When I Say “Innovation,” You Say … Nothing and Roll Your Eyes

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.

 

Everyday workplace innovation

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.

1. Wrigley didn’t start out selling chewing gum. William Wrigley Jr. stumbled on the value of gum while giving it away free with a sale of his soap and baking powder. That’s right, he was a salesman. He noticed the free gum was more popular than his products which led him to begin manufacturing his own chewing gum — Juicy Fruit, Spearmint and Doublemint.

 

2. Avon was also the innovation of a traveling salesman, David H. McConnell. He sold books and noticed that his female customers were more interested in the free samples of perfume he gave away than in the books he was selling. He began recruiting women to sell the perfume, believing they would relate to his female customers better and sell more.

 

3. Atwood Publishing started as an agency formed by three colleagues. One customer, the National Association of Broadcasters, asked for a 3-issue daily newspaper at their enormous annual convention. The small agency did it! They went to the event, covered and reported on the goings-on there, printed at night and delivered each morning … to rave reviews. Word was out … and they quickly built a new business model and became a smashing success almost overnight.

 

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.

 

What is innovation?

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.)

• How are they using your product?
• How are they mis-using your product (or using it in ways you never intended)?
• What are they asking for that you don’t normally offer?
• Is there a common complaint?
• Is there a common compliment? 

 

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

 

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