6 Ways to Inject Innovation in Your Business
These six steps are a few of the more important actions you can take to help you build an innovation culture. Ask yourself where you could improve on or emphasize any of these more effectively.
Communicate from the Top Down
With ongoing regularity, the CEO or other titular head must be communicating the priority and recognizing progress and the avatars of the efforts. Obviously, people will watch how the leader acts in regard to decisions about shifting resources to innovation versus alternatives that also have a priority. What the CEO or others’ actions betray is what will beget commitment and action and ultimately shape the culture.
Clarify Innovation Values, Standards or a Creed
If inventiveness and creativity are truly a priority, then why wouldn’t you recognize those in your values or other statements of beliefs? This also means, though, that any job performance ratings you do should include feedback on how well people are meeting this priority if they are in any way involved in the innovation objectives. A culture becomes what gets recognized, and a culture moves toward the avatars held up as the exemplars. The other aspect of transforming the culture and focusing on innovation involves redefining profit as reinvestment capital and getting clear about how much is needed to sow back into the company. So reposition and relabel profits for what they are—that is, reinvestment capital.
Invite and Challenge Your Best Minds and Most Open Hearts
When recruiting for innovation teams, pick your best. If I ask you who you believe are your three best thinkers, most attentive minds to opportunities and most cooperative with an innovation process, then who comes to mind? If you don’t know what to assign them, then ask them what they think the priorities should be. Odds are, they are more ready than you are for the process.
Initially Focus on Quantity vs. Quality
To get a culture of open thinking, decision-making must go to the back burner, and a focus on the quantity of ideas must take precedence. Research shows that a multitude of ideas begets better quality ideas as opposed to brainstorming ideas with a quality-first focus. That’s because ideas beget more ideas, and even odd or ill-fitting ideas can spur an excellent one. This approach creates a safer and more fun culture of exchanging ideas as well.
Consistently Communicate Implementation Successes
One of the biggest complaints you’ll hear will sound like this, “We give them all these ideas, but nothing ever gets done.” Unless you have a regular agenda item at the appropriate times to communicate successes and connect those wins to the behaviors of the team’s efforts, you may be burning out your team with what looks to them like a black hole for ideas.
Give Specific & Universal Rewards
If things are tight, then rewards can be symbolic, but appreciation and recognition are priceless when it comes to building an innovation culture. Real money—no matter how small the amount—makes an impression. Cash is king, but other valued gifts can work as well. Ensure that not all the rewards go to just a few. One tactic is giving a dollar bill for every legitimate idea submitted on the requisite form.
Try some or all of these half of a dozen ideas. Build innovation into your plans as a high priority, and your team will make innovation a priority. Then, fruit will yield in your business.
Mark Faust works with owners, CEOs and sales managers who want to grow their businesses. You can schedule a free growth ideas session with Mark. Simply book your time by visiting:
https://calendly.com/markfaust