Innovation is the process of identifying problems and then translating ideas into useful new products, services or processes.
It is what helps us imagine, invent, improve and inspire others. It drastically changes the way people think and the way they do things for a better world.
A lot of people think of innovation as pie in the sky, and it can be, but a lot of companies implement innovation into some parts of their business and see great results.
Not to be innovative, means not to be attuned to your market’s needs. Opportunities will stop as soon as you do, so innovations are necessary for business growth. Innovation must start internally, every day, across all involved in the business. It will evoke a culture of ideation, where employees thrive on challenges and are motivated to build an effective business.
Creating a culture of innovation can be tough, but like all things, it comes down to management. Management must continually encourage staff to inspire them to think innovatively by showing curiosity in their ideas and being prepared to accept some of them.
Six Insights into Developing Innovative Management:
- THINK ABOUT HOW INNOVATION CAN BE EMBODIED INTO EVERY WORKER
Innovative thinkers possess characteristics such as curiosity, good listening, taking direction and empathising with their customers and colleagues. Creating a culture that encourages these traits will ensure employees feel they can question the efficiency and effectiveness of their input.
The operations level needs to be empowered to challenge the way they do things; this is often where the ideas for improvement, and therefore innovation, really come from. - MAKE SURE YOUR DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING PLANS ARE IN CHECK
About one-quarter of employees feel they are mismatched to their current role, being either under-qualified or over-qualified in their position.
This means it’s important to invest in your team so that they grow with the company and maintain knowledge with the changing marketplace.
- REGULARLY REVIEW PROCESSES
Time needs to be dedicated to regularly reviewing processes and quality checking that they’re working. Part of the requirements in ISO 9001, is to conduct management reviews to evaluate the overall suitability, effectiveness and alignment of the implemented management system with the strategic direction of the organisation.
The reality is, most of the time you will find areas of concern that impact your customers and affect business efficiency.
- BUILD YOUR OWN TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION
A lot of companies still believe that their technology strategy lives on one side of the business and their business strategy on the other. This is not so – every company needs to be a technology company. Unify your IT and business strategy and check that systems are acting for the business not against it. - CONSIDER AN ‘INTERNAL AUDIT’ METHODOLOGY TO SENSE-CHECK STRATEGIES
This is not just auditing in the sense of compliance, but also to check that innovative strategies are working for the business. This means controls and measures need to be in place so that accountability, timeframes and actions happen. It also means that risks are identified, because after all, this is a new world and there will be a new set of threats that could impact the business.
Risk management is something that most people recognise they don’t do as well as they should. According to a recent SAI Global poll, 41% of participants said they apply risk-based thinking to improve their overall business performance. - UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS A LONG-TERM CHANGE PROCESS
This isn’t a quick fix. Creating innovations takes time, big learning curves and lots of problems. But just like the best solutions come from the worst problems, so too does innovation. You’ll encounter roadblocks, but don’t be discouraged by them – seek them out and recognise the opportunities in each and every one of them.