4 Guiding Questions for an Innovation Culture

BCG has identified four aspects of innovation culture on which companies often focus: what successes you celebrate, how you create, how you lead, and how you team. Importantly, these aspects either add—or destroy—value, depending on how your teams work together. Each aspect, when framed as a question, can help you determine what route to pursue to bolster your company’s innovation culture.

1. What do you celebrate? What R&D and innovation outcomes does your company reward? What actions put the innovation team on the company’s radar? What behaviors accelerate team members’ promotions?
2. How do you create? How do you get new ideas? Do you introspect or interact with people outside of your company? What role do customer insights play in idea development?
3. How do you lead? Who makes what decisions on innovation? How broad are your project leaders’ decision rights? Do you as a company lead by authority, or is leadership an activity anyone can participate in?
4. How do you team? Do you enable everyone in your company to participate meaningfully in innovation? Do you draw on the most diverse perspectives when you form teams, or not?

Like this content? Why not share it?