If you notice carefully, it will neither be the business models nor the products that were innovative, but rather the brains behind them. Hence nurturing a culture where willingly generate and execute creative ideas is an essential skill that every innovation leader looking for a new business innovation strategy must follow.

Many companies are notorious for wasting a lot of potential especially when it comes to creativity. According to the studies published by Adobe and Gallup in the past few years, over 50% of the employees were not engaged at their workplaces while merely one-third of them feel positively engaged at work. The so-called “active disengagement”, as noted by Gallup in another report, costs over half a trillion dollars each year in the U.S. economy alone. Delivering poor customer service, frequent leaves of absence, lack of strategic innovation management, and negative energy in the workplace contribute to this issue as well. These factors have a direct impact on the culture of the workplace and thus on the business strategy and innovation capabilities. In other words, creative workplace culture will drive innovation and result in outstanding business outcomes.

In recent years, a lot of companies have begun interviewing hundreds of executives and employees in the ever-expanding global market. Time and again you will notice that people define how innovative a workplace is along with the leadership practices and the creativity culture established there. Regardless of the industry you’re in or the scope of responsibility you’re tasked with, the leadership styles and culture of the workspace will define the innovation strategy framework of the company and how successful its end results are.

In the research conducted, three determinants emerged from the observations as to what usually motivates employees to perform at their very best. The research has revealed, whether consciously or intuitively, great innovative leaders understand how important it is to satisfy their employees’ main needs: Recognition, Self-Actualization, and Community.

• Recognition

For motivating high performers and setting an example, the leaders should recognize outstanding performance publicly and openly appreciate them.

• Self-Actualization

Innovation leaders should help their employees located and build upon their strengths if they want to excel at everything they do.

• Community

Leaders should go that extra mile and establish not just a feeling of safety, identity, and belonging, but they should also bring forth a feeling of intellectual exchange, inspiration, and connection to an influential external network.