9 Ways to Encourage Innovation at Work

November 2019

“Innovation” isn’t just a word that we throw around lightly at NeoGenomics—it’s one of our five core values that guides the company in all that we do.

At Neo, we are entrepreneurial and have courage in our belief that we can change things for the better. We constantly look to adapt, improve, and solve problems by offering ideas for new products, processes, and services. We encourage the best ideas to surface from anywhere in the organization, and we are willing to take thoughtful and measured risks to put our ideas into action.

Recently, Forbes published an article titled, “Nine Effective Techniques For Encouraging Conversations And Innovations At Work,” in which the author suggests ways that employees can foster innovation. Do you agree with the list? What would you add?

1. Break Through Your Own Thoughts and Patterns. The author suggests shaking up the work day can lead to big ideas, whether you have a walking meeting, sit outside and catch up on emails, drive a different route home—anything that will release you from a routine.
2. Ask For Honest Feedback, External and Internal. The author recommends constantly asking yourself and others, “What is your biggest takeaway?” Not only does this help people recognize the biggest impact of their discussion, but it also helps you understand the larger picture.
3. Set Goals, Measure, and Repeat. If you don’t know what works and what doesn’t, you might keep doing something that doesn’t work.
4. Find Trusted Advisors. It’s important to have conversations with people whose opinions you value. According to the author, these are the people you want to share your big ideas with.
5. Harness the Power of Employee Voice. According to the author (and we couldn’t agree more!), “Inclusion is the key to continual improvement and success. People are the most valuable asset of any organization, and when shaping new strategies and policies, it's critical to ask for the perspectives of the employees who will be carrying out the work.”
6. Ensure Continuous and Open Dialogue. The author suggests that breakthrough conversations will be stalled from the start if people aren’t consistently having meaningful discussions.
7. Be Thoughtful but Brutally Honest. This might be difficult on both the giving and receiving ends, but the author believes that brutal honesty and candidness are the keys to breakthrough conversations.
8. Build Culture Conducive to Open Conversations. Innovation doesn’t occur unless it’s a fundamental part of a company ethos.
9. Solve for the Present From the Future. Lastly, the author gives this final piece of advice: Imagine and rehearse living in future scenarios, think about what you did to get there, what change you made, who you changed and how, and then work your way back from the future to the present. 

Want an innovative career at NeoGenomics? Browse career opportunities and read more about the Benefits at NeoGenomics. You can also check us out on Glassdoor and watch a video about the #LifeAtNeo.