5 WAYS TO CREATE A
CULTURE OF INNOVATION
Research has taken the
guesswork out of knowing
what it takes to create
an environment in which
innovation thrives, so let’s
get the ideas flowing.
WORDS: AMANTHA IMBER
oes your facility or fitness
business have a culture in which
innovation thrives? Do you
encourage your team to challenge the status
quo? Or do you struggle to find time to listen
to, and seek out, new ideas?
Building a culture of innovation is hard
work. However, the scientific research into
how to create a culture where innovation
thrives is both plentiful and precise.
Following are five of the most impactful
drivers of an innovation culture.
D
1 Challenge – and finding the
right level of it
Research has shown that feeling a strong
sense of challenge in one’s work is a critical
driver of innovation. Challenge refers to
people working on tasks that are complex
and interesting — yet at the same time
not overly taxing or unduly overwhelming.
For example, if a personal trainer is simply
going through the motions with their clients
and not researching and incorporating new
exercises, then they won’t be feeling a
strong sense of challenge, and thus will not
be maximising their creative potential.
It is important that you don’t simply think
about how to give people (including yourself)
the biggest possible challenge. Instead, you
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should ensure that the level of challenge you
set is one that is achievable. On the flip side,
don’t set tasks that people can complete
with their eyes closed.
2 Risk-taking – and failure not
being seen as a dirty word
The notion of failure being unacceptable
is one I have found resonates with many
organisations. Failure is generally thought
of as a dirty word, and something that gets
swept under the carpet when it does rear its
ugly head. But being able to acknowledge
and learn from failure is a huge part of
building a culture where risk-taking is
tolerated and where innovation can thrive.
3 Experimentation before
implementation
When thinking about how your company
approaches
innovation,
ensure
that
experimentation is a mandatory step.
Rather than just going straight from
idea to implementation, you should first
run experiments. This involves setting
hypotheses as to why you believe an idea
will add value to the customer and creating
a minimum viable product (MVP) – the
most basic version of the idea that will still
allow for learnings. You can then set up an
experiment to test your hypotheses using
the MVP and, depending on the results,
implement or change course accordingly.
Experimentation is a very effective way to
help reduce the risk of new innovations.
Experimentation might involve having
group fitness instructors put on ‘test’
classes for members and getting feedback
on how valuable they found the class. From
there, the concept can be tweaked until
it receives largely positive feedback from
members.
4 Autonomy – loosening
the reigns
Many researchers have found that creativity
is dramatically enhanced when people are
given the freedom to decide how they do
their jobs. When people feel as if they have
a choice in how things can be done they
are significantly more likely to engage in
trial and error and, through this, find more
effective ways of doing things. Just be sure
to set clear goals, as the autonomy effect
is strongest when people are clear on what
you want them to achieve.
5 Debate – and welcoming
all views
Ensuring that different points of view are
encouraged, and ideas regularly debated,
is critical for creating a culture in which
innovation thrives. Lead by example and
encourage others to debate and discuss
ideas that you bring to the table – actively
encouraging different viewpoints will
strengthen your innovations significantly.
The fitness industry can be guilty of
attracting a homogenous group of people
(those who have loved sport and fitness all
their life and have probably never struggled
with their weight, like many of their customers
will have),