cultivate innovation in your workplace, remember this: Empower your people to experiment, encourage them to take calculated risks, and provide them with the time and space to explore their ideas. You might be surprised by the revolutionary innovations that emerge when you do.