Creating an Innovative Culture Will Help Your Company Succeed

Cathie Leimbach • November 30, 2021

When thinking about innovation, people often assume it is limited to brilliant people coming up with new products or disruptive ideas. While that is sometimes the case, creating a culture of innovation more frequently helps your organization adapt quickly to new challenges, thrive in unforeseen scenarios, and execute strategic objectives more effectively and efficiently.

 

Gallup reports that only 1 in 3 employees believe they are encouraged to bring forward ideas to improve their company’s products or services. Think about what that might mean for your company. Your employees who are doing the work aren’t encouraged to share how it can be done better. Not only does that lead to a loss of potential profit, but it also frustrates and disengages your most talented team members.

 

Creating an innovative culture requires a shift in thinking. Rather than creating a top-down approach, collaboration is encouraged and nurtured. Risk and failure are embraced as a part of the process. Your employees are provided opportunities to learn, contribute, and grow beyond their job description.  Everyone, from the CEO to the most junior staff person, is encouraged to contribute to your company’s success.  Even the most innovative employee is unlikely to contribute unless the culture supports innovation at every level.  This results in few robust solutions and approaches and diminishes engagement by your top talent.

 

Several years ago, the incoming CEO of Frito-Lay asked ALL the employees to think like a CEO. This motivated one of the janitors to learn more about the company and to develop a spicy snack food that his Hispanic friends would love. His home kitchen became a product innovation space as he and his wife developed and taste-tested spicy Cheetos.  The janitor shared his idea with the CEO. Flamin’ Hot Cheetos have generated 2 billion dollars of revenue for Frito-Lay and eventually Richard Montanez became the company’s product innovation leader.   

 

What would it mean if everyone on your team was clear about the long-term strategic objectives of your company? If they fully understood the goals of differentiating in the marketplace, providing the best product or service possible, and were infused with a sense of purpose? It would be a gamechanger in terms of productivity, profitability, and employee engagement.

 

Sounds good, but you are unsure how to start? Here are some beginning concepts:

 

  • Provide and reward collaboration.  Innovation occurs when every member of your company is involved in solving problems, overcoming challenges, and creating results. Great ideas come from anywhere. Reinforce the importance of collaboration and new ideas. Reward them. The more pronounced the support for collaboration and innovation from recognition to performance reviews, the more you will get.
  • Focus and communicate the big picture. President Kennedy’s space initiative was successful in part because of an inspirational goal. Apple has been successful because of its laser focus on customer experience.  Google’s approach to staff-driven innovation keeps its people engaged, happy, and motivated while helping the company achieve tremendous accomplishments. Zappos has grown, in part, because of its emphasis on every employee using innovative solutions to keep customers happy. Your employees will do more, and your company will be more profitable and productive if they have a sense of shared purpose.
  • Embrace risk and failure. An innovative culture encourages people to try new ideas, solutions, and approaches. Some will work. Some won’t.  And those “missteps” will show a better way to proceed. Let your employees know it is okay to fail. 

 

Consult your employees regularly and get their input in critical decisions geared towards your company’s success that directly impact their work. If their input isn’t accepted as the best path, let them know why in detail.

 

Remember that you win three ways when you foster innovation. 

  1. You get ideas, many of which are good. 
  2. Your employees are committed to executing ideas they have been involved in creating.
  3. You improve both engagement and feelings of inclusion.

 

 

 

When Leadership Feels “Fine”… But Results Tell a Different Story

By Cathie Leimbach • January 13, 2026
Many leaders feel things are mostly on track. Goals are set. Meetings happen. People stay busy. On the surface, it all looks fine . But underneath, small cracks often tell a different story. You may notice work getting redone, decisions slowing down, or people quietly avoiding ownership. These aren’t just workflow problems. They’re leadership signals — and they’re easy to miss when everyone is moving fast. Leaders often believe they’ve been clear. They think people know what’s expected and who owns what. And they assume that if something was wrong, someone would speak up. But in real life, expectations get interpreted in different ways. Ownership can feel risky. And many people stay silent just to keep the peace. That gap between what leaders intend and what teams experience is where performance starts to slip. A few simple questions can help reveal what’s really going on: · Where is work quality lacking? · What decisions keep getting stuck? · Where do leaders step in instead of letting others own it? Start noticing those patterns. They point to exactly where stronger leadership can make the biggest difference. 👉 See what a 10–15% leadership shift could mean for your bottom line. View the Leadership ROI Chart .

Why Leadership Skills Matter More Than Ever in 2026

By Cathie Leimbach • January 6, 2026
People are essential to your business success—yet many organizations underestimate the return on leadership development. Payroll and benefits alone account for 15 to 60% of operating expenses for most companies. In industries with lower payroll percentages, the trade-off is often expensive equipment—but without well-trained people, even the best tools underperform. The truth is simple: mediocre employee skills produce mediocre business results. What’s often overlooked is where performance and engagement are truly shaped. Employees themselves only control about 30% of the factors that drive engagement and high performance. Leaders control the other 70%. Despite this, only 18% of organizations say their leaders are very effective at achieving business goals, even though 71% offer leadership training. Why the gap? Much of that training focuses on strategy or systems—not on people leadership skills that directly improve performance. When leaders do build those skills, the impact is powerful. Employees who feel supported give 57% more effort and are 87% less likely to leave. Organizations can see earnings increase by as much as 147%. In fact, leadership training delivers a $7 return for every $1 invested—more than double the return on technology investments. Since leadership capability is being touted as the most critical factor for organizational success in 2026, it’s worth asking: Which people leadership best practices have your managers truly adopted? What currently weak areas are the most important to strengthen this year? A short leadership quiz can surface strengths and growth areas that aren’t always obvious—especially when you take time to talk through what it reveals.