Our Executive Partner Joey Havens presented “Creating a Culture of Innovation” at the Digital CPA Conference this week in Las Vegas. Among other things, he shared our belief that a strong culture leads to innovation. It’s true, we didn’t specifically set out to be an innovative firm, instead we set out to create a culture with a strong sense of belonging, a place where team members felt safe to make mistakes and then learn from them, and mindset to challenge the status quo daily. Read more about our journey and HORNE’s Principles for a Culture of Innovation in Joey’s beBetter blog below.
Innovation is not easy. Yet, innovation talk is everywhere now. How-to-articles and conference keynotes abound on the topic. I’ve even been reading that many businesses are creating positions and departments whose sole responsibility is innovation. I’m going to risk hurting some feelings and tell you that, in my experience, you don’t start with the goal of being innovative. You must start with your culture. A strong culture leads to innovation.
At HORNE, we’ve found that innovation is the product of a strong culture where there’s a strong sense of belonging. People will take risks when they feel safe to take them. What innovation do you know where mistakes were not part of the process? People must feel safe to make a mistake, supported by a culture that helps them back up with a new learning. They will risk challenging the status quo when they feel safe—especially when you are intentional in growing a culture to be even better. Conflict avoidance is a cancer in our firms and it kills innovation. A strong sense of belonging leads to more candor.
I share this openly because we stumbled onto our innovation and ability to quickly change the status quo. We (especially me) made a lot of mistakes as we were intentional in making culture our number one priority. We didn’t set out with a vision to be known as an innovative firm. Forward Thinking and Windshield View are two of our building blocks in our Wise Firm, but never in our vision did we set out to be specifically innovative. We did set out to beBetter.
Now, with the benefit of having learned from our mistakes and due to team members who work everyday to beBetter and challenge the status quo, I can share with you what we learned are keys to a culture of innovation for us:
HORNE’S Principles for a Culture of Innovation
About the Author:
Joey Havens, CPA, is the executive partner at HORNE LLP, where he passionately lives out his life’s calling to help others see and reach their full potential. He is a husband, father, grandfather, avid outdoorsman, and fanatical college sports fan.