Motivated Teams Come From Great Leaders

February 28, 2025 | BusinessFocus-Business Focus

Great leadership is about building trust and giving your team the freedom to share ideas. When people feel valued and heard, innovation naturally follows. Take the time to create that kind of environment –it’s not only an investment into your small business but it’s the key to energizing your team and driving success.

How to Motivate Teams and Drive Innovation in The New Year

By: Vanessa Thompson, Forbes Councils Member

As we welcome the new year, leaders worldwide are seizing the moment to set goals that unlock their teams’ full potential. The start of the year represents more than just personal

resolutions, it’s a powerful opportunity for organizations to reimagine their approach to
working, communicating and driving innovation.

Over the last decade, I’ve worked at the intersection of cleantech, finance and innovation, collaborating with Silicon Valley startups, venture capital firms and global organizations. My journey—and research into 60 case studies of breakthrough innovation—has underscored one critical truth: Innovation is a team sport. To help leaders kick off 2025 with purpose and momentum, here are five principles that can help you cultivate motivated, high-performing teams that innovate with impact:

1. Approaching Innovation as A Team Sport

The myth of the lone genius persists, but in reality, innovation thrives through collaboration. Strong teams can bring diverse perspectives, collective intelligence, and resourcefulness, sparking creativity and progress in ways individuals often cannot. A Harvard Business Review study revealed that investors in diverse teams achieved better outcomes than those working in homogeneous groups. Innovation thrives on constructive tension, the friction that comes when people challenge each other’s ideas during experimentation. Meaningful collaboration doesn’t emerge by accident. Intentionally seek to foster an environment in your organization where team members can challenge each other’s thinking and contribute with confidence.

2. Building An Innovative Culture

In my experience, innovation struggles in isolation or under fear of failure. For teams to think big and take risks, leaders need to nurture a culture that values psychological safety, creativity and experimentation. An important part of fostering this innovative culture is creating a structure for innovation. What are your systems, structures and methods that make innovation a priority? A physical or systematic structure for this type of creativity can enable teams to motivate each other and prioritize innovation as a part of their workflow. Consider Disney’s groundbreaking approach to brainstorming, which involves splitting an office or outdoor space into four stations: “The first part is for dreaming and imagination, the second part is for realists and/or planning, the third part is for critics and the fourth part is for getting the mind outside the thinking flow.” This helps team members actively transfer from one stage of
thought to the next. The result is an inspiring innovative culture that is built into the company campus itself. As you begin 2025, reflect on this question: What structures can you implement to let creativity flourish while ensuring practical results?

3. The Power of Feedback Loops

True innovation is rarely a single “aha” moment, but rather an iterative process that demands continuous refinement. Feedback loops—such as regular retrospectives, customer sessions or rapid testing—are important for guiding innovation and avoiding stagnation. Through rapid prototyping and constant feedback, teams can accelerate progress while minimizing risk. When giving feedback, don’t focus on pointing out flaws; instead, use it to identify opportunities to improve. Reframe feedback as a growth tool rather than a critique, helping your team see challenges as stepping stones toward innovation.

4. Storytelling: The Secret Sauce of Innovation

Stories can inspire your team to take necessary risks in the creative process. Meaningful stories create emotional connections that inspire action. Storytelling is the difference between a forgettable initiative and one that sparks loyalty, engagement and breakthroughs. Take Patagonia’s famous “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign. Instead of promoting a product, Patagonia told a bold story about sustainability, aligning their values with customer priorities. The result? A campaign that resonated deeply with its target audience/customers and strengthened brand loyalty. Ask yourself, “What story are we telling our teams, customers and stakeholders?” When told well, stories can help create purpose, alignment and momentum—fueling innovation from within.

5. Overcoming Communication Challenges

Effective communication is at the heart of every successful team, yet leaders often face the same challenges: resistance
to change, conflicting priorities or fear of failure. Navigating these obstacles often requires anchoring conversations in the bigger picture: the organization’s shared vision and goals. When conflicts arise, encourage your teams to pause and ask, “What is our ultimate goal, and how can we work together to achieve it?” By aligning through shared priorities, teams can move beyond disagreements and unlock innovative solutions that benefit everyone.

A Year to Innovate

In my experience, innovation flourishes best when leaders prioritize trust, feedback and structures that empower their teams to succeed. As we enter 2025, let’s resolve to actively listen to our teams, to tell stories that inspire and to build systems that allow for bold, unconventional ideas. This year, challenge your team to transform obstacles into opportunities and set a new standard for collaboration, innovation and success.