How to build a culture of innovation

At Stone & Chalk, we work with hundreds of startups, scaleups, and corporate partners who are solving some of the world’s biggest problems.

From this, we know that innovation doesn’t come from luck, lightning bolts, or lone geniuses scribbling on whiteboards. It comes from culture. And what’s great about that is that this is a culture you can build.

Here’s how to make innovation part of your company’s DNA, whether you’re a team of two or two hundred.

1. Create the space to innovate

Innovation needs space. Not always physical space (although a whiteboard and a large room never hurts), but psychological space.

That means creating work spaces where ideas are welcomed, not shot down. Where people are safe to challenge the status quo, suggest something bold, or admit when something’s not working.

At Google, they gave employees time to explore side projects. Most of them didn’t go anywhere. But a few, like Gmail, did. That’s the point: innovation doesn’t work on a schedule. It needs room to breathe.

Here’s what that could look like in your company:

• Allow teams to pitch wild ideas without immediate judgement.
• Block out time for creative thinking, even an hour a week.
• Reward people not just for success, but for the bravery to try.

When you create space for innovation, you allow innovation to occur.

2. Make innovation a leadership priority

If your leaders don’t care about innovation, no one else will.

We’ve seen it time and time again: when innovation is just a word in a PowerPoint slide, nothing changes.

But when it’s baked into leadership behaviours, how decisions are made, how wins are celebrated, and how failures are treated, it spreads.

Great leaders make it clear that new ideas are worth chasing. That means:

• Publicly backing teams who try something new, even when it flops.
• Asking open-ended questions: What could we do differently?
• Sharing stories of smart risks, not just the wins, but the learning.

There’s plenty of entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates who are often quoted for their vision.

But their real power came from their obsession with pushing boundaries and getting their teams to do the same. That’s what built innovative companies.

You don’t have to be a household name to lead like that. You just have to back your team’s curiosity with action.

3. Make failure acceptable and useful

Most organisations don’t want to say out loud, but you can’t innovate without failing.

Every bold idea starts with uncertainty. Some will flop and that’s inevitable. What matters is what happens next.

Do people feel punished? Embarrassed? Afraid to try again? Or do they feel energised by what they learned?

Here’s what successful innovators do:

• Run small experiments so failure is cheap and fast.
• Celebrate what was learned, not just what was achieved.
• Share stories of projects that didn’t work and what they taught you.

Edison didn’t invent the lightbulb on the first go. He tried hundreds of times. “I haven’t failed,” he famously said. “I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Make that mindset part of your company’s story.

4. Build diverse, curious teams

The best ideas don’t come from people who all think the same.

Innovation thrives on difference – different experiences, skills, perspectives, and questions.

That’s why diverse teams consistently outperform homogenous ones when it comes to problem-solving. They bring new ways of seeing the world—and spot opportunities others miss.

To build this into your culture:

• Hire for difference of experience, not sameness.
• Encourage cross-team collaboration.
• Consider: Who’s not in the room? What might they see that we don’t?

Then, fuel that diversity with curiosity. Give people time and permission to explore ideas that don’t have a guaranteed return. Not everything needs a business case on day one.

The most valuable questions are often the ones we don’t know how to answer yet.

5. Create fast feedback loops

Innovation is rarely a single moment. It’s a cycle: test, learn, improve, repeat.

To keep improving, you need to hear what’s working (and what’s not) early and often. That’s where feedback loops come in.

For your company this might look like:

• Weekly demos or “show and tells” to share new thinking.
• A clear process for gathering customer feedback and acting on it.
• A culture where feedback isn’t personal, but geared towards improvement.

The faster you can learn, the faster you can adapt. That’s how you push and stay ahead.

6. Make innovation a long-term strategy

Short-term goals are important. But innovation rarely delivers in a tidy 3-month cycle.

Some of the biggest breakthroughs take time. And they often look messy before they look meaningful.

That’s why truly innovative companies invest in ideas that won’t pay off immediately. They play the long game.

This might mean:

• Setting aside some budget for R&D or creative projects.
• Supporting teams to explore emerging tech or untapped markets.
• Being okay with ambiguity, because not every step is measurable straight away.

If your team only ever chases immediate ROI, they’ll stop chasing ideas that could change everything.

Final thoughts

At Stone & Chalk, we believe innovation is everyone’s business. Not just the product team. Not just the founder. Everyone.

And whether you’re a startup trying to break into a market, or a large organisation trying to stay ahead – your culture will either hold you back or help you fly.

Innovation doesn’t have to start with a new budget, a new hire, or a new building. It can start with a conversation.

Here’s some questions you can run past your team:

• What’s one thing we’re doing just because “that’s how it’s always been done”?
• What frustrates our customers most, and how might we rethink it?
• What’s one idea you’ve been sitting on that we haven’t explored yet?

Then listen, support the ideas, and take action. You never know where it might take you next.