Chamber Leadership: Culture of Innovation

Megan Lucas, President and CEO of the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance moderated a discussion on the culture of innovation as it relates to our organizations.

Basically, it's the idea of taking something that exists and make it unique, different, and better.

What’s holding your organization back in innovation?

The following items were discussed and an honest conversation was had on the challenges we all have in trying to be innovative for your chambers.

Longevity of staff;
Ego’s;
Attitude;
No shared vision, not on the same page, no buy in from staff;
Lack of prioritization;
Unwillingness to take risks, status quo;
Fear of future and longing for the past;
Stale leadership;
Time based on current work load;
Lack of trust; and
Silo’s and remote staff.

Then the discussion moved on to ways you can share the vision internally or externally:

Publicity - COPE (create once publish everywhere) in all your collaterals, ribbon cuttings, press releases, backdrops, email signature line, and invoices;
Staff meetings - updates on culture and strategy, make it a screen saver;
Put it on your coffee cups, note pads;
Hashtags;
Visuals around your building - use the space on your walls to share your vision for staff;
Share a vision award for staff; and
Create a dashboard outlining the vision for board members and share at every board meeting. At every meeting have a board member report on each of your pillars (economic development, advocacy, leadership, education, etc.).