4 Ways to Welcome Innovation

Innovation is often born of necessity, but it can be proactively fostered when given time, space, and creative freedom. As a leader, you can invite your teammates to innovate through your leadership: by modeling curiosity, asking honest questions, and resisting the urge to provide quick answers. By encouraging your teammates to seek answers for themselves, their resourcefulness may lead to new ways of thinking or working that might not have otherwise been realized.

In this article, we share four ways a leader can welcome innovation to their team and foster an organizational culture of creativity.  

Key Takeaways

• Innovation grows when leaders model curiosity and resist the urge to jump in with answers.

• Psychological safety allows half-formed ideas to surface and be refined together.

• Treat failure as education. Normalize experiments and share the learning so progress compounds.

• Separate imagination from evaluation. Hold brainstorming-only sessions before moving to decisions.

• Protect thinking time. Block regular “On Time” to work on the business, not just in it.

Foster Psychological Safety

Teammates share bold thinking when they trust their contributions won’t be dismissed or shot down. It’s important to create an environment of psychological safety so that people feel free to offer out-of-the-box ideas or half-formed thoughts. You can protect these exploratory conversations from early criticism by setting ground rules stating that all ideas are welcome at this stage. You can also encourage people to speak up by celebrating the courage that it takes to share.

Find Learnings in Failure

Failure is a part of growth. You can’t create something new without experimentation. When teammates believe that mistakes are an acceptable part of a process, they’ll find the learnings in the attempts. And when they’re not afraid to try (and fail), they’ll be much more willing to risk, innovate, and share their findings. Over time, your team will trade fear of failure for a habit of learning, which is the fastest path to breakthrough.

Encourage Brainstorming Sessions

Give your people time to get creative. Schedule meetings where the only objective is to explore possibilities—with no desired end result. Invite people from other departments into these sessions and see what new ideas emerge. Later, you can move into decision mode with clear criteria and shared values. But by allowing the first session to simply remain space for ideation, you’ll develop a rhythm that honors creativity while still driving results.

Support Thinking Time

Innovation thrives when people have margin to think and simple frameworks to help move their ideas forward. At Building Champions, we call this “On Time”. We encourage our coaching clients to block out weekly time on their calendars to focus on the business, not only work in it. This regularly scheduled time allows you the space to think through what is working, what is confusing, and what needs improving—in process, strategy, and execution.

We Can Help Your Team Innovate

To welcome innovation, we must prioritize curiosity over certainty, learning over blame, and exploration over strict routine. And when leaders make these choices consistently, creativity becomes a normal part of the culture—and business growth follows.

Ready to give your team the time, space, and guidance to put these principles into practice? Our Executive Retreats and Team Workshops deliver immersive experiences where leadership teams align on strategy, deepen trust, and design cultures where innovation can flourish. Together, let’s craft an experience that unlocks your next big idea. Schedule a free call to learn more.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is psychological safety and how do I build it on my team?
  It’s an environment where people trust they can speak up without being dismissed or penalized. Set clear norms for ideation sessions, respond thoughtfully to half-formed thoughts, and thank people for the courage to share. Over time, that response pattern signals safety.
  

• How should I run a brainstorming session that actually sparks new ideas?
  Give it a single purpose: explore possibilities. Invite a mix of voices, set a no-critique rule for the first phase, capture everything, then schedule a separate meeting to evaluate options against clear criteria and shared values.
  

• How do we treat failure so it fuels innovation rather than fear?
  Frame experiments with a simple hypothesis, a small scope, and a short timeline. When you review results, ask “What did we learn?” and share takeaways across the team. Recognize thoughtful attempts, not just wins.
  

• What is “On Time,” and how much should I schedule?
  “On Time” is protected time to think about the business—strategy, process, and execution—rather than just today’s tasks. Start with 60–90 minutes weekly on your calendar and defend it like any key meeting.
  

• How do I encourage quieter teammates to contribute ideas?
  Send prompts in advance, open meetings with a round-robin, and allow written input before discussion starts. Reinforce contributions by summarizing what you heard and asking follow-up questions.
  

• How can I measure whether our innovation culture is improving?
  Track leading indicators: number of ideas submitted, pilots launched, learnings shared, and cross-functional sessions held. Pair them with outcomes like time-to-decision, cycle-time reductions, and revenue or customer-experience improvements tied to new ideas.