When I work with executives in large companies, the most common feedback I hear is that they don’t have time for design thinking. Going through the process of observing customers, brainstorming ideas, building prototypes, then going back to customers to see how they respond initially sounds like an unreasonable request when teams face short deadlines and pressure to be first to market.

Creativity drives innovation. So how can managers urge their teams to let their creative juices flow? A design thinking workshop is a great place to start, but if you need to nudge them in a more creative direction today, our star facilitators offer this advice:

There's a lot of talk about the importance of empowering people to take risks as key to fostering more innovative problem solving in organizations. A cultural shift towards greater autonomy is an important dimension, but a balance must be found or you may discover what a number of other leaders have discovered: pockets of empowered and engaged people working in new and exciting ways, but on challenges that aren't moving the business forward. That’s why strong innovation-focused leaders are so important.

A company senses changes ahead in its market, changes that could rock its very foundation. Against this turning tide, it assembles an enthusiastic, talented team and gives them a mission: go create the future.

And that’s what the team does. It challenges convention. It tries out new ideas. It develops concepts and components that look nothing like the status quo. It’s a radical leap forward.

And they can’t seem to get management to care. The executives’ implicit question: How can this be our future when it’s not even part of our bread-and-butter product line?