How Training Helps Create a Culture of Innovation

Discover the ways in which skills training can help create an innovative company culture where employees feel free to be emotionally open & explore new ideas.
How Training Helps Create a Culture of Innovation
By
Jazz Mattey

Warren Bennis, scholar and pioneer in the field of Leadership Studies, once said that “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” Every company begins with a leader with a vision, but it is investment in training that ensures future business success.

“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” — Warren Bennis

A recent Learning and Development report from findcourses.com found that among the companies examined, “72% offering Diversity and Inclusion training are experiencing a period of financial growth.”

This clear correlation between skills acquisition and increased profit margins means that organisations can no longer afford to put off specialist staff training, or they risk getting left behind.

Read on to discover the ways in which training can be implemented to enhance innovation.

Invest in Training, Invest in the Future of Industry

There has never been a better time to introduce additional training into the workplace.The plethora of possibilities, from micro-videos to virtual reality based training, means that there are options to suit every possible need and learning style. The most popular type of training by far is E-learning courses.

E-learning courses empower employees to take control of their own development, offering the flexibility to engage during hours that suit their individual schedules.

Recent expansions in course topics has also meant that once managers can pinpoint a specific internal skills gap, they can now easily find the exact course that is right for their team members.

Specialised courses in areas like inclusivity and creating safe spaces at work are designed to foster conditions where staff feel comfortable taking creative risks without feeling constrained.

When you have led a team for a long time, it can become challenging to see the wood for the trees when it comes to introducing fresh ideas.

Training techniques can nurture innovation and prevent businesses from stagnating.

Such training can instead place them at the forefront of cutting edge market trends.

For startup leaders, studying innovation in different environments can be especially beneficial. Startups are often model innovators because their smaller size often means they are able to shake things up creatively while responding to change quickly. However, not having a long established set of protocols in place can become a stumbling block for many startups.

In such cases, it’s especially worthwhile to seek expert advice from external course providers. Such guidance can give organisations a structure to work within to help them effectively implement their ideas without compromising on vision.

Good Mental Wellbeing Reinforces an Innovation Mindset

Managers strive to unlock the potential of every employee, but when employees’ mental wellbeing suffers, this task is almost impossible. In recent times, there have been growing causes for workforces to feel despondent:

  • The Covid-19 pandemic is “the sharpest downturn in the world economy since the Great Depression,” according to economists.
  • Nearly 40% of workers believe their job will be obsolete within five years, according to a report from PwC.
  • 90% of startups fail, according to a frequently-repeated statistic.
It’s understandable that these factors might sow the seeds of long term stress, anxiety or depression.

The fact of the matter is that innovation is perpetually stalled when a team no longer works as a unit. In such instances, the best solution is to re-engage with a core set of soft skills.

The most frequently encountered skills training often focuses on hard skills like analytics. However, soft skills training can prove to be just as valuable.

Honing attributes like emotional intelligence and communication skills via tried and tested means can help leaders identify early warning signs and allow employees to connect more openly about personal difficulties.

It’s crucial to seek out expert advice on how best to support staff members.

Doing so can be a great way of maintaining the wellbeing of both the company and the individuals who keep everything going in the long run.

Some have suggested that chronic stress, when left unchecked, can increase the chances of developing other serious health conditions. In the future, mental health and support courses may become as common in the workplace as health and safety and courses. When we recognise that when it comes to chronic illness, prevention is better than cure, such measures become essential.

Using Gamification Techniques to Inspire Employees

Making work fun and engaging can enliven creative energy and enhance overall wellbeing. Modern office spaces with rec rooms, bean bag chairs, and bright wall decorations have become a common feature of many workplaces.

Creating safe cultures, where employees feel free to be emotionally open and explore new ideas, can mean that you need to go back to basics.

However, with the rise of remote working following the Covid-19 pandemic, these physical spaces are becoming less and less impactful on the daily experiences of work.

Training can be an excellent tool for reintroducing the art of playfulness via gamification.

Gamification has become something of a buzzword in the past few years. Often, it’s most closely associated with online interfaces and digital platforms. However, the elements that make games so compelling can also be applied in other creative ways.

The entrepreneur and gamification expert Yu-Kai Chou defines gamification as “the craft of deriving all the fun and engaging elements found in games and applying them to real-world productive activities.”

Increasingly, training courses are being developed that incorporate these engaging elements with the goal of promoting innovative ideas and non-aggressive, healthy competition among co-workers.

Some companies are even building new virtual reality technology into their practices. In the aforementioned L&D report, Chief Strategy Officer Danny Belch explained that “VR’s ability to allow employees to practice their learning in a safe environment is what makes it such a rich complement to D&I training.”

Some of the most ubiquitous names in business like Airbnb, Tiktok, and Uber were able to exceed their humble backgrounds as startup companies in part through adopting a gamification mindset and embracing new technologies.

Now, similar gamification techniques that helped put these companies on the map are being introduced to promote wellbeing within the sector. Doing so helps to break down the barriers that have arisen between remote workers during the pandemic and reconnect them through playful online team activities.

Reframing work as a source of pleasure rather than a source of hardship and stress lays the foundation for evolution within creative industries.

When you train for innovation, the sky really is the limit.

Final thoughts

While thought leaders are often highly productive visionaries, such visions can only be executed by creating an ideas framework and communicating shared values amongst team members. Skills training is an ideal method of implementing both of these practices.

The plethora of training courses available means there’s something for everyone no matter the size or the scope of their business. Taking the first step today will transform your long term goals into reality.

About the author

Jazz Mattey is a content writer at findcourses.co.uk with extensive experience writing for a range of different media. Jazz specialises in writing about education, training, and mental wellbeing. She is an enthusiastic advocate of learning and personal development at all life stages.

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