rganizations that foster purposeful, focused change in thought and planning are the ones that win repeatedly. Is your business where you want it to be? How innovative are you in your approach to your clients, your employees and your business practices? If you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got!
Innovation is how you can create more profitable wealth producing activities for your business. It may take the form of new initiatives, or it may be something that is an improved way of getting the job done. Put in another way, it may be “old wine in a new bottle”.
Your industry has probably been around a long time. It doesn’t seem there would be many new ways of doing it. The basics of the business are very simple. However, are you still doing things the same ways? What innovations have you implemented with your people, processes, strategies, structures or rewards that will bring you the best return? Here are a four ways to foster innovation and improve the creativity of your organization.
Hiring right—are the right people in the right jobs? If they are, you will be able to maximize their creative thinking skills. If not, you will get less than their best efforts. Ask the question: “If the job could talk, what would it say?” and find the people that match the requirements of the job.
Permission—are your people able to take creative paths with the support of their management? If people know what their jobs are and what results are expected of them they will find new ways of doing things that will improve those results.
Listening—do you listen when a new idea is brought forward? Our ingrained response to new and different things is often “that will never work” or “we tried that before”. The response is rarely if ever true, and with a little thought and creativity those new ideas can blossom into improved profitability.
Alignment—how well do your employees know where the company is heading? If asked, are they able to tell you the vision, mission and values of the company and what their part is in achieving it? If not, you have a problem with alignment. Creativity is fostered by having a strategic plan, sharing it with everyone in your company, and insuring that each person understands the expectations placed on them for completing the plan.
Organizational insanity is described as doing the same things the same ways and expecting different results. Work on inspiring innovation and watch your business take off!
