Creating an Innovation Culture Central to the existence of an innovation organisation are its values

A culture based on sound core values impacts on staff recruitment, their performance, team dynamics, and the drive and coherence of approach taken towards innovation. The culture of every company reflects the core values of the people who own it, founded it and/or who lead it. Founders and business leaders, especially of start-ups, who fail to realise this, or to actively drive to inculcate their own values from the start, may find their company hijacked by strong personalities among their team and employees. Leaving the creation of a business culture to chance and circumstance – at best just wastes an opportunity to achieve something of personal significance, value and pride, or at worst allows the creation of operations and practices that are wholly at odds with those principles and standards of the founders and employees, leaving a company bereft of real purpose.

Everyone lives by their own core values which relate to their personal attitudes, ethics, behaviour, and approach to life. For any organisation to be effective and productive, it is important that the values of the organisation and the individuals employed within it, are all aligned. A good leader will embody a vision, establish goals and strategies and select the most appropriate core values, reflected in the company culture, setting standards, and providing an exemplar for all who work within the organisation.

One of the great things about being an entrepreneur is that they are able to create a business from first principles and hence, have greater control over the culture, the goals they set, and the strategies they adopt to implement them – but most importantly the core values of the company. Start-up entrepreneurs have the opportunity to establish the company based on their personal core values, the values that reflect their beliefs, that embody their approach to life and those attributes they consider most important.

The core values of Sir James Dyson for his Institute of Engineering Technology are “Never stand still; Never give up; Never stop innovating” and “Never be satisfied”. These are brilliant and it is easy to see how such core values obviously relate to the personal values of this world-renowned innovator.

The core values of one of my companies emphasised tenacity, optimism, a can-do attitude, as well as risk-taking while managing the potential negative impacts of such risks; responsibility – both personal and for the team were also crucial – team aspects of genuinely caring, thoughtfulness, and appreciation of others, their achievements and the ability to celebrate each others successes – these were all expected. Creating a strong team spirit without ego or fear of failure built upon respect for each other and customers – empowers everyone. Having such core values achieves two things: Firstly it provides a basis for selecting and recruitment of staff and secondly it provides the measures necessary for assessing individual performance in the workplace.

Recruiting the right team and staff is absolutely crucial to a company’s success, particularly in the early stages for start-ups, since you cannot have anyone who is not pulling their weight. There is usually a need and drive to select individuals with the most appropriate skill-sets and experience, not least because their is always pressure to ‘get up-to-speed’ quickly. However, the contribution of even the most skilled and talented individual will be devalued if they are disruptive and undermine unity in the workplace.

While skill-sets and experience may be thought to be of primary importance, training someone who has the right attitude, aptitude and values to do the job may be more efficient and cost effective; at the very least it re-orientates perspective as to what really matters within a business. While training needs may mean it takes longer to have a recruit ‘get up-to-speed’ it is worth remembering that it is next to impossible to instil different attitudes, behaviours, ethics and moral standing, in an appropriately skilled person. Most people do not readily wish to change or adapt their behaviours, views, ethics or approaches.

This principle applies across all staff even with other founding directors and senior managers. There are many unsavoury business people in the world and working with such at a senior level can be disastrous on a range of fronts. So taking care to select partners and recruit both managers and staff on the basis of core values decreases the risks of problems and their negative impacts on a business, its productivity and reputation. Although, it will of course never eliminate them altogether, a recruitment process based on core values should ensure that any emerging issues are literally, manageable.

From the outset, a business’s core values must be clearly defined, prominently communicated, and consistently reflected in daily operations, ensuring that everyone understands them, shares them, strives to embody them, and is ultimately evaluated against them, regardless of their specific role or area of expertise.

Job performance should first and foremost be evaluated against the business’s core values before applying more traditional measures focused on activities and outputs. This approach ensures that core values serve both to uphold consistent cultural standards and to provide a clear basis for addressing behaviour that deviates from these shared principles.

So how does all of this relate to innovation and creating an innovative culture? You will note that the quotes above from Sir James Dyson, include only a single mention of the term ‘innovation’ – the rest are values addressing attitude, approach and behaviour.

Creating the culture and a trusting environment in which individuals feel safe to take risks is the key to releasing innovative and creative potential. An innovative culture depends on core values.

Ultimately, a leader must be able to recruit and build a team that embodies an organisational culture grounded in strong core values — values that inspire, motivate, and unify efforts toward achieving goals and strategies that meet the needs of customers and end-users.

Further reading: “Section 5.7 on Leading with Vision, in Vol II of ‘The Nature of Scientific Innovation’ published by Palgrave Macmillan.

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