10 Key Features of an Innovative Company Culture
The key to innovation is having the right culture in your organization – this was one of the main takeaways from the first Digital Innovators Tour, which FIPP, VDZ and emediaSF, hosts of the Digital Innovators Summit, led in Seattle and San Francisco/Silicon Valley in May 2014.
But what exactly makes a company culture conducive to innovation, and how can you foster the right culture in your organization? We’ll list here some of the key characteristics of an innovative company culture that became apparent in visits and discussions with accelerators like Matter and RocketSpace, Facebook, venture capitalists including Tim Draper, dynamic organizations like product development company Synapse and innovative startups and agencies. This way, you will get to share in some of the insights that the select group of senior media executives and managing owners from the UK, Switzerland, Germany, Australia and Singapore got first-hand during the tour.
The following attitudes and features emerged as being crucial parts of a company culture that fosters and enables innovation:
- Embracing FAILURE. Failing needs to be seen as part of the learning process and should be done productively. If you fail, you need to analyze what went wrong and why, analyze the underlying assumptions and se if you can pivot off of the learnings. Consequently, „Fail forward“ is one of the mottos of media accelerator Matter. Other well-known slogans in Silicon Valley: „Fail quickly and cheaply“ and „Failure is a badge of honor“ – as not having failed means not having dared and experimented and hence, not having learned enough.
- Encouraging EXPERIMENTATION. Very simple: If you don’t experiment, you can’t find out what works. Fear of failure, always a possible outcome when experimenting. often gets in the way of experimentation, which is why accepting failure must be a first step. Experimenting on a small scale is a way to prevent costly failures on a large scale. Testing and experimenting with a limited number of users, part of a service or a still very basic prototype of a product gives a fast idea of what may work and what doesn’t. Whatever works can then be expanded or applied on a larger scale.
Related to a culture of experimentation are mottos like „Done is better than perfect“ or „Move quickly and break things“, as practiced by Facebook (even though the latter is facing a counter-movement of „Move slowly and fix your shit“, concedes Andy Mitchell, Director of Partnerships at Facebook). - Accepting CHANGE and the thought that things will keep on changing. To keep up with change, one constantly has to adapt and products need to keep evolving. This is reflected in Facebook’s mantra „Our Journey is only 1 % finished“.
- Giving and receiving FEEDBACK freely and seeking FRESH PERSPECTIVES helps to improve and find good solutions faster, cuts time and resources spent on approaches that are not optimal and helps everyone get better at what they do.
- An atmosphere of TRUST AND SAFETY supports people in daring to try new things, to potentially fail and embarrass themselves.
- An emphasis on TEAMWORK and COLLABORATION fosters creativity and brings out the collective best in people, even more so when people collaborate across disciplines or departments (how unconstructive the opposite – competition between employees rather than collaboration – is, was demonstrated by Microsoft, whose controversial “stack ranking system“ bred a lot of uncertainty and stifled innovation).
- FLAT HIERARCHIES minimize bureaucracies, minimize long and winding paths for decision-making and reduce inhibitions between co-workers. Positions should be about tasks and jobs, not levels and hierarchies, says Andy Mitchell von Facebook.
- FUN! Ping pong and foosball tables or even climbing walls for active and entertaining breaks, a relaxed dress code, individually decorated work places, movie nights and company outings for the whole family are just some examples of bringing some fun to the office. The WORKING CLIMATE in general is often enhanced by amenities like free and good food, kitchens stocked with breakfast items and snacks, friendly athletic competitions, like which colleagues walks or bikes the most miles to the office throughout the year, and, especially for the giants like Google and Facebook, perks like luxury buses with wifi that eases the commute, yoga classes, dry cleaners and even dentists on campus.
- ROOMS and FACILITIES that foster Communication and Innovation, including elements like
- open rooms without walls – people may have their own desks, but not their own cubicles or even offices. This often includes the executives and CEO. Flexible seating arrangements, for instance with moveable desks, help temporary project teams work in a common space and thus collaborate and communicate better, as seen at product development company Synapse, where members of teams form circles or ovals with their individual desks in which they sit, never more than a couple of meters from their colleagues and with no physical obstacle between them.
- ample meeting spaces, both formal, like conference rooms, and informal, like sofa groups and kitchens, invite collaboration and communication. Private spaces acknowledge the occasional need for instance for sensitive or personal phone calls. To tune out noise and conversations of others, some people wear noise-cancelling headphones.
- Invite communication, brainstorming and exchange of ideas through simple low-tech tools like whiteboards, liberal use of post-its, walls to write on etc. Provide visual interest and stimulation through color, architectural elements, original decoration etc.
- The space does not need to be perfect – letting unfinished walls or plumbing elements show is not just a “cool” feature of many startups but also enhances the mindset of a fresh start and rolling up the sleeves to tackle the next challenge.
- A MANAGEMENT and MANAGMENT STYLE that
- provides thought leadership and leads by example – traits like collaboration, seeking feedback, willingness to experiment, fail and embarrass yourself are best instilled on employees if the top management lives by them as well and sends clear signals.
- communicates the desired behaviors and changes clearly, through internal marketing and communications, on posters, in meetings, employee reviews etc.
- includes an incentive system that fosters desirable behaviors and attributes like willingness to experiment and fail or collaboration.
- is willing to sacrifice some efficiency to gain a lot of creativity
- puts high responsibilities and expectations on employees but gives them a lot of freedom in how to have the biggest impact in the organization, how to prioritize their tasks and achieve their goals
- reflects the dynamic environment, for instance by implementing shorter review cycles.