Step 2  Give training on creative problem solving, process improvement systems and brain storming.  (An investment in training sends a very clear message about expectations).

Employees are very in tune to where employers spend money and where they don’t.  Where companies spend their time and money sends a powerful message about what really matters and where they expect to have a return on investment.  For instance there are companies that say safety matters but they spend very little on safety meetings and strategies whereas, Paul O’Neill a past CEO of Alcoa spent millions on Safety and made it his number one priority.  The message was clear, safety numbers drastically improved and the innovation that resulted from O’Neill’s safety strategy turned the company around.  Now, this isn’t a talk about safety but it is about sending the message of where you expect a return on investment.  Creative problem solving, process improvement and brainstorming skills are not inherent and need to be learned.  But when those skills are embedded into the workforce it will begin to create an awareness of innovation opportunities and provide the means to produce innovation outcomes and return on investment!

Step 1.....Pick an area of interest in your company that needs fresh ideas and have contest.

Why a contest?

Contests create excitement and stir up competition.  It's no secret that we cannot run at a full sprint at work for very long but we can and should have times that test our sprint speed and agility and a contest can do just that.  A contest helps give a reason for extra effort and engagement and when it comes to solving big challenges or making new innovative breakthroughs sometimes that is exactly what it takes.

Businesses can add big value to their employees and to their bottom line when they make people feel included and involved in big projects.  Not to mention the added perspective gained from crowd sourcing the company's entire population.  The key to broad perspective is through inclusion of everyone and not just those who are directly involved in the problem.  Remember, cross functional teams are more successful than teams that only include one department because innovation is a social experience that thrives from unique connections.

Make sure that you have a way of capturing not just the results of each team but how they came up with it.  Including the methods and the connections that built the idea!

Also, if you are a small company with very few employees don't think you have to keep it all in house.  There is so much to be gained from including vendors and subcontractors you do business with in the effort.

And last but not least, make it fun!  There is more blood flow and therefore oxygen to the brain when it's fun versus stressful and that makes for more creative problem solving and agile thinking. 

There are certain environments where innovation flourishes and others where it is stifled.  What kind of environment are you influencing?  

Leaders have the most impact on whether the work environment is innovation friendly or not.  If you haven't held a job where your boss was always looking for great ideas to steal (for their own promotion) then you are lucky.  But, unfortunately those kind of people are out there and they stifle more innovation and creativity than just about anything else.  Leaders don't need to give all the credit to their people, but they need to give most of it and take very little in order to create an environment of trust and respect so people feel safe to create.  This will go a long way toward creating an environment where innovation flourishes.

Unfortunately, that isn't all there is to do to create an innovation environment.  Not everyone just automatically gets creative in an environment of trust and respect.  Leaders need to set expectations for innovation.  The culture leaders create could just be emphasizing production and not innovation.  Without specific emphasis and measurements for innovation it can only be a random act rather than a dependable source of new product and process improvement ideas.  Now clearly innovation is not everyones forte but truly everyone has a slice of innovative genius that needs help.

Here are some ideas to create an innovation emphasis:

1. Pick an area of interest in your company that needs fresh ideas and have a contest.

2. Give training on creative problem solving, process improvement systems and/or brain     storming.  (An investment in training sends a powerful message about expectations).

3. Have a specific time in every meeting set aside for innovation talk.

4. Have an easter egg style innovation hunt where members or employees hunt for innovative ideas outside your business or industry that might be brought back and applied within.

Now go make innovation flourish! 

Innovation is anything that is new and useful.  It doesn't have to be new to the world in order to be an innovation it just has to be new and useful to you!  The beautiful part of being an innovator is that the idea doesn't need to come from you.  The majority of the great ideas and great minds will not come from your company but that is ok because all you need is the unique application idea. 

Innovation could be something that just about everybody knows about but hasn't been applied to you or to your company or to your industry.  

For instance, just about everybody has heard of brand building, or adding value to your company brand.  But there are many people in large and small businesses that are not paying attention to what it can do for them.  The biggest brands in the world don't take brand building lightly and neither should you.  The question is, what "New and Useful" thing can building your brand do for you if you start applying it to your business?

Apple is the most valuable brand in the world in part because it is one of the most talked about.  If customers are going to shop for unique electronics such as mobile phones, personal computers, mobile music devices then it is almost guaranteed that Apple will be in that conversation.  Now, not everyone is buying Apple products but most people are very aware of them and have an admiration for the company.  Some people have never had an encounter with Apple but they probably know someone who has and who admires them.  That kind of reputation makes selling  products and even finding top talent for the workforce so much easier than it would be for a less known, less valuable brand.

The monetary payback you can add to your company by just building your brand value is..... lower cost of selling, lower employee turnover, less cost attracting top talent, higher customer trust and loyalty and higher customer referral rates.  All these transfer directly to the bottom line.  So, if you haven't tried it yet, try something new that is old.....clarify and build your brand and make it easy for your customers to talk about you!

When it comes to highly innovative teams there is much more involved than serendipity and luck.  However, it is true that there are times when a group of people just come together and form a team and there is magic!!  But when things work out that way it really isn't that helpful because you don't know how it happened.  If you don't understand it you can't duplicate it.  Success comes from lots of magic moments not just one.  

On a closer look there are actually some pretty successful formula's that consistently help create highly innovative teams and they are not that complicated.  It's a lot like putting together a professional sports team.  You don't want everyone playing the same position, you need to have the right mix strengths and talents and you need to invest in team building.  

Any tool that helps identify the strengths of each individual on a team will help ensure that you have people in the proper role.  Check out the Gallup Strengths finder and Core Clarity, these tools can help a team understand their strongest individual strengths and know what to expect of each other.  This simple awareness goes a long way toward creating an effective team.  Yet many organizations are still not investing in team building tools and exercises.  Knowing what people can do is not the same as knowing what they can do well.  First identify the strengths and abilities you will need on the team, then invest the time and money to find out if you have the right people on the team and if their role is aligned with their strengths?