An innovation culture
Introduction
An innovation culture is described as an organizational culture that highly considers and supports innovation to enable people to make innovation happen. Innovation is critical in developing a business; thus, many companies invest heavily in developing new products and innovative business models (Villaluz & Hechanova, 2019). However, many businesses, despite having innovation strategies face challenges in implementing their innovative strategies. This is because the quantity and quality of ideas and continuous improvement processes might not be sufficient. As a result, most companies tend to neglect organizational innovation and process improvement, thus losing their competitiveness. Besides, the projects managed through an innovation process end up stalling (Villaluz, & Hechanova, 2019). Nonetheless, some companies are recognized globally for their strong innovation cultures. Amazon is one of the leading innovative companies in the world. Amazon is recognized for providing an innovation-friendly workplace. In an interview with Molly Dobson, she explains how the company embraces and supports innovation at every organization level.
Mrs. Molly is the Head of European Business, industrial and scientific supplies at Amazon. In the interview, she revealed Amazon’s innovation culture that makes it recognized as one of the world’s most innovative companies. Molly revealed that Amazon is one of the most consistent companies globally in terms of innovation. One of the company’s principles is to foster innovation in every office and level of the organization. The company supports innovation through various ideas. “It’s still day one” is the first idea used in promoting the innovation culture in Amazon. Molly pointed out that Jeff Bezos always considers every day as day one of the business for over two decades now. This ideology creates a mindset in every employee that they everything to play for and everything to lose. This inspires a sense of innovation and direction of the company. Every day, the idea helps every person in the company figure out several important factors, such as what they should be delivering and what the customer wants. In the interview, Molly pointed out that customer obsession is an idea that is highly valued across all Amazon outlets in the world. Through this ideology, the company can identify what the customer wants even before they want it. As a result, the company always stays a step ahead and makes promises to them, and delivers it consistently (Amazon, 2019).
In the interview, Molly notes that Amazon is interested in supporting innovative ideas from its team members. She reveals that the company mainly relies on data, and if an individual can prove that his or her idea is effective has to do so using data. Amazon has empowered all its employees to innovate. The company has a working-backward plan, and a Primal Rage Frequently Asked Questions (PRFAQ) document used by employees to develop innovative ideas (Amazon, 2019). Employees with big ideas are allowed to outline their product ideas’ visions, together with a theoretical press release. Then they write FAQs explaining the customer benefits and answers to potential queries from customers. The idea is then evaluated by a team of fellow innovators and if it is eligible it is funded into the market. For instance Amazon products such as Prime Now, Amazon Go and Alexa were innovated using the same process (Amazon, 2019). Molly pointed out that this is a smart approach since it is a practical system and process that has been modeled to suit the organizational culture thus giving each individual an opportunity to present any ideas that they think could project the growth of the company. The process also enables the innovator to evaluate their ideas keenly from the customers’ perspective.
The success of an innovative culture is determined by the successful implementation of innovative ideas and how the company handles the failure of some of the innovations (Yun, Zhao, Jung, & Yigitcanlar, 2020). The way a company responds to the failure of innovations encourages or discourages further innovations. Amazon is aware of this, and Molly notes that failure is embraced and is expected in Amazon. Molly pointed out that leaders in many companies usually talk about taking risks and willingness to fail. However, if a project fails, many companies fail to embrace failure, and usually, there are implications for those involved. Nonetheless, Amazon handles failure differently as the company through its blogs; it is a safe space to fail. According to Molly, Amazon encourages more than the typical test, fail, and repeat the cycle. Molly revealed that Amazon leaders believe that testing something that knows will work is not considered an experiment, and thus you are not inventing anything. Molly says that she believed that for a true spirit-of-invention-enabled-by-failure to succeed. She ascertains that failure is acceptable in Amazon.
Mrs. Molly pointed out that Amazon culture promotes experimentation. When an organization assures its investors in advance that a failed experiment will not impact the customers, it allows them to be comfortable supporting innovation. Molly revealed that in Amazon, it is okay to reverse a decision that has gone wrong and try a different one to help solve the issue at hand. She pointed out that if employees feel that each experiment is loaded with repercussions, they will not experiment because they will fear the implications. Nonetheless, Amazon supports experimentation and gives inventors space to make new decisions if their initial decisions fail to materialize (Amazon, 2019).
According to Molly, Amazon is interested in helping employees move towards their passions and ideas. The company does this by trying to broaden the skill sets of its employees. This fosters best-practice sharing and allows the employee to follow their unique ideas and enroll in a new role. Amazon allows employees to leave their current jobs and pursue their passion within the same company. This allows the employees to work in areas where they can express themselves better and motivate innovations (Yun, Zhao, Jung, & Yigitcanlar, 2020).
The company is willing to support its employees to ensure that they pursue and implement their new ideas.
Mrs. Molly noted that nurturing creativity is another principle that Amazon uses to foster innovation among its workers. According to Molly, Amazon supports creativity and considers it as a pursuit. To promote creativity, Amazon has an expression Lab that allows the employees to attend workshops and creative classes. It also provides places to conduct meeting in natural settings and has the Amazon Symphony Orchestra, which plays community concerts and is open to all employees. These activities set Amazon apart from the rest of the companies and show why it is among the most innovative organizations globally. Moreover, Molly noted that Amazon is dedicated to investing in long-term innovations. The company has made efforts to invest in future innovators through its future engineer program, making computer science education accessible to more than 10 million students (Amazon, 2019). In doing this, the company aims to allow more students to become inventors in various fields, including healthcare, education, and technology. Although the program does not directly benefit Amazon, it reflects the overall innovative culture that the company is building.
Refection
Reflecting on Mrs. Molly’s responses during the interview, I have gained important insight from the innovation culture that Amazon has built. I have learned that it is essential for a company to develop an innovative culture. This allows the company to lay out strategies and programs that promote innovation in the company. I have learned the importance of empowering all employees in an organization by innovating, experimenting, and implementing their ideas. This has been a leading factor that has helped Amazon to become an innovative company. Allowing employees to contribute their ideas regardless of their level and office is critical in ensuring that they foster an innovative culture. Amazon is a perfect example of how fostering innovation can promote the success of an organization. The company’s approach is unique and has greatly helped it achieve its goals. Embracing failure in innovation is another important lesson that I have learned from my interview with Mrs. Molly. When employees are aware that their innovations’ failure will not have a detrimental impact on their work position, they are more likely to innovate because they will not have any fear. Lastly, allowing the inventors to change their decisions is another important factor that promotes innovation in a company since it gives room for more experimentation.
Conclusion and Recommendations
While Amazon has a strong innovation culture, the company should seek ways to strengthen it further. Having software to help the company in advancing its innovative culture is a sound recommendation. This will ensure the stability of the existing processes and optimize the existing areas of the innovation culture. The company will require developing existing products or improving the innovation culture process through constant optimization.
Appendices
Interview guide
- What principles does Amazon Use to foster an innovative culture?
- What can an individual working in the company have their idea funded and implemented by Amazon?
- How does Amazon handle the failure of some of the innovations?
- Does Amazon allow the reversal of decisions?
- How does Amazon support the employees to enjoy their passions and implement their ideas?
- What other principle does Amazon have to boost innovation?