Innovation Culture

Actively understand, design, test, and manage your innovation culture to design better-performing companies.

A world-class innovation culture fosters the ability to continuously create, discover, validate, and accelerate entirely new ideas that are unfamiliar to an organization.

Design your innovation culture today.

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Companies that don’t invest in a systematic innovation culture risk getting stuck in the status quo.

They become stagnant, unable to innovate, evolve, or take advantage of new opportunities.

Is your leadership team stuck in the current business model and lacking an innovation strategy?

They become enthusiastic about exploring new growth opportunities and understanding how the associated risks are managed.

Does leadership view innovation as a black box and primarily focus on short-term gains?

Leaders understand how innovation works and dedicate significant time to it, offering clear strategic guidance.

Is the reward system designed to manage and enhance the current business model, where failure is not an option?

People choose innovation as a career path and nobody gets fired for experimenting with new growth opportunities that fit the strategy.

Do operational processes slow down your innovation teams, hindering access to customers and resources?

Innovation and execution form a true partnership to manage the present and explore the future.

Is the highest-paid person responsible for selecting ideas primarily based on execution KPIs?

Ideas are pursued based on evidence from experiments. The risks and uncertainties associated with ideas are systematically measured, and projects begin with inexpensive and quick experiments.

Do you have teams focused on finance, sales, or operations, but not teams dedicated to innovation?

Innovation is acknowledged as a distinct profession, requiring the accumulation of skills over years of practice along with established processes, KPIs, and a supportive culture.

Create a world-class, highly performant innovation culture.

An innovation culture designed for stellar growth and constant reinvention typically contains the following enablers:

Strategic Guidance

Leadership communicates the strategy quarterly. This guidance aligns with the overall strategy and is well understood across the organization.

Ressource Allocation

Resources for innovation are institutionalized, and leaders commit an important proportion of their time to innovation.

Portfolio Management

Leaders focus on pioneering by investing in a diverse innovation pipeline of small bets, with follow-up investments for the best ideas.

Legitimacy and Power

The significance of innovation is acknowledged by elevating it within the organizational structure and dedicating substantial time and effort to its development.

Bridge to the Core

Clear policies facilitate collaboration between innovation teams and the core business, allowing innovators easy access to valuable resources.

Rewards and Incentives

Eliminates the barriers that hinder innovation within an organization and establishes a reward system dedicated to innovators.

Innovation Tools

Innovation professionals master a dedicated set of state-of-the-art innovation concepts and tools. The quality of this innovation toolset significantly influences growth and transformation efforts.

Dedicated Processes

Dedicated processes and decision-making are optimized for innovation, measuring the systematic and effective reduction of risk from new ideas to scalable business.

Skills Development

Managing the existing and inventing the new are two fundamentally different professions. Systematically develop world-class innovation talent with extensive innovation experience across the organization.

Put the right enablers in place to improve your innovation culture.

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These are the questions I get asked a lot.

“Innovation is too risky and prone to failure.”

Controlled, systematic experimentation is a calculated risk. Not innovating exposes you to greater risks—such as disruptive competitors and market stagnation. A culture that tolerates and learns from failures actually builds resilience and speeds up learning.

“We don’t have the time or resources to invest in innovation.”

Allocating even a small percentage of resources (like dedicated “innovation time” or a pilot budget) can lead to significant improvements. The cost of missed opportunities or obsolescence far outweighs the short-term resource investment.

“Our current processes are working fine; why change now?”

Complacency can be dangerous. Markets and technologies evolve rapidly, and companies that don’t adapt risk being outpaced by more agile competitors. Continuous improvement is essential to long-term survival and success.

“Innovation culture doesn’t deliver immediate ROI.”

While ROI from innovation often materializes over time, a strong innovation culture drives sustainable growth, employee engagement, and competitive advantage—elements that contribute to better performance and profitability in the long run.

“Decentralizing innovation will lead to chaos and loss of control.”

Structured decentralization—with clear guidelines, accountability, and alignment with the company’s vision—can unleash creativity while maintaining strategic focus. This approach not only accelerates problem-solving but also leverages the collective genius of diverse teams.

Improve your innovation culture today.

Let’s talk

Let’s talk.

Whether you are looking for more information or you are ready to start a project, I am here to help.

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Andreas Edler - Strategy and Innovation Coach