The world has never changed so quickly, nor will it ever change so slowly again.
Einstein said that ‘insanity is doing the same things and expecting different results’. If we are not responding to the increasing pace of change, if we are not developing products and services that meet the changing needs of our customers, if we’re are not innovating, we will fail.
That is why innovation is not just a buzzword and nor is it a ‘nice to have’. It is not something that we can put off until we are ‘ready’, when we have the right team in place, when we have completed next year’s budgets or when we have some time to think.
Innovation is urgent and important. To be successful the first step is to successfully innovate is to be absolutely clear on what you are innovating for. The best innovators spend time understanding the problem before they seek to find solutions.
Great innovators also know that their new idea is unlikely to be welcomed with open arms. An idea is just a starting point. Then the hard work begins to help other people understand, innovate and get excited about the potential of the new idea. The secret to getting ideas to market doesn’t rely on innovation processes, idea pipelines, business cases and risk registers that can beat the passion and inspiration out of ideas. The secret is to inspire people, connect them with ideas that have the potential to solve their problems.
To do this relies on creating a culture where people are focused on their problems and inspired to have ideas to solve them. In this environment leaders give staff permission to seek inspiration from outside the organization and provide time to let ideas percolate. They encourage continuous testing on a small-scale, then learning and adapting until the idea succeeds.
To innovate you must be a great listener, take time to identify problems and understand your audiences, be a super connector;, connecting individuals and ideas through storytelling, you must be curious and find inspiration from unlikely places, constantly test, adapt and learn and share your experiences, including failures, but most importantly your are also absolutely focused on solving the urgent and important problem that is your core purpose.
If you’d like some help to create a culture where innovation can flourish then get in touch. Check out our innovation and creativity training, drop me a line to lucy@lucidity.org.uk or book a call here.