Best Practices for Building an Innovation Community at Work

In “The Venture Mindset”, we explore how successful companies foster innovation by prioritizing people over rigid processes. However, placing people over process does not mean that there is no process at all.     Chaos doesn't necessarily translate into innovation; moreover, it can easily destroy ideas. The design should facilitate cutting through quite a bit of the internal bureaucracy and keeping the development team small, independent, fluid, and protected from internal politics. Let's examine two examples of this principle in action: Case Study 1: Gmail at Google Google's approach to Gmail is a textbook example of the power of trusting talented individuals: 1. The project started with a single engineer, Paul Buchheit.  2. Leaders provided a vague directive: "Build some type of email or personalization product."  3. There were no strict feature lists or rigid processes.  4. Google executives supported the project and bet on its potential. Result: Gmail revolutionized email services and became one of Google's most successful products.    Case Study 2: The Happy Meal at McDonald's The Happy Meal's success shows how intrapreneurship can thrive even in traditional corporate environments: 1. Yolanda Fernández de Cofiño, a McDonald's franchisee in Guatemala, developed the concept.  2. She created a children's menu without approval from headquarters.  3. McDonald's world conventions allowed for idea exchange.  4. Executives recognized the potential and scaled the idea globally.  Result: The Happy Meal became a worldwide success and a staple of McDonald's offerings.    Here is what you can do to support the employees in your company:  1. Trust your talent: Give motivated individuals the freedom to pursue their ideas.  2. Provide resources: Offer support and necessary tools without micromanagement.  3. Create "racetracks": Design systems that allow for rapid development and testing of new ideas, with clear funding mechanisms, simple rules, guardrails, and milestones.  4. Embrace calculated risks: Be willing to bet on promising projects, even if they're unconventional.  5. Scale successes: When local innovations show promise, be ready to implement them more broadly.    How does your organization balance structure and freedom to foster innovation? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments! #stanford #stanfordgsb #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology #founders #venturemindset 

Most people say they’ve transformed culture. Few actually have. I was once told that in large organizations, culture change is like turning an aircraft carrier: slow, painful, and barely perceptible. That might be true if you settle for surface-level change. But I didn’t have that luxury. At a healthcare company with 80,000 employees, I wasn’t hired to run HR. I was brought in to reimagine it - as Chief People Innovation Officer, tasked with transforming how people experienced their work across hundreds of locations, acquired entities, and entrenched silos. And we did it. Not with strategy decks or slogans. We started with people. 1. Real research, not just surveys We didn’t open a “best practices” playbook. We had thousands of real conversations. We asked: What connects you to your work? What breaks your spirit? From that, we found the common thread: the drive to deliver extraordinary care. That insight became our EVP, not a brand line, but a rally cry. 2. Our Employee Value Prop became the operating system Most companies treat EVP as a marketing tool. We used it to rewire decisions across the employee lifecycle. We hired for values, not just skills. Rebuilt onboarding to connect every hire to purpose. Challenged policies that didn’t reflect who we said we were. The EVP wasn’t a campaign. It was our blueprint. 3. Innovation, everywhere To build a culture of innovation, we democratized it. We launched: A company-wide Innovation Challenge to surface bold ideas from the frontlines. An “Everyday Innovation” platform to spotlight small wins. A design-thinking toolkit for managers so innovation lived in every unit, not just HQ. 4. Results that mattered Cost-per-hire dropped. Quality of hire rose. Trust and purpose scores spiked, so did patient satisfaction. Retention improved. The biggest win? Leaders stopped asking if culture mattered. They started asking how to scale it. 5. The right partners push you beyond the expected We didn’t just hire consultants. We brought in provocateurs. Thinkers from outside healthcare who challenged our assumptions. One of them now runs their own venture, Fauna. That’s the ripple effect of great thinking. Here’s the truth: Real culture change doesn’t come from town halls or t-shirts. It comes from aligning strategy to people, and people to purpose. It’s hard, messy, nonlinear work. But when done right, it redefines what’s possible. Not just for the organization, but for everyone inside it. If your EVP is buried in a slide deck, you’re leaving transformation on the table. Want to bring it to life? DM me so I can share more of the story, or better yet, reach out to the folks at Fauna. They were with me every step of the way. Maybe its time you tried something new.

HOW TO CREATE SAFE SPACES FOR UNSAFE IDEAS You hire brilliant people and tell them to innovate. Then you make it impossible for them to do so. Most companies develop an immune system that rejects new ideas like they're some kind of virus. Here are the five innovation killers you need to spot and eliminate: KILLER #1: DEMANDING CRYSTAL BALL ACCURACY You want detailed business cases for projects that are inherently uncertain. The fix: Create different approval processes for exploration vs. execution. Exploration projects get smaller budgets and you measure success by what you learn, not what you earn. KILLER #2: BEING SCARED OF EVERYTHING Your processes are designed to avoid any downside risk, which also kills any upside potential. The fix: Separate "experiments you can't afford to mess up" from "experiments you can't afford not to try." Different projects, different comfort levels with risk. KILLER #3: MAKING INNOVATION FIGHT FOR SCRAPS Innovation projects have to compete with your proven money-makers for resources. The fix: Set aside dedicated innovation resources. 10% of engineering time, 5% of budget, just for projects where you don't know what'll happen. KILLER #4: JUDGING EVERYTHING ON QUARTERLY RESULTS You evaluate innovation projects on the same timelines as your day-to-day operations. The fix: Innovation gets measured by learning cycles, not calendar quarters. Success is about insights you gain, not deadlines you hit. KILLER #5: THINKING FAILURE MEANS SOMEONE SCREWED UP You define success as "execute the original plan perfectly." The fix: Success becomes "figure out what works as fast as possible." Changing direction gets celebrated, not punished. The framework that can transform your innovation culture: EXPLORE → EXPERIMENT → EXECUTE EXPLORE PHASE: Small budget, big questions. Win = quality insights. EXPERIMENT PHASE: Medium budget, specific hunches. Win = fast validation (or fast failure). EXECUTE PHASE: Full budget, proven concept. Win = flawless delivery. Different phases, different rules, different ways to win. Companies don't lack innovative ideas. They lack innovative environments. QUESTIONS TO DIAGNOSE YOUR INNOVATION IMMUNE SYSTEM: ❓How many good ideas die in approval meetings instead of real-world tests? ❓What percentage of your "failed" projects actually teach you something valuable? ❓How long does it take to get approval for a $10K experiment vs. a $10K efficiency upgrade? ❓Do your best people feel comfortable pitching risky ideas? If your best employee came to you tomorrow with a risky but potentially game-changing idea, would they feel safe pitching it? *** I’m Jennifer Kamara, founder of Kamara Life Design. Enjoy this? Repost to share with your network, and follow me for actionable strategies to design businesses and lives with meaning. Want to go from good to world-class? Join our community of subscribers today: https://lnkd.in/d6TT6fX5 

From my new Harvard Business Review article, here’s how to create the last of four pillars that innovative organizations need – Innovation Communities: Innovations often happen at intersections, yet many companies lack ways for innovators to connect informally and see where conversations go. This can also make innovation a lonely endeavor. It doesn’t cost much or take a lot of time to provide people with common innovation interests a means to connect and exchange ideas. At the very least, it’ll help keep them motivated. At best, it may trigger new kinds of cross-disciplinary collaborations that open up previously unseen vectors for change. Don’t be Atari, which was abandoned in frustration by an ambitious innovator: Steve Jobs.   What to do instead? Cultivate community. Take the German life sciences company, Bayer. Bayer has created an internal community of 700 innovators around the world who use common resources, join competitions against one another, and nominate local representatives to participate in an annual meeting. These connections then enable discussions about ways to cross-apply methods, business models, and other capabilities that can translate across business units. For instance, the program helped create agricultural finance options that are now offered around the world, stemming in part from an idea that originated in Bayer’s corporate finance and marketing departments in Greece. (How have you built innovation communities? Please share your approaches in the comments!)