Talk to any manager in companies these days and you will hear things like:
Leaders know that success in today’s business environment depends on adaptability, responsiveness, and the ability to learn faster than the competition. And that, in turn, requires people 'to think' - not just follow instructions, and 'do'.
But here’s the question: what actually happens when someone does try to be innovative or strategic at work?
That’s where things get interesting.
When we talk about innovation or strategic thinking in most organisations, we’re not expecting every employee to invent the next iPhone or build a new division from scratch.
In practice, it looks more like this:
A team member spots a broken process and suggests a fix.Someone notices a recurring customer issue and proposes a different approach.A supervisor says, “Why do we keep doing it this way?” and starts experimenting with alternatives.An admin worker automates a repetitive task and frees up their time for higher-value work.
These are acts of creativity and strategic thought - recognising problems, seeing patterns, questioning norms, and trying something new.
So far, so good. Until reality bites.
Despite best intentions, most organisations face a fundamental tension between what they say they want, and what actually happens when innovation starts to appear.
There are 4 key effects at play:
Doing something differently can feel like a challenge to how things have always been done, and to those responsible for the current way. And that feeling and response is just human nature. We’re all attached to routines, habits, and assumptions, even if we say we’re open to change.
And when a colleague questions a long-standing process, or a junior staff member proposes an idea that cuts across team boundaries, it can be unsettling. Especially for middle managers, whose performance is often measured in terms of delivery and predictability - not experimentation.
Even smart ideas get pushback if they threaten someone’s domain, role, or comfort zone.
Many people who come up with a good idea, often receive a response like: “We love your idea. Let’s pick it up once things quieten down a bit”. But they never do. Creativity gets displaced by urgency, the next deadline, the next client crisis, the next backlog.
And so 'thinking time' becomes something people squeeze into evenings, weekends, or that annual team-building day - when everyone gets excited about new possibilities, and then promptly forgets them by Monday morning. In some cases, innovation gets siloed into a small innovation team, or structured into a clunky suggestion scheme that feels disconnected from real work. Either way, the message is clear: innovation is important, just not right now.
When someone suggests an idea or tries something new, they’re taking a small personal risk. If nothing comes of it - no acknowledgement, no feedback, no support - the message they receive is: don’t bother. Worse, if something goes wrong and they’re blamed or embarrassed, they learn: don’t try again.
Many organisations talk a good game about 'failing fast' or 'encouraging experimentation', but in practice, initiative is quietly punished - not through reprimands, but through silence or subtle disapproval.
Even suggestion schemes, which are meant to show openness, can - and often do - backfire. When a company launches a new system and invites everyone to contribute their ideas, it can quickly get flooded with suggestions. If there’s no clear guidance, process for triage, response, or action, most of those ideas go nowhere. And when people hear nothing back, or see nothing change, disappointment sets in. The net result? A well-meaning initiative actually erodes trust.
This is how a culture of compliance creeps in, where people keep their heads down and do what they’re told.
Poor definition is widespread phenomenon, and probably the underlying cause of the issues listed above.
People are told to 'think strategically' or 'be more innovative'… but with no explanation of what that actually means for their role. So they interpret it through their own lens - which could mean anything from taking initiative, to pushing a pet project, to simply being more vocal in meetings. The result? Confusion, misalignment, and often frustration on all sides. And it’s not just employees - managers also struggle. If they’re told to 'develop a more innovative team', they have their own interpretation of the words too, and so don’t know what behaviours to look for or support, they end up measuring vague impressions rather than observable practice.
While the company may have well intentioned 'aspirations', no firm expectations that are commonly understood have been set. The lack of shared language or clear expectations makes it hard to build momentum - and easy to accidentally shut it down.
There are several consequences to this, such as:
Talented employees become disengaged.Initiative dries up.Small, local improvements never see the light of day.Bigger strategic ideas remain unsurfaced or unsupported.People retreat to what feels safe, doing their jobs exactly as defined.
And the company tends towards reactivity rather than being adaptive. It runs faster on the same treadmill, but doesn’t get better.
Here are a few practical actions that separate the companies that say they want innovation from those that actually enable it:
Give real-world examples tailored to different job roles.Make it practical: “spotting and solving a recurring problem” is innovation.Explain what strategic thinking looks like in their context — eg: connecting daily decisions to broader goals or anticipating downstream effects.
Let teams trial low-risk changes with fast feedback loops.Don’t over-engineer the process.The goal is to make experimentation normal - not exceptional.
Help them recognise that challenge is not insubordination.Equip them to coach ideas, not just approve or reject them.Make it clear that their job includes building the capacity of others to think and improve.
Publicly acknowledge smart thinking, even when the idea didn’t work.Make visible the path from idea to test to impact.Show that effort and insight are valued, not just results.
Capture what worked, what didn’t, and what was learned.Share it across teams so that the organisation gets smarter, not just individuals.
Don't go building complex, bureacratic suggestion systemsBuild continuous improvement into your culture - so that it becomes part of the routine conversation, and activity
If you’re serious about building an adaptive, innovative business, you need to make it safe and worthwhile for people 'to think' - as well as 'to do'.
That means more than just saying the words - it means:
Defining what you’re asking for,Making space for it,Responding to it,And helping your managers know what to look for and how to support it.
The companies that win in the long run aren’t just the ones with the best ideas. They’re the ones where people keep having them, and can do something with them.
Ad Futurum
Graham
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