The Magic Ingredient for Innovation

I love cake. I’m not fussy on type, and I'll take a big piece of squishy, comforting cake over a chocolate biscuit any day. But what makes a successful bake?

Quality of ingredients, method, or something else? An integral part to making a cake is the tin you put it in, the container. Without a tin you can’t bake a cake - without psychological safety you are limited to how innovative and successful you can be.

What is psychological safety? In essence, its where people feel like they can experiment without consequences - where they can try things out and suggest ideas without judgement, shame and blame. Being able to turn up, be yourself and feel safe in an environment so that you can do your best. In order to be able to be creative you’ve got to feel that there’s a potential that it will be accepted rather than laughed at, that someone will actually listen.

If you’ve clicked here I’m guessing you’d like an easy answer as to how to be more innovative, and how to leverage this magic ingredient. I'm a big believer in keeping things simple to create change, and these three behaviours can help:

Go first:

A study by Google found that “psychological safety – team members feeling safe to take risks and be vulnerable in front of each other – was far and away the most important of the five dynamics that set successful teams apart.” By going first, and practicing vulnerability and courage you inspire others to do the same.

Get curious and ask:

What do your team need to feel safe? What do you as a leader or team member need to do, or stop doing, to achieve this? And how can they make it clear when they don't feel safe? Having these conversations starts building the container in itself.

Listen without judgement:

Instead of "No, but..." try "Yes, and..." to build on ideas and be open minded to new approaches... plenty of ideas seem crazy at first as no-one else is doing it, yet these are often the ones that work!

Awkward? Maybe. If its not your usual approach it might feel a bit clunky at first. And if you practice building psychological safety, creativity can flow, as people are no longer devoting energy to protecting themselves for fear of consequences.

Why not view it as an experiment and try? Whats the worst that could happen? And the best? And when it works, have a slice of cake to celebrate :)

Share this entry