Incentivising innovation

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. But how can businesses motivate their staff to bring innovative ideas to the table? Ms Johnstone says that in the tech space, bounties of cash rewards or equity are offered to employees who can solve complex problems.

“Bounties are traditionally created in technology companies for hackers outside of the company. A company will tell a group of hackers publicly, that if they manage to hack their system or application, they will receive a financial reward, known as a bounty,” she explains.

“Some of the most innovative companies in the world use bounties to encourage their teams to think differently, to think like an engineer. Others have internal incubators and hackathons for their teams, then commercialise the results, creating new product categories for their business. Give your employees the permission to share their ideas, however quirky they might be. Don’t take the glory for their ideas either – give your people the credit, recognise and reward them for innovative and entrepreneurial thinking.

My team, including my investors, accounting and legal, all encourage me to continuously push the boundaries. We must allow for a growth mindset and be prepared to transform rapidly as the world changes.”

Driving change

Innovation is not an order from above, a top-down directive that will suddenly result in an organisation identifying solutions to its problems. It is a mindset more than anything, an attitude towards looking at the world’s problems and thinking creatively about possible solutions.

“We live in a world of increasing uncertainty,” says Ms Johnstone. “But if we can get people to share their anxieties and encourage them to think of solutions to the problems they see, that’s what drives innovation. We need to make people feel safe in workplaces to bring problems to the table and workshop solutions with their colleagues.

“Everyone always thinks someone else will fix things, but they won’t. It’s up to us. My grandad once told me I should never walk past a problem without doing something about it.”

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