Building Innovation
Creating a culture of everyday change
For some organisations innovation is simply ‘business as usual’. They constantly change and adapt their practices to create a better future for their staff and customers.
This post explores the organisational building blocks used to take ideas into action and form a culture of everyday innovation.
Innovation seems deeply etched into the DNA of some organisations. They have a fierce appetite for change and a relentless drive to create a better future for themselves and their clients.
Whether they are creating new products for an ever changing market or flexing the way they do business, organisations with the innovation gene all follow certain practices to bring their ideas into action.
1. Recognise Opportunities
The ability to see possibility everywhere inspires action, creates momentum and drives change.
Whether it is an emerging customer need or a better way to work with partners, innovators see opportunities everywhere. They not only spot when things aren’t working, but importantly they have a knack for describing a future state where the problem no longer exists.
This ‘possibility orientation’ is generative and motivating. It captures people’s imagination and draws focus. It creates a feeling that positive change is not only possible, but inevitable.
Where is your innovation strategy focused? Does it embrace innovative thinking in every aspect of your business or is the focus much narrower?
How does your organisation recognise and capture opportunities? Do you have a process or system that engages people’s thoughts about how things could be better? Is it easy to use? Does it lead to change?
How do you encourage and develop ‘possibility orientation’ in your people? What development opportunities do you offer to build these skills?
2. Explore Reality
A clear and expansive understanding of the current reality broadens thinking, loosens constraints and builds a rock solid platform for idea generation.
Once a rich description of the desired future is painted then close consideration of the current reality is needed to really build momentum.
Too often organisations only look at one aspect of a problem. Like looking at the situation through a drinking straw, they only consider the symptoms and not the whole picture.
This can lead to a band aid solution. A quick fix that doesn’t last or worse still, one that creates a new set of issues with greater consequences.
Innovators are experts in building new ways of describing situations, looking at reality from multiple perspectives and drawing out the key factors impacting the situation.
With a curious nature and an explorers heart, innovators work tirelessly to build a complete picture so that all the forces at work come into focus and the gap between the current reality and the desired future crystallises.
What tools does your organisation use to clarify situations and explore perspectives?
From which perspective do you most often define your reality? How might this be skewing the overall picture?
How much time do you spend on understanding root causes?
3. Generate Ideas
The ability to suspend judgement and simply generate a vast stream of options can trigger new ways of thinking, build multiple pathways of choice and uncover the seeds of truly elegant design.
Traditionally innovation and creativity are linked with the ability to think outside the square. It now seems just as important to be able to stay open to all ideas even the most conventional.
Some people are great adaptors and others like to start anew. Not everyone enjoys non sequential thinking.
Random stimulus doesn’t necessarily trigger shining examples of creativity in all of us, but the gradual refining of concepts through combination, alteration and modification can turn an impractical dream into a game changing idea.
An organisation that nurtures various types of creative thinking will generate more ideas and have higher levels of participation.
What tools and processes does your organisation use to generate ideas? How do you engage teams in idea generation?
How are ideas incubated in your business? Is there a platform to share ideas and get feedback?
How do you develop the ability to suspend judgement and encourage idea contribution?
4. Evaluate Options
A structured approach to evaluation refines the overall process and ensures a cost effective solution.
Ideas are a dime a dozen, but for your organisation to capitalise on them, it must have a robust approach to evaluation.
How much will it cost? How easy is it to implement? Do we have the expertise to make it work? What resistance will there be?
These are all important questions that need to be considered, but not until after the idea generation phase is complete. Evaluation is restrictive in nature and reduces the options available.
This type of thinking shouldn’t be mixed into the process too early as it stems the flow of ideas. A disciplined way of funneling ideas to ensure that the best come to the top is an absolute must.
How do you decide which ideas to implement?
How do you develop evaluation discipline in your people?
What organisational tools exist to simplify this process?
5. Initiate Action
A planned approach to implement change coordinates action, overcomes obstacles and cements the steps towards the desired future.
Without action, ideas are just stories about what could have been. For organisations to truly innovate they need to be able to drive ideas into being, to initiate change that sticks and lead people into new ways of working.
Practices that simplify the nuts and bolts of the planning aspects of projects are essential to spark meaningful change.
How do you plan and control your change projects? Do you have a consistent way of working with new initiatives?
How do you develop change leaders in your business? What learning is available about how to drive change and deal with resistance?
How do you maintain momentum and desire for change? What organisational communication strategies do you employ and how effective are they?
Being able to rebound from projects that don’t succeed is vital, how do you ensure that your organisation learns from every experience?
There are an infinite number of ways to put together these foundation building blocks of organisational innovation. Each one has a multitude of related techniques, tools and learning content.
If you feel that your organisation could benefit from developing its people or practices in any of these areas, Soji Learning and Change can assist.
1. Recognise Opportunities
The ability to see possibility everywhere inspires action, create momentum and drives change.
2. Explore Reality
A clear and expansive understanding of the current reality broadens thinking, loosens constraints and builds a rock solid platform for idea generation.
3. Generate Ideas
The knack to suspend judgement and simply generate a vast stream of options can trigger new ways of thinking, build multiple pathways of choice and uncover the seeds of truly elegant design.
4. Evaluate Options
Structured evaluation refines the overall process and ensures a cost effective solution. It brings clarity to decision making and reinforces the business imperative.
5. Initiate Action
A planned approach to implement change coordinates action, overcomes obstacles and cements the steps towards the desired future.