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Jan 4, 2022
Brenda Smyth
Let’s face it. Innovation is a word that makes most of us groan. We’ve been innovating all year. Some of you have been doing back handsprings to reinvent … to pivot … to create and reimagine products and services that work in today’s new world. You’ve been creative and resourceful and committed. Bravo!
But, let’s call is what it really was: forced innovation — a do-or-die kind of situation because we knew the status quo wasn’t going to cut it. There are few decisions to make about allocating resources to a new risky plan when that new plan might be the only way to survive. Should we get on that weird-looking piece of plywood floating in the flood … or drown? Easy choice.
This past year has proven the point that innovation isn’t always about getting your team into a huddle to brainstorm and kick around some new ideas. When the situation is dire, innovation is the only course forward.
Even before the pandemic, innovation was a buzzword, and “the overuse and generalization of the term … led to a loss of understanding of what it is we need when we say we need more innovation,” suggests Wired.com.
Let’s look at three innovative companies from the past: Two you’ve heard of and one I worked for as a freshly minted college graduate a few years back.
Learn more about this topic by registering for a live, 3-hour virtual seminar: Sparking Innovation and Creativity … or this webinar: Developing a Creative Mindset: How to Generate Great Ideas.
A common thread in the examples above is the magical power of observation and fearlessness. In each of these examples, someone stumbled upon a potentially lucrative idea. And instead of ignoring it, they seized the opportunity — committed to it.
While creative juices certainly grease the gears of problem solving, coming up with new ideas for products and services, ways of doing business or even ways of attacking your own individual job functions doesn’t require you to hole up with a bunch of smart people and draw mind maps.
Instead, watch and listen to your customers. (For some of us working in non-customer-facing roles, our customers might be the colleagues or vendors around us.)
When you have a new ideas for products or services that add value, seize them. Shift resources to make room so your idea has the best chance of becoming successful, suggests mckinsey.com.
As we move past the pandemic, staying innovative is simple. Make time to see opportunities and assess their real value. Then commit to the ones that make sense. Workplace innovation, can be furthered to dedicated, creative brainstorming, but often it’s simply observation, awareness and commitment.
Related article from our blog: How Great Leaders Build Creativity and Innovative Thinking
Brenda Smyth
Brenda Smyth is supervisor of content creation at SkillPath. Drawing from 20-plus years of business and management experience, her writings have appeared on Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com and Training Industry Magazine.
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