Strategies for Fostering Innovation at Work

Stop wasting meetings! Too many meetings leave people unheard, disengaged, or overwhelmed. The best teams know that inclusion isn’t accidental—it’s designed. 🔹 Here are 6 simple but powerful practices to transform your meetings: 💡 Silent Brainstorm Before discussion begins, have participants write down their ideas privately (on sticky notes, a shared document, or an online board). This prevents groupthink, ensures introverted team members have space to contribute, and brings out more original ideas. 💡 Perspective Swap Assign participants a different stakeholder’s viewpoint (e.g., a customer, a frontline employee, or an opposing team). Challenge them to argue from that perspective, helping teams step outside their biases and build empathy-driven solutions. 💡 Pause and Reflect Instead of jumping into responses, introduce intentional pauses in the discussion. Give people 30-60 seconds of silence before answering a question or making a decision. This allows for deeper thinking, more thoughtful contributions, and space for those who need time to process. 💡 Step Up/Step Back Before starting, set an expectation: those who usually talk a lot should "step back," and quieter voices should "step up." You can track participation or invite people directly, helping create a more balanced conversation. 💡 What’s Missing? At the end of the discussion, ask: "Whose perspective have we not considered?" This simple question challenges blind spots, uncovers overlooked insights, and reinforces the importance of diverse viewpoints in decision-making. 💡 Constructive Dissent Voting Instead of just asking for agreement, give participants colored cards or digital indicators to show their stance: 🟢 Green – I fully agree 🟡 Yellow – I have concerns/questions 🔴 Red – I disagree Focus discussion on yellow and red responses, ensuring that dissenting voices are explored rather than silenced. This builds a culture where challenging ideas is seen as valuable, not risky. Which one would you like to try in your next meeting?  Let me know in the comments! 🔔 Follow me to learn more about building inclusive, high-performing teams. __________________________ 🌟 Hi there! I’m Susanna, an accredited Fearless Organization Scan Practitioner with 10+ years of experience in workplace inclusion. I help companies build inclusive cultures where diverse, high-performing teams thrive with psychological safety. Let’s unlock your team’s full potential together!

I am constantly thinking about how to foster innovation in my product organization. Building teams that are experts at execution is the easy part—when there’s a clear problem, product orgs are great at coming up with smart solutions. But it’s impossible to optimize your way into innovation. You can’t only rely on incremental improvement to keep growing. You need to come up with new problem spaces, rather than just finding better solutions to the same old problems. So, how do we come up with those new spaces? Here are a few things I’m trying at Duolingo: 1. Innovation needs a high-energy environment, and a slow process will kill a great idea. So I always ask myself: Can we remove some of the organizational barriers here? Do managers from seven different teams really need to say yes on every project? Seeking consensus across the company—rather than just keeping everyone informed—can be a major deterrent to innovation. 2. Similarly, beware of defaulting to “following up.” If product meetings are on a weekly cadence, every time you do this, you are allocating seven days to a task that might only need two. We try to avoid this and promote a sense of urgency, which is essential for innovative ideas to turn into successes. 3. Figure out the right incentive. Most product orgs reward team members whose ideas have measurable business impact, which works in most contexts. But once you’ve found product-market fit, it is often easiest to generate impact through smaller wins. So, naturally, if your org tends to only reward impact, you have effectively incentivized constant optimization of existing features instead of innovation. In the short term things will look great, but over time your product becomes stale. I try to show my teams that we value and reward bigger ideas. If someone sticks their neck out on a new concept, we should highlight that—even if it didn’t pan out. Big swings should be celebrated, even if we didn’t win, because there are valuable learnings there. 4. Look for innovative thinkers with a history of zero-to-one feature work. There are lots of amazing product managers out there, but not many focus on new problem domains. If a PM has created something new from scratch and done it well, that’s a good sign. An even better sign: if they show excitement about and gravitate toward that kind of work. If that sounds like you—if you’re a product manager who wants to think big picture and try out big ideas in a fast-paced environment with a stellar mission—we want you on our team. We’re hiring a Director of Product Management: https://lnkd.in/dQnWqmDZ #productthoughts #innovation #productmanagement #zerotoone

Too many teams leave their best ideas in the hallway after the meeting. You’ve been there. So have I. The meeting ends, and suddenly two people peel off, finally saying what they really think because the room didn’t feel safe enough, or small enough, or structured enough to surface the real conversation. This is where one of our most effective and underutilized High Return Practices comes in, what we call the Power of Three. Here’s how it works: Next time you're in a group meeting, whether it’s 5 people or 50, pause before opening the floor to broad discussion. Instead, break the group into trios for 5–8 minutes. Give each group one key issue or prompt to wrestle with. The purpose of this is to create psychological safety in small pods, so that truth has a better shot at surfacing. Why it works: In smaller groups, people self-edit less and speak more honestly. The act of writing down insights reinforces accountability and commitment. When trios share back to the whole team, they’re less likely to dilute or dodge hard truths because their pod is counting on them to carry the message. Here’s your quick-start guide: Step 1: Choose one key issue that requires input or debate. Step 2: Break the full group into triads (in person or virtually). Step 3: Give 5–8 minutes for open discussion. Prompt candor. Step 4: Ask each group to share one key insight or unresolved tension. Step 5: Capture it in a shared doc so the truth isn’t lost. In Never Lead Alone, we call these HRPs, High Return Practices. Not because they sound smart, but because they help teams operate smarter, faster, and with more courage. Try it this week. One agenda item. Three people. Eight minutes. It could be the difference between alignment and assumption.

What do you do when someone on your team is brave enough to criticise you? Me? I promote them as soon as possible. Why? Because in high-performing companies, innovation thrives when teams feel empowered to challenge ideas respectfully. As a leader, fostering a culture of constructive dissent can unlock your team’s full potential and fuel spectacular business growth. Here are 5 techniques I use to build openness and encourage dialogue: 1. Encourage continuous feedback Don’t wait for annual reviews or formal discussions. Make candid feedback a regular part of daily operations — through check-ins, town halls, or anonymous surveys. The more often feedback is shared, the less intimidating it becomes. 2. Model respectful dissent How do you react when your ideas are challenged? Leaders should actively invite differing viewpoints and listen with an open mind. When leaders encourage respectful dissent, it signals to everyone that diverse perspectives are truly valued. 3. Reward honest opinions Recognise those who respectfully challenge the status quo. This reinforces the idea that fresh thinking is an asset, not a liability. (Fun fact: The US State Department has an annual Constructive Dissent Award, given to those who courageously stand by their principles.) 4. Be transparent in decision-making After making a decision, explain the reasoning behind it. Even if someone’s idea isn’t chosen, knowing their input was genuinely considered strengthens future buy-in and trust. 5. Align after discussion Once a decision is made, the team must unite behind it to make it work. Remind everyone that while debate is healthy during the process, whole-hearted execution is key to success. You really can criticise your way to success. A culture of constructive dissent leads to smarter decisions and a more productive team. The key? Making sure every voice is heard and valued. Do you agree? Promise not to fire you if you don't!

One of the clearest signals of whether a transformation is working isn’t in the plan - it’s in the conversations happening in your teams. So pay close attention to the frequency of healthy debate, constructive challenge and openness to new and divergent ideas that takes place. If the frequency is low… …there is the risk of creating the illusion of performance because people readily ‘understand’ each other, agree on everything, collaboration seems to flow smoothly and there is a collective sensation of progress. However, the opportunity cost is teams gets trapped in their own paradigms, opportunities get overlooked, risks ignored - and ultimately their output becomes derivative not innovative, performance diminishes as opposed to improving and compounding. If the frequency is high… …there is a level of psychological safety that allows for team members to be more objective, to speak up with relevant ideas, to constructively challenge each other, and bring their diverse perspectives and experiences to the table - in the knowledge it won’t be held against them. This opens up the opportunity of reframing the paradigm, and connecting different perspectives and ideas. Ingredients for creativity, innovation, resilience and performance. You see homogeneous teams might feel easier, but easy doesn’t translate into Performance. Here are a few ideas to experiment with your teams… 1. Intentionally foster a team environment that replaces scepticism with intellectual curiosity, an open and learning mindset.   2. Consider how you can create a ways of working that allows all ideas and perspectives from everyone in the room to be heard. 3. Encourage dissenting perspectives. Surrounding yourself with people who are willing to disagree with you and challenge your perspectives and each other. 4. Consider whether you may need to invite others to that creative or idea generation meeting to ensure you get a broader perspective. 5. De-stigmatise failure through sharing past mistakes and celebrating lessons learnt. 6. Institutionalise a team culture of healthy candour. Candour is one of the key attributes to improving the quality of output, levelling up creativity and enabling effective collaboration. What would you add? #transformation #culture #psychologicalsafety

BEYOND MODERATION - THE HIDDEN POWER OF FACILITATION Facilitators matter more than most people realize. In every workshop, sprint, and strategic conversation, they quietly turn talk into traction—designing flow, building psychological safety, and steering diverse voices toward a shared outcome. Because great facilitation feels effortless, its impact is often underrated. Yet when stakes are high and complexity rises, a skilled facilitator is the multiplier that transforms ideas into decisions and momentum into results. 🎯 DESIGNER - Great facilitation starts with intentional design. Map the flow of the workshop or discussion with crystal-clear outcomes. When you know where you’re headed, you can confidently animate the session, guide transitions, and keep everyone aligned. ⚡ ENERGIZER - Read the room and manage energy in real time. Build trust and comfort with timely breaks, quick icebreakers, and inclusive prompts. When energy dips, reset; when momentum rises, harness it. Your presence sets the tone for participation. 🎻 CONDUCTOR - Facilitation is orchestration. Ensure everyone knows what to do, how to contribute, and where to focus. Guard against tangents, surface the core questions, and gently steer the group back to the intended outcome. ⏱️ TIMEKEEPER - Time is the constraint that sharpens thinking. Listen actively, paraphrase to clarify, and interrupt with care. Adapt on the fly in agile environments so discussions stay effective, efficient, and outcome-driven. ✨ CATALYST - Your energy is contagious . Show up positive, grounded, and healthy. If you bring light, the room brightens; if you bring clouds, the mood follows. Protect your mindset—it’s a strategic asset. 💡TIPS to be a great facilitator: Be positive and confident; Prepare deeply, then stay flexible; Design clear outcomes and guardrails; Listen actively and paraphrase often; Invite quieter voices and balance dominant ones; Use pauses, breaks, and icebreakers wisely; Keep discussions outcome-focused; Manage time with compassion and firmness; Read the room and adapt; Practice, practice, then practice again. 💪 #Facilitation #HR #Leadership #Workshops #EmployeeEngagement #Agile #Communication #SoftSkills #MeetingDesign #PeopleOps #Moderator #TeamDynamics #PsychologicalSafety #DecisionMaking

This stat really struck me: most breakthrough innovations come from executing existing ideas in new ways. Our first instinct when seeking change is often to look outward for something entirely new. New habits, new tech, complete overhauls, etc. But especially when we need to be cost-conscious, we need to embrace a different mindset. Look inward first. Scale what's working. Rigorously analyze what isn't – can you extract value or apply it differently? Innovation isn't always about the never-before-seen. It's often about leaning into what works, exploring all its uses, and sparking small wins into something transformational.   I saw this firsthand at HSN when we launched HSN Arcade. The idea was innovative, but simple: combine casual online gaming with ecommerce to create a fun “Watch, Shop, and Play” experience. It all started when I saw someone totally hooked on Candy Crush. That got me thinking, how can we integrate gamification into our platform using our brands and talent as personalities? In the process, we brought that same addictive, engaging experience into HSN’s digital platform. Not only was it highly engaging, but it also had a drastic impact on business performance. Players visited 3x more often, spent 3x more time on the platform, and spent 3x more money with us. And remember HSN Shop by Remote? It was groundbreaking, but at its core, it was about understanding our audience's growing desire for more convenient, accessible ways to shop. These weren’t just innovative projects, they were bold moves powered by a willingness to ask, “What if?” instead of panicking over “What now?”   So, let's not fall into the trap of believing that innovation demands a complete overhaul. Embrace the nuances within your existing frameworks. Cultivate a culture that thrives on smart experimentation. And most importantly, empower your teams to see the current ideas as the critical starting points for your next big breakthrough. They just might need to be explored and connected in a whole new way.

My team has stopped asking questions. They now wait for instructions. A leader shared this observation at last Thursday’s Melbourne Business School - Retail & Consumer Goods panel. It perfectly captured the curiosity crisis facing our industry in an uncertain operating environment. In a brilliant conversation with Adam Murphy 🌻 , moderated by Lenny Chudri, GAICD, we explored how to reignite innovation when uncertainty is our new normal. Here is what resonated most: 1. The 5-Question Rule That Changed Everything At a global FMCG giant, we were stuck. Innovation had become theatre, all talk, no breakthrough. So we tried something radical: “Curiosity Time”. Rule: For one hour every Friday, you could ONLY ask questions. No answers. No solutions. Just questions. The first session was painful. By week six? We had identified three breakthrough opportunities worth $5M. 🎯Try this tomorrow: Start your next meeting with 5 minutes of questions only. No answers allowed. 2. When Budget Cuts Forced Our Best Innovation Leading innovation at a major CPG company, I faced a 30% budget cut. Instead of scaling back, we asked: “What would we do if we had 10% of the budget?” That constraint forced us to partner with suppliers in ways we never imagined. We reduced a 12-18month innovation cycles to 3 months. The result? Our most successful launches that decade. Key insight: Every constraint hides an opportunity. 🎯 List your top 3 constraints right now. Pick one. Ask “How might this force us to be brilliant?” 3. The $8M Mistake That Taught Me Everything Years ago, I led a “perfect” innovation project. Great consumer research. Flawless execution. It failed spectacularly. Why? We had curiosity at the top but killed it everywhere else. Only 24% of employees feel curious at work, yet curiosity increases creativity by 34%. That gap is your innovation problem. At my next role: We measured “learning velocity” alongside EBIT. We celebrated fast failures publicly. We made questioning as important as delivering. 🎯 Your move: Ask your teams: “What are we pretending not to know?” Then actually listen. After commercialising 1,200+ innovations globally, from establishing industry-first research hubs, I know this: Curiosity is not a nice to have. It is your sustainable competitive advantage. Sharing this handy question. ❓If your biggest competitor had your constraints but twice your curiosity, what would they do differently? Some 📸 from an inspiring evening of #learning and #unlearning. Lenny Chudri, GAICD Adam Murphy 🌻 Innovation Gamechangers University of Melbourne Melbourne Business School #curiosity #innovation

Management Learning thought for the day: "Open Communication" Most “communication” at work is just transmission. What we need more of is shared sense-making. A simple test: after your next meeting, did everyone's understanding converge (that is, we all now see more of a wider, deeper pattern) or diverge (we all left with parallel or fractured versions, unchanged and unchallenged)? If it’s the latter, we haven’t communicated - we’ve probably just gone through the motions. 'Open Communication' is the deliberate design of conditions where context, uncertainty, and intent are shared and transparent, so sense-making becomes joint and decisions emerge. It privileges listening, with a “Yes, and…” dialogue, using silence and honest difference to extend meaning-making and trust. It is a jazz quartet in a dim room; everyone listens harder than they play. Three tiny meeting shifts you can make this week: ⏱️ Begin by stating context, not content. One minute on: What is going on? Why now? What will we protect/create here? 😶 Make silence do a job. Take a two-beat pause before responding. Let meaning-making catch up with talking. 🤝 Start by agreeing that whatever is going on is what's going on, whatever has just been said has just been said. THEN add something of value to this, from where you are (not where you would like to be, or where you think others should be). What to look for: fewer “surprises after the fact,” shorter cycle times to decisions. If open communication is how a system learns, the point isn’t eloquence or power; it’s finding the conditions that let ideas move.

Many senior leaders I work with care deeply about innovation. And still, they experience a tension they don’t always state out loud. Control vs. curiosity. Alignment vs. disagreement. They know innovation doesn’t come from everyone just doing what they’re told. But they also believe that too much freedom, without enough structure, can quickly turn into chaos. What they often do not realize is that they do not need to pick a side. Instead, they need to learn how to hold both at the same time. In my work, I’ve seen that innovative teams don’t try to get rid of dissent. They embrace it and shape it. And they don’t just tell people to “be curious.” They use practices that make curiosity possible, every day. Here are a few principles that help leaders navigate this tension: 1. Keep dissent about ideas, not people. The best debates focus on the work: the data, the assumptions, the trade-offs. Not egos, titles, or who’s “right.” When leaders stay open (especially when they’re being challenged) it gives everyone else permission to do the same. 2. Give curiosity clear boundaries. Curiosity actually works better with structure. Be clear about where experimentation is encouraged, what constraints matter, and when decisions are final. Too much freedom without clarity is overwhelming. Clarity creates room to explore. 3. Don’t mix learning moments with performance moments. If every conversation feels like a test, people stop taking risks. Say out loud when the goal is learning, reflection, or trying things out. And protect those spaces. 4. Reward contribution, not agreement. If people get ahead by agreeing, that’s what they’ll do. If they get ahead by improving thinking, raising risks, and expanding options, you’ll get better decisions. 5. Remember: culture follows behavior, not demands or promises. Curiosity isn’t what leaders say they want. It’s what they notice, what they ask about, and what they act on, especially when things get tense. To me, innovation does not mean letting go of control. It’s about using control more thoughtfully, in ways that leave room for learning, challenge, and discovery. Leaders who get this right build teams and organizations that keep learning long after today’s problems are solved. #teams #collaboration #control #innovation #rules #practices #tension #learning #leadership