(c)iStock.com/3dmentat
Innovationis vital to every company — and to society too. By harnessing the imagination inside our companies we now have the potential to generate our lives better.Innovationis the mixture of creativity and implementation, to address a human problem and seriously, to produce business value.
It is a lot greater than piece of technology or simply a huge idea; it’s about putting your thoughts. Every company has hundreds of thoughts, but it is hard to harness them and receive them tomarket.
Innovationneeds room and time to iterate, experiment and learn through trial and error; it may be hard to do as which makes procedure improvements, coping with other work priorities or completing your ‘business as normal’ activities.
This process is well worth it to enduring business success andinnovationis the real route in the long term. To stay relevant to customers and your clients and one step ahead of the competition, you must keep doing better and new things.
Innovationcan result in creating highermarketvalue for a company too – an ‘innovationpremium’ from the stockmarket.
We have seen some examples ofmarketinginnovationfrom companies such as Standard Life.
Big businesses often struggle to help workplace pensions are understood by their employees, with information being dry, inactive and hard to understand. Standard Life responded to demands for engaging communications by producing 56 Degrees, an entire communications consultancy.
How do you create a civilization ofinnovation?
Innovationis about culture but some civilizations seem to be moreinnovativethan others. Developing a culture ofinnovationis less straightforward as it seems but there are particular characteristics within companies that promote proactiveinnovativethinking among employees. We have created a set of six principles as guidelines for businesses looking to instillinnovationin their business culture:
1. Purpose — set a goal or goal. Businesses that are excellent atinnovationknow are convinced in their mission’s long-term value and align colleagues around a plan with clear success measures.
2. Direction — create the conditions forinnovation. Visible senior sponsorship is critical to successfulinnovation. The leadership team needs to commit and provide consistent and clear communication on the function ofinnovation. This implies setting expectations and backing initiatives through their own activities.
3. Capability — create team with varied disciplines and abilities. A successfulinnovationinitiative frequently offers a highly motivated, team with the ideal combination of skills and expertise, with a strong focus on the results and the ideal attitude.
4. Collaboration — value others’ ideas and sharing and learning. Rather than being protective and cold,innovativebusinesses discuss large ideas early with clients, partners and employees. And they are aware they can’t do everything themselves.
5. Competitive benefit — play with your strengths. Innovators take advantage of how they’re a part of an established small business. This gives an inherent advantage over pure start-ups to them and enables them to have a greater effect.
6. Obsessive customer attention. Innovativebusinesses understand that while they may not have the ability to articulate it, a client issue that is real is addressed by every idea. The key is to focus on the issue — not the thought.
