Innovative ideas can give businesses the edge over competitors and produce huge benefits, but are these types of skills and traits valuable to employers?

The world of business is always changing, the market is dynamic so innovation can help discover what opportunities exist now, or are likely to emerge in the future.

Successful businesses not only react to their current customer or organisational needs, but are often anticipating future trends and develop an idea, product or service that allows them to meet future demand promptly and effectively.

Research from leadership, talent and engagement specialist Cirrus Connect found that 49% of C-suite leaders believe not enough attention is being paid to innovation.

Talent management

The research also revealed that more than two in five (45%) of the respondents thought that not enough attention was focused on talent management.

More and more businesses are intent on finding the next top talent through graduate schemes or apprenticeship schemes but still face the problem of managing and ensuring that those selected are properly challenged and managed effectively.

Many organisations are looking at the talents of their staff and are intent on finding ways to develop their strengths to fill leadership positions.

Lack of innovators

One of the biggest challenges for large organisations is encouraging staff to be more entrepreneurial, responsive and ensure that they are not scared to adopt a risk-taking mindset.

For larger businesses the problem increases when the amount of employees goes above ten or 20 and becomes hundreds of thousands.

Firms can often struggle to maintain a culture where employees can innovate and improve without the fear of failure or lack of confidence to take control.

The research revealed that respondents are eager to make leadership development, talent attraction and succession planning some of their top priorities for their businesses in the future.

If you’re a graduate looking to kick-start your career, have a chat with Discovery Graduates and see how they can help get you started