Innovation Culture Assessment

Top performers will spot the red flags fast. 11 signs of a horrible company culture: 1/ Fear Rules Daily → Mistakes equal punishment, not learning opportunities → Questions are discouraged with subtle hostility → Information is weaponized for power plays → Blame flows downward, credit evaporates → People self-censor to protect their careers 2/ Loyalty Means Silence → Disagreement equals disloyalty, even when right → "Team player" means blind agreement with leadership → Critical thinking gets labeled as "not aligned" → Yes-people get promoted, thinkers get sidelined → Truth-tellers disappear quietly from meetings 3/ Burnout Is Celebrated → Overtime is expected, not compensated → Balance means "weak commitment to success" → Vacation requests face passive-aggressive resistance → Breaks equal laziness in leadership's eyes → Health concerns are career limitations 4/ Leadership Hides → Decisions are mysteries until they hurt → Communication is one-way propaganda → Feedback gets ignored until talent leaves → Problems stay invisible until crisis hits → Credit flows upward, responsibility down 5/ Growth Is A Myth → Promotions lack clarity but never lack politics → Skills stay stagnant while expectations rise → Mentorship doesn't exist beyond lip service → Training budget vanishes first in every quarter → Potential dies slowly in endless meetings 6/ Politics Trump Results → Relationships beat performance metrics always → Favorites win regardless of impact → Merit means nothing against connections → Innovation threatens status quo defenders → Mediocrity gets rewarded with stability 7/ Toxicity Is Normal → Gossip drives decisions behind closed doors → Bullies go unchecked if they deliver numbers → HR protects power structures, not people → Good people leave first, quietly → Bad behavior has immunity if revenue follows 8/ Trust Dies Daily → Promises stay empty but expectations grow → Words contradict actions consistently → Transparency is fake corporate theater → Honesty gets punished with isolation → Cynicism spreads faster than good news → Documentation becomes self-defense 9/ Values Are Theater → Posters replace action on every wall → Ethics flex with quarterly pressure → Mission statements lie beautifully → Culture deck is fiction everyone quotes → Reality stays hidden from shareholders → Core values change with each CEO 10/ Talent Bleeds Out → Best people leave first, worst stay forever → Hiring stays desperate but standards drop → Standards keep dropping to fill seats → Quality people avoid you after interviews → Mediocrity becomes normal, then policy → Brain drain accelerates monthly 11/ Innovation Is Dead → Risk-taking gets crushed by committees → Ideas die in meetings about meetings → Change threatens power structures → Safe decisions win against smart ones → Future becomes past while competitors win → Disruption is a threat, not opportunity How many red flags do you see at your company? ♻️ Repost and follow Justin Bateh for more.

In healthcare, innovation isn’t just about shiny apps or breakthrough devices. The most impactful innovations can involve rethinking how an entire system works—while still keeping it running. That’s the challenging truth facing large US health systems like Advocate Health and Sutter Health. With mounting pressures—rising costs, staff shortages, and digital-first competitors—these organizations are finding that focusing only on incremental change won’t cut it. They’re building enterprise-wide innovation ecosystems designed to unlock creativity at scale. I explore what they’re doing in a new article for Forbes (a link is in the Comments below). At Advocate Health, for example, this means going beyond pilot projects or siloed innovation labs. Their approach includes: - Strategic partnerships with startups and accelerators - Internal investment funds and innovation districts - Tech transfer capabilities to bring discoveries to market - Leadership development programs built around tools like Jobs to Be Done, human-centered design, and the business model canvas It’s a significant shift—embedding innovation not just in strategy decks, but in the day-to-day work of solving persistent pain points. Teams aren’t just testing new tech. They’re tackling the real “struggling moments” for patients, clinicians, and administrators alike—from vendor inefficiencies to emergency room backlogs—and redesigning care delivery around those needs. One key lesson? Change happens when innovation teams forge close ties with operational leaders and treat them as co-creators, not gatekeepers. That approach opens the door for adoption and scale—critical in a sector that can be both risk-averse and in dire need of reinvention. In a future where innovation methods are as standard as EHRs and MRIs, standalone “innovation departments” may become obsolete. But, until then, health systems that build these capabilities now will be better equipped to navigate uncertainty—and lead the industry transformation already underway. The takeaway for innovators everywhere: When facing entrenched systems and high stakes, don’t just think different—build systems that work differently.

Most companies claim they embrace failure. But walk into their Monday meetings, and watch people scramble to hide their missteps. I've seen it countless times. The same leaders who preach 'fail fast' are the first to demand explanations for every setback. Here's the uncomfortable truth:  Innovation dies in environments where people feel safer playing it safe. But there's a difference between reckless failure and strategic experimentation. Let me show you exactly how to build a culture that genuinely embraces productive failure: 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 Stop asking "Who's fault was this?" and start asking: "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨?" "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘴?" "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯?" 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 '𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬' Monthly meetings where teams present their failed experiments and the insights gained. The key? Leaders must go first. Share your own failures openly, specifically, and without sugar-coating. 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 "24-𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞" After any setback, give teams 24 hours to vent/process. Then require them to present three specific learnings and two potential next steps. This transforms failure from a dead end into a data point. Most "innovative" teams are just risk-averse businesses in disguise. They've mastered innovation theater, not actual innovation. Don't let your people think they need permission to innovate. Instead, start building systems and a culture that make innovation inevitable.

⚠️ Try This The Culture Observer Exercise During your next team meeting, assign one person as the culture observer. Have them monitor team dynamics: 🔎 Speaking patterns: Which voices consistently dominate, and which are missing? Where did we notice people seeking approval? Were there moments we softened or avoided something to keep the peace? 🔎 Dealing with ideas: What happens when someone shares a half-formed thought? Do people explore risky ideas or resort to safe ones? 🔎 Energy shifts: What topics or moments seem to energize the room? Which drains the energy? 🔎 Dealing with ambiguity: What happens when no one has the answer? How do team members navigate ambiguity and uncertainty? 🔎 Managing conflict: What happens when two perspectives collide? How does the team manage disagreements? After the meeting, spend 5 minutes debriefing what they noticed. Rotate the observer role so everyone gets to see your team's culture from the outside. For more insights and tools to make culture tangible, check my latest newsletter (link in comments below)

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 

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.

Blending IO psychology with digital innovation flipped the results of our last tech rollout. Most teams never connect these dots—here's why it changes everything ↓ Tech implementations often fail not because of the technology, but due to human factors. The deployment to a large international pharma company was heading for disaster until we brought in IO psychologists. They helped us understand: - How different personality types interact with new systems - The impact of change on team dynamics - Ways to reduce resistance and boost adoption We tailored our approach based on these insights: - Customized training for different learning styles - Change champions selected based on influence networks - Communication strategies aligned with team cultures The results were staggering: - 94% adoption rate within 3 months - 40% increase in user satisfaction scores - 25% boost in productivity post-implementation Key takeaway: Technology and human behavior are deeply intertwined. By considering both, we unlocked synergies we never thought possible. Next time you're planning a tech rollout, remember: The most powerful integration isn't between systems, but between tech and human psychology. Embrace this approach to transform your digital initiatives. PS - and if you know this story, you also know how it set me on the path for my PhD in IO Psychology.

We often observe highly diverse teams exhibiting patterns of dutiful compliance and stifling groupthink. While these diverse perspectives are dormant, the teams in question will never innovate. At least not consistently. How do you persuade a team to unlock its novel, nonlinear, and clashing perspectives to create an incubator of innovation — and do it in a way that doesn’t result in hard feelings, anger, or disrespect? It's not a diversity problem, but it is a culture problem. Think about the anatomy of culture this way: behaviors → habits → norms → culture If a pattern of shared behavior is a norm, a collection of norms is a culture. Norms are the primary building blocks of culture. In working with teams around the world for the last 30 years, I’ve identified the norm of constructive dissent as the single most important predictor of a team’s ability to innovate. ❓ What is constructive dissent? ✅ A team’s ability to engage respectfully in the exchange of conflicting viewpoints. While constructive dissent is a learnable behavior, it’s an extremely difficult norm to develop. It taxes the poise, composure, and emotional regulation of team members and often results in intense negative emotion and defensiveness. Teams don’t slouch into a pattern of constructive dissent, but with deliberate practice, they can build and sustain this crucial norm. But the change must start at the behavioral level. It must intervene in the day-to-day interactions of those doing the work. It must overcome the default norms and encourage healthy, constructive dissent as a professional obligation. It must be an invitation so clear, and so compelling, that it draws out the silent and the fearful. "If you disagree, I not only want to know, but I need to know. We can't innovate without your input."

I’ve been a huge fan of Tom Fishburne for years since we were classmates at Harvard Business School. Tom started drawing cartoons on the backs of HBS business cases, which evolve to become his famous and insightful Sky Deck cartoons.  I was always on the lookout for them. I invite my connections across all industries to subscribe to Tom’s insightful newsletter. Last week’s issue particularly resonated with me. Tom highlighted that labeling an idea as polarizing can quickly kill it, as businesses usually avoid such ideas in favor of safer, more universally appealing ones. However, there’s power in polarization. Trying to appeal to everyone often results in appealing to no one. In a cluttered world, the last thing a company can afford is to create indifference. Several years ago, I was helping the innovation group of a large carrier and saw firsthand the graveyard of idea killers. Many innovative ideas, often originating from those in the field who directly experience pain points, did not make it past the first round of evaluation. To help this carrier effectively evaluate innovative ideas and develop a repeatable process, we implemented a few key strategies: 1. Idea Champion Program: We assigned champions to promising ideas to advocate for them, gather feedback, and iterate on the concepts. 2. Cross-Functional Evaluation Committees: We created committees with members from various departments to ensure diverse perspectives in idea evaluation. 3. Fail Fast, Learn Faster: We encouraged a culture where failure is acceptable as long as we learn from it quickly. Prototyping and piloting ideas in controlled environments helped us make informed decisions. 4. Customer-Centric Approach: We focused on ideas that directly addressed customer/staff pain points, involving these stakeholders early in the development process. 5. Regular Review Cycles: We established regular review cycles for all submitted ideas to ensure they received proper attention. By implementing these strategies, we helped the carrier create an environment where innovative ideas could thrive. This process not only brought new solutions to the market but also fostered a culture of creativity and continuous improvement. Remember, the goal is not to avoid polarization but to harness it. Great ideas often provoke strong reactions, and that’s where their power lies. By creating a structured process to evaluate and nurture these ideas, we can ensure that they have the opportunity to make a significant impact. https://lnkd.in/eWfV_a-t

86% of Breakthrough Innovations Happen When We Pause to Wonder "What If?", Yet Most Leaders Fill Calendars Too Full for Curiosity Scrolling through LinkedIn on this relaxed Saturday morning, Khozema Shipchandler's celebration of Twilio's 400th patent caught my attention. His words about innovation being "our engine" rather than just a buzzword resonated deeply as I sip my coffee, mind wandering beyond weekday constraints. What truly powers innovative cultures and discovered fascinating patterns: → Space Creates Breakthroughs Organizations that build legitimate "think time" into workweeks see 3.7x more employee-generated innovations. Companies with protected thinking hours experience significant creative output, yet 78% of knowledge workers report having zero unstructured thinking time. ↳ As Khozema noted, each innovation represents "a spark of curiosity, a bold idea, & the drive to build something new" → Psychological Safety Drives Bold Thinking Teams with high psychological safety produce 41% more innovative solutions than peers. When employees feel secure taking risks without fear of ridicule, organizations experience 37% fewer implementation failures and 2.5x faster idea-to-market cycles. → Cross-Pollination Transcends Boundaries Our analysis shows 68% of transformative business ideas originate from outside industry frameworks, often sparked during moments of relaxation or unexpected connections that traditional work structures rarely accommodate. ↳ Organizations breaking down silos see innovation rates triple compared to those with rigid department boundaries Cultivating Curiosity-Driven Culture ✦ Inspiration Catalysts – Install physical and digital spaces where employees share articles, ideas or thoughts that sparked "what if" moments, creating continuous innovation triggers. ✦ Celebration Rituals – Implement storytelling practices highlighting both successful innovations and valuable "productive failures," reinforcing that exploration is valued alongside execution. ✦ Connection Architecture – Design both physical and digital environments that facilitate unplanned interactions across functions, knowing innovation thrives at intersections. ✦ Reflection Rhythms – Build regular pauses into organizational cadence—like I'm enjoying this Saturday—where stepping back allows patterns and possibilities to emerge. The most innovative organizations recognize that building creative culture requires both structure and space—systems that nurture curiosity while providing the safety and resources to transform questions into impact. What's one unexpected source that's sparked your best innovation? Love exploring possibilities, Joe PS: We are building People Atom, the private network where forward-thinking HR leaders and founders learn to balance structured execution with creative exploration to transform innovation cultures. Our first private roundtable for CHRO's is scheduled on July 11th in Chennai (DM me for details)