Building and Sustaining an Innovative Work Environment

Running head: INNOVATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT 1
Building and Sustaining an Innovative Work Environment
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INNOVATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT 2
Building and Sustaining an Innovative Work Environment
1.
The idea of innovation involves finding solutions to the problems that are facing the
organization, nation or institution. It is not necessarily something new, and it consists in using
the information that’s available to come up with a solution (s) to the present problem. Innovation
is crucial in today’s world especially in the place of work (Berry & Berry, 2018). When a
company or a business is looking to beat the competition, increase productivity, meet customer
needs and expectation, maintain a competitive advantage among others, innovation is critical.
For any company to be able to penetrate into a new market faster than the rest or avoid
replicating things that have been made before, innovation is the key. Therefore, in every business
and workplace, innovation allows individuals to utilize the information available to them in
identifying and solving problems that could sink the company. It helps companies to save money
and time by introducing ways of working and doing business that is effective.
2.
In the workplace, innovation can be seen in the context growth which includes performance,
solving problems and making critical decisions, new forms of technology among others. The
crucial part of innovation in the workplace is where it improves efficiency and performance
while increasing production (Bain & Kleinknecht, 2016). It can also be seen within the context
of leadership where a leader can combine two styles of leadership and be effective in leading his
team effectively. There are several examples of how innovation can be manifested in the place of
work.
 Creating a creative environment at the site of work.

INNOVATIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT 3
 Encouraging creativity through rewarding creativity and innovative ideas.
 Allowing different viewpoints among employees in the place of work.
 Hiring and recruiting the best talent in the place of work.
 Creating structures in the workplace that can foster innovation.
 Learning from failures of other companies and coming up with solutions they missed out.
 Starting programs in the workplace for encouraging innovation for example
brainstorming sessions.
 Creating a culture of innovation by allowing employees to work in groups.
 Giving a clear picture of the workplace goals and objectives and leaving the performance
and decisions for teams to figure out ways of achieving the goals.
 Providing employees with the resources they need to implement ideas and granting them
the freedom to carry it to the end.
3.
Innovation and creativity at the workplace can be fostered in some ways and the use of
specific tools. First, there is brainstorming, in this creative tool, the company allows a group of
workers, for example, four or five to sit down and think about some ideas (Markman & Wood,
2009). The problem is noted down on a board, and the team starts bringing ideas to solve the
problem. Six hats of thinking is another tool where the imaginary hats represent a problem that
needs to be resolved. Also, there is biomimicry where nature itself provides the solutions to the
issues. There is assumption challenging, the devil’s advocate among others.
4.
Several legislative frameworks must be considered when an organization wants to
implement or carry out innovation. There are the intellectual property rights and innovation in