Challenge 12: Do you help integration of new team members into an innovation culture

Diagnosis

In an SME with its unique culture and limited team it is often difficult to be a newcomer. In many SMEs where everyone assumes by default that everyone knows everything about the company, it is easy to make the false assumption that some things are obvious to newcomers. It is of high importance for successful innovation culture to introduce and integrate new employees in your innovation activities from the start. Failing to do so, may lead to feeling of exclusion of new teammates and their demotivation, as well as lost opportunities for grabbing new perspectives and receiving unbiased by your company status quo feedback for improvements.

Positive aspects	Negative aspects
The company clearly communicates its innovation vision and goals during the onboarding process to align new members with the organization's direction.	The onboarding process does not include information or training related to the company's innovation culture or practices.
New team members receive a comprehensive onboarding that includes information about the company's innovation culture, values, and expectations.	Company vision and relevance of innovation activities for reaching it is not communicated to newcomers to the team.
New members have opportunities to collaborate with colleagues from different departments, promoting cross-functional understanding and innovation.	There's no mentorship or guidance program in place to help new employees navigate the innovation culture.
New team members are encouraged to ask questions, challenge assumptions, and propose new ideas from the outset.	New team members are primarily exposed to their own department and do not have cross-functional interactions that promote innovation.
New employees are provided access to relevant resources, such as innovation libraries, case studies, and industry trends.	New-commers are not invited to ask questions and provide contributions to innovation projects.
New team members are included in ongoing innovation projects to immerse them in the company's creative processes.	New employees have no access to resources regarding previous innovation experiences and lessons learnt from innovation projects and failures.
The SME values the diverse backgrounds and experiences that new employees bring, recognizing the potential for innovative thinking.	New employees are not engaged in ongoing innovation projects.
The company actively seeks feedback from new team members about their onboarding experience and suggestions for improvements across different aspects of company.	New employees are encouraged to ask questions and point possible issues to leaders and colleagues.
New members' innovative contributions are celebrated and acknowledged.	Team-building events lack elements that encourage innovative thinking, focusing on routine activities.
New team members are included in brainstorming sessions, allowing them to contribute fresh perspectives.	New team members are not invited to participate in brainstorming sessions, knowledge sharing and discussion of ongoing projects and challenges.
New employees are encouraged to experiment with new ideas and concepts.	New members are not informed regarding the ways they are expected to contribute to innovation.
	New team members should not challenge established norms, processes and conventional company thinking.

Actions for implementation

In many SME due to their small team onboarding is not an often occurrence. Because of its rarity, it is often overlooked, and new employees are left to figure out how things work on their own. Meanwhile, a small attention to the phase can help rapidly integrate a new employee into your company innovation activities and increase benefits that the new team member can bring to the table.

1. Start from a small mentoring session during which you will explain new employee company vision, strategy, company structure and introduce the person to the team across functions and departments. If your company has more than 20 employees focus on key employees across different departments. Make sure to underline what competences specific people have and how they can be of help. Make sure to inform the new comer regarding your innovation policy and what innovation contributions are expected and what resources and processes are available to support innovation efforts across the company. You can provide new employees with a package that includes information about your company's innovation goals, ongoing projects, and resources for generating and sharing innovative ideas.
2. Provide new employees with access to training resources related to innovation methodologies, fostering their understanding and active participation.
3. Use the employee onboarding to organise company wide innovation workshops focused on the company's innovation initiatives, methodologies, and success stories. Involve new employees to expose them to the innovation culture early on, help them understand ongoing initiatives, and offer the opportunity to share their fresh perspective. Make sure that you will offer the opportunity to engage with existing teams.
4. Appoint experienced employees as innovation ambassadors who actively engage with new employees, guiding them through innovation-related activities.
5. You can also design an innovation challenge specifically designed to new employees. Ones focused on analysing existing processes, products and approaches and proposing improvements or innovation in that scope will help the employee to learn more in detail about the company internal environment, while having specific objective in mind.
6. While employing new employees can be rare in your company, you should be prepared to effectively deal with the onboarding process when the need arises. If this is your case, use the process to integrate employees that are currently most struggling with the concept of engaging in innovation or are resisting this new direction.