The landscape of the modern workplace is changing, and companies are being forced to rethink how they operate, collaborate and solve problems. As artificial intelligence reshapes jobs, hybrid work changes how teams collaborate, and layoffs push companies to do more with fewer resources, employers are looking for new ways to adapt.
In fairness, disruption isn’t new. Companies have always had to evolve alongside new technology, shifting consumer demands and changing employee expectations. But today’s pace of transformation is pushing organizations to think differently — and find new ways to foster innovation, spark creativity at work and encourage employees to solve problems in new ways. But what exactly drives innovation at work?
What Drives Workplace Innovation?
Workplace innovation doesn’t simply happen because employees are asked to come up with new ideas. Instead, it requires a culture where people feel comfortable experimenting, learning and sharing ideas — even when they don’t know exactly where they will lead.
Creating a culture where employees feel comfortable sharing ideas may be especially important at a time when many workers feel disconnected from their jobs. According to a recent Gallup report, only 20% of employees globally were engaged at work in 2025, with low engagement contributing to an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity.
As KeyAnna Schmiedl, chief human experience officer at Workhuman, explains, one of the biggest drivers of innovation is creating “an environment that’s psychologically safe around experimentation.”
She says companies that prioritize innovation should aim to create a culture where employees can reflect on what worked, what didn’t and what they can improve moving forward.
Employees should then feel safe to ask, “What can we learn from what we got wrong? What can we learn from what we got right? And how might we want to change this? So that folks know it’s OK to share a new idea that may seem a little bit out there,” she says.
Kim Scott, author and co-founder of Radical Candor, said organizations also need to recognize that innovation doesn’t only come from leadership.
“Great ideas come from everywhere and I don’t think you build truly innovative organizations unless ideas are bottoms up,” she says.
Creating that type of environment requires employees to feel comfortable speaking up — even when their ideas are still being developed.
Creating a culture of innovation also means giving employees the time and resources to experiment. Schmiedl says companies should not expect employees to explore new ideas or build new skills outside of their normal work hours.
“One of the biggest issues I see, especially with the AI push, is a lot of people trying to find the time outside of their work hours to get stuff done. No, if it matters to us as a business, we should give you time to make that happen,” she stresses.
At Workhuman, Schmiedl explains that the company encourages employees to use dedicated time for experimentation, such as trying AI agents or taking a skills course.
How Companies Are Getting Creative
Companies are finding that some of their best ideas come from the employees closest to the work.
At Workhuman, innovation has long been part of the company’s culture, including through its history of hackathons — events where employees come together for a set period of time to collaborate, experiment and develop solutions to workplace challenges.
Schmiedl says one winning hackathon idea came from the customer service team, which found a way to reduce the amount of time customers spent on hold. The project later won external awards, showing how employee-driven ideas can lead to meaningful business improvements.
“We would not have thought of that as a potential solution needed or one that the business should invest in if we had just said, ‘Executive team, what are your priorities?’” Schmiedl said.
Instead, she says companies should look to employees who understand day-to-day challenges and allow them to help identify solutions.
Scott shares a similar example from her time leading teams at Google, where she created a system to ensure employee ideas could move forward.
“I realized I was kind of shutting down new ideas because there were so many of them coming at me,” Scott explains. “I said, ‘Look, I don’t want to tamp down these new ideas, so we’re going to create an ideas team.’”
The team was made up of employees who were most excited about changing the way work was done. They reviewed ideas and helped identify ways to improve efficiency. Scott says the group eventually automated some routine work, freeing up time for employees to focus on higher-value projects.
“By doing this, we were able to grow AdSense revenue 10x in four years,” Scott says.
For companies looking to foster innovation, the lesson is that new ideas need more than encouragement — they need a system that helps employees share, test and act on them. By creating space for employees closest to the work to contribute, organizations can uncover solutions leaders may not have considered on their own.
Innovation Requires More Than Collecting Feedback
When creating an innovative work environment, it’s important not to let ideas live on Slack and surveys alone. Scott says feedback tools can provide useful information, but they cannot replace the conversations that help leaders truly understand employees and their ideas.
“I believe in surveys. I’m not saying that surveys are bad, but I think that a survey is not exactly listening. A survey is not a substitute for the real human back and forth,” she says.
Instead, leaders need to go beyond simply collecting feedback and focus on creating a culture where employees feel heard and see that their input leads to action.
“You can learn some stuff from a survey, but you’re not going to get real feedback from your direct reports with whom you have a relationship.”
For Scott, building those relationships requires leaders to make time for real conversations with employees, where they can ask questions, listen to concerns and better understand where new ideas may come from.
“When you solicit feedback, that needs to be a human conversation,” she says.
How to Foster Innovation Even When You’re Not in Charge
Fostering innovation isn’t just the responsibility of managers or executives. Employees at any level can contribute by staying curious, collaborating with others and looking for ways to solve problems differently.
Schmiedl says leadership is behavior, not a role. “You can lead in so many different ways. One way is by modeling the behavior you want to see in your colleagues,” she says.
Even as a chief human experience officer, Schmiedl explains her role is not to have every answer.
“My job is to know who are the people with the best skills that, when we combine them, can help us solve the challenges.”
For managers and leaders, fostering innovation means recognizing that your role is to create the conditions where employees feel empowered to contribute.
Scott says this starts with leaders being willing to step back and make space for others to participate.
Creating that kind of environment allows employees at every level to take ownership of innovation and helps organizations uncover ideas that may otherwise go unheard.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY. Reporting by Alyshia Hull, Special to USA TODAY.
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.
