5.0 
Drawing from WTW’s approach to innovation, explore how leadership and organisational culture significantly enhance an organisation’s ability to innovate.
In today’s rapidly changing business landscape, innovation is a business imperative. But many organisations fall short of their innovation goals. We find that success in innovation requires two main components: effective leadership and a supportive culture that fosters innovation in daily business.
When leaders understand innovation, they can create the culture that fosters an inventive mindset at all levels of the organisation. But without an understanding of innovation at the leadership level, it’s difficult for organisations to overcome common challenges such as fear of failure and excessive attachment to one’s idea rather than the problem that needs to be solved.
The Cultural Values Supporting Innovation
Effective leaders can combat these challenges by creating a culture of innovation centred around the following:
- Openness to change and experimentation. Effective leaders promote a culture where change, continual learning and experimentation are welcome. They support openness by fostering psychological safety and respect, where employees feel empowered to challenge the status quo and take risks without fear of failure. They encourage discussion, recognise employee ideas and lead by example, actively engaging in and supporting initiatives that drive innovation and adaptability
- Trust. Effective leaders create a culture that accepts failure as a part of the innovation process. They remove the stigma of failure, encouraging teams to contribute ideas, fail fast and instead focus on learning from their mistakes to refine and improve future projects. They also support everyday innovation to organically create an employee experience that fosters ideation
- Collaboration and open communication. A collegial and inclusive organisational culture supports the integration of different perspectives, which is essential for understanding problems more deeply and developing effective solutions. Effective leaders foster an inclusive environment by promoting open communication, recognising and valuing diverse perspectives and creating safe spaces for idea sharing
Leadership’s Role in Fostering Innovation
To succeed in innovation, you must make a commitment to embed experimentation, trust and collaboration within your organisation’s culture and daily operations. These values create a supportive work environment that fosters creativity and ideation.
They play a key role in promoting innovation by providing strategic direction, aligning innovation efforts with the company’s business priorities and goals and securing the organisation’s commitment to pursue ambitious and forward-looking projects. Leadership involvement also helps overcome internal resistance and promotes a culture that values and encourages creative thinking and collaboration across all levels of the organisation.
Additionally, effective leaders can support large innovation projects by championing innovation at the highest levels, creating an environment that encourages the sharing of ideas and the process of experimentation. By promoting a culture of psychological safety and inclusivity, effective leaders help remove the fear of failure and encourage measured risk-taking, which are vital for successful innovation projects that drive growth.
How Effective Leaders Support Innovation
Effective leaders advocate for innovation by ensuring that all employees feel involved in the process and understand their role in contributing to ideation and breakthrough ideas. They stress the importance of early testing to assess viability, marketability, feasibility and adaptability, and prioritise understanding problems at their core.
To overcome the challenges of innovation, effective leaders:
- Foster an environment for everyday ideation
- Celebrate efforts
- Focus on collaboration and collective success
- Test ideas early
- Seek external input
A Blended Approach to Innovation
We recommend a blended portfolio of innovation, mixing incremental changes (often to existing solutions) with larger, disruptive ideas. To encourage innovation among employees, WTW sponsors all-employee programs like Horizons, an Innovation Masterclass Training Program and ongoing innovation network discussions through the Extended Innovation Network. Horizons offers employees — companywide and in all geographies — the opportunity to submit ideas and solutions that could address client needs and drive future growth. Those whose ideas are selected for development, learn from senior business leaders and test the feasibility of their concepts through prototyping and market testing.
Final Thoughts on Leadership’s Role in Building a Culture of Innovation
In today’s dynamic business landscape, innovation is crucial for organisational growth. Effective leadership plays a pivotal role in fostering a creative and open mindset by embedding values such as psychological safety, risk taking, learning and collaboration. To foster an innovation culture, leaders should encourage involvement, celebrate efforts, focus on collective success, test ideas early and seek external perspectives. Embedding these behaviours across the organisation will build a robust and sustainable culture of innovation that can drive financial performance and improved business results.
