I learned one key lesson about innovation over the years. The lesson is simple: Talking about innovation and expecting this makes you innovative is as effective as talking about physical fitness and expecting this makes you fit.
There is too much talk about innovation.
Even the greatest ideas will not survive the transition back to the workplace if thrown into a hostile environment. If you think creativity and innovation are important, take ownership to create a workplace where great ideas can thrive. Regardless of your position in your organization, be a leader in shaping an environment to nurture ideas and the people who create them.
Be diligent, open, and involved in finding great ideas at a conference. The same is required on a larger scale if your organization is to grow and change through ideas. Here are some recommendations you can follow to ensure that your workplace is innovative.
Diligence.
To produce a lasting culture of innovation you must be persistent, deliberate, and rigorous. The challenge is to create results through creativity and innovation, every day and in all areas of the organization. You need to be diligent or it will not happen.
Create a vision of what your team, department, or company would look like if it were highly innovative. What would be in place? What would be possible? What do you want to create?
Shape a long-term focus on success. You have strategies for HR, marketing and sales. What about creativity and innovation? What would you need to do to nurture a creative environment in your organization? Provide leadership. Create an innovation strategy to:
- Set an agenda for innovation. What should people focus on? Where is innovative thinking most needed in the business? What are the critical problems to solve? What the main areas for opportunities?
- How will ideas be developed and funded? Everyone needs to know.
- Put in place the key resources (time, training, support skills, etc.) for a creative organization.
It is debated when something is an innovation or just a good idea that solves a problem. My position is simple; it does not matter. We use the label of innovation too often when they are, in fact, improvements, changes, or enhancements. Once we called this problem solving. The reality is that calling something ‘innovation’ does not make it ‘innovation’. Here are some steps you can take:
Communication is critical for success. People must understand how they should focus their ideas. Direction and understanding are necessary but leadership will ultimately decide the scale and scope of people’s willingness to be creative. Innovation needs a communication plan to reach people until everyone is moved with enthusiasm.
Invest in innovation. See it as a regular part of business development. Set a budget for idea management (money and time to invest in new ideas). You will need to fund ideas that don't exist yet.
Develop your skills for innovative thinking. Be rigorous and learn to judge which ideas to invest in. With a focused innovation strategy in place, you will have more ideas coming forward from the people in your company. Knowing how to pick the winners is critical but insights can be gained from those ideas that fail.
Create a sense of urgency. Businesses, non-profits, and public sector organizations have a sense of urgency to solve urgent problems, but they must create a similar urgency to build new initiatives and opportunities. This sense of urgency creates momentum and enthusiasm, two powerful assets for any business. Send the message that you want ideas and need them. But be prepared to follow through and do something with the good ones.
Openness to Ideas
A business, organization, or team that is open to innovation takes steps to create a climate that is open to ideas and creativity. All management actions and decisions influence the climate and send a signal to people in the company. Time pressure, internal politics, and the traditional evaluation process often hinders innovation. An open and supportive climate is one in which people are challenged, encouraged to take risks and collaborate with co-workers.
Look at the impact of company policies and its decision-making. Do they hinder or enhance creativity?
People know what is stopping them from contributing to their full creative potential. Ask them what they need. Staff attitude surveys can be revealing when they ask about factors that support (or hinder) open communication and ideas.
Be ready to respond to opportunities. Too often, opportunities stare at us but we fail to notice. We have to be open to them and ready to see them. When you are open to opportunities your products and services will be innovative and often lead the market. Opportunities often appear disguised as threats. Take a second look and see if there is a way to convert your most difficult challenges into opportunities.
Involvement
Innovation takes hands-on involvement. Get people involved. Many great ideas already exist in the minds of the people who work there. Some people find big ideas while other people enhance existing ideas, transforming them into opportunities. People want to create and contribute. This fosters their sense of achievement and personal growth. Often they need encouragement and some new creative thinking skills. Take the lead and organize a creativity training session. Everyone can learn how to find great ideas at any time and any place.
Most importantly, take ownership of your ideas and their success. Be willing to put some part of yourself into the process. To create something of value involves putting yourself on the line. This leads to a sense of conviction and belief. If you believe your business can grow through ideas and innovation, this conviction will be a powerful force that you can tap to help shape your future innovations.
Begin by planning how you will bridge the gap between the inspiration from a conference and how you will act on these ideas back at work. Revisit your personal and business challenges that you set at the beginning of the conference. Set a revised series of challenges that you can take with you for the next few months.
Five ways to enhance the potential for creativity and innovation:
- Listen to people: When they comment, criticize, offer suggestions or ask questions. Respond in a positive way.
- Seek out ideas people: Employees, suppliers, customers and others who are ideas people.
- Respect ideas: Support and respect ideas. Give credit where & when it is due.
- Be committed: To the process of finding ideas for the success and growth of your business.
- Give ideas: Give ideas generously. You will be rewarded in turn.
