Innovation Explained

Many businesses focus their innovative activities on product innovation, which can produce valuable company assets.  In addition to product innovations, businesses should look for ways to streamline business operations by innovating business processes.

Here is an approach to business process innovation:

1. Big Question:  Is the process necessary? The first question to ask when evaluating a business process is whether the process is necessary.  What is the purpose or end result of the process?  Is it still needed – does it provide value to the business?  If not, don’t spend time “optimizing” the process, just eliminate it.
2. Identify the desired result of the process. Ask questions to determine the goal of the process.  Why was the procedure originally developed and what are the desired results of the process?
3. Eliminate continue reading…

There’s a common misconception that innovation is just for large companies.  However, identifying and developing creative ideas can benefit companies of all sizes – including small businesses that are just getting started.  Don’t wait until your business grows to a particular size to begin developing an innovation strategy – you may miss some great opportunities.

You don’t need a Research & Development Department or an Engineering Staff to take advantage of creative thinking in your business.  In fact, many small businesses can bring creative ideas to market faster than large corporations because of their smaller size.  Take advantage of the flexibility available to small companies and start the innovation process today.

Here’s all you need to start leveraging innovative ideas:

1. At least one person willing to spend some time doing “creative thinking”.
2. At least one “seed” idea.  This “seed” can be a problem or unmet need in your industry or in your own business.  Creative thinking exercises can start with seed ideas to develop potential solutions to these problems or unmet needs.
3. A way to record the creative ideas (paper/pencil, computer, audio recorder or a white board) – even a napkin and a crayon works (I’ve done this myself several times in restaurants).  If you use a white board, be sure to take a picture of the board before it’s erased or record the ideas using paper or a computer.
4. A system to evaluate creative ideas.  I have found that a small group of 4-6 people works well for evaluating creative ideas and refining those ideas into products or services that can be implemented in a business.

This is all you need to get started.  You can add more steps and activities as your innovation strategy develops – but keep things simple in the beginning.

Identifying creative ideas is a great way to grow your business.  Using innovation contests and other activities, your organization can and develop a culture of creativity that generates plenty of creative ideas.  These creative ideas can be developed into innovations that provide considerable value to the business.

However, creating a list of innovative ideas is not enough.  You must take action!

Here are several ways to start taking action:

1. Evaluate the ideas on your list. Get a group of people from different parts of your business (different job functions) and review the ideas submitted.  Perform a cost-benefit analysis on the most promising ideas.  Initially, look for ideas that can be implemented quickly and are likely to produce a significant result to the bottom line.
2. Prioritize the ideas. Perform an initial ranking of the ideas – be sure to include ideas that are “short term” projects as well as “long term” projects that take more time or resources to implement, but can provide significant long-term growth for the business.
3. Take steps to implement one or more of the ideas on the list. Take steps to begin implementing at least one of the ideas on your list.  The first step may be to perform further investigation into the feasibility of the idea – such as seeking input from various groups in the company to determine costs, timing, or potential obstacles to address when implementing the idea.

Track the results of the innovative ideas implemented in your business.  For example, you can track increase in revenue, reduction in expenses and customer growth.  Celebrate the positive results of your innovation to encourage further creativity and innovation.

Start building your list of creative ideas today and take action on those ideas to grow your business.

In recent posts on this blog, I mentioned that a common innovation question is “How do I create innovations in my business?”  One of the four key steps in leveraging innovation is to evaluate all creative ideas developed in your business.

To properly evaluate innovations, a reliable tracking system is necessary to capture all creative ideas and monitor the evaluation and implementation of those ideas.

When creating an Evaluation Group to review innovative ideas, include individuals with different job functions in the company.  Many groups I work with include individuals involved in sales, marketing, product development, customer service and production.  These different job functions have different perspectives and can identify potential problems related to certain ideas.  Also, people with different perspectives can expand on the initial ideas based on their additional knowledge or expertise in a particular area.

After evaluating innovations, the tracking system is updated to indicate the current status of the innovation and the next step in the analysis or development process.  Review and update the status of active ideas on a regular basis.

Begin a regular system of innovation analysis to evaluate the creative ideas that are growing in your business.  Select the most appropriate ideas to leverage for the maximum benefit to your company.

In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that a common innovation question is “How do I create innovations in my business?”  Yesterday I discussed the first step in leveraging innovation:  identifying creative ideas that can be developed into useful innovations.

The next step is to develop an innovation culture.  Encourage people in all areas of your business to watch for innovative ideas and record the ideas. Show people in your organization the value of creative ideas and how those ideas can strengthen the company. These creative ideas are “seeds” that can grow into valuable innovations.  As your business starts leveraging innovations, share those success stories and celebrate successful innovation throughout your company.

Provide fun educational material that explains how to discover creative ideas, such as when solving problems, brainstorming, and analyzing trends in your industry.  Offer examples of creative ideas in other businesses that resulted in valuable innovations for those companies.  Although some examples may be in different industries, they can be valuable examples to illustrate the innovation process.  Focus on the underlying system that supported the identification and development of innovations in these examples.  Then, encourage individuals to apply a similar approach in your own organization.

Start developing a culture of innovation today to generate a steady stream of creative ideas that will accelerate your business.

A question I am frequently asked is “How do I create innovations in my business?”  To address this common question, I created the acronym IDEA, which describes a system for leveraging innovation in your business.  The first letter “I” represents “Identify All Innovations“.

The first step in leveraging innovation is to begin identifying creative ideas that can be developed into useful innovations.  If you don’t capture these creative ideas, there’s nothing to build upon.  Think of creative ideas as the “seeds” that, with proper attention and care, can grow into valuable business innovations.

Innovative ideas are often generated from problem solving exercises, brainstorming sessions and other activities.  These ideas must be captured and recorded for future evaluation or further brainstorming sessions.  Many businesses use these  ideas as “seeds” for future discussions.  For example, the initial idea may be a broad concept that needs to be refined into a product or service appropriate for the business.  Additional brainstorming on the broad idea may produce multiple approaches to implement the idea, thus “growing an innovation” from the idea seed.

Start finding those creative ideas today to begin identifying innovations that will grow your business.

Here’s one of my favorite examples of a valuable innovation!  I’ll bet you never thought a brownie pan could be the subject of an innovative new design. Here’s a quick analysis of the delicious innovation process.

The Problem: Many people like brownies with “chewy edges” – the edge that contacts the baking pan.  But, a traditional rectangular baking dish has a limited number of brownies with chewy edges – and most of those brownies only have one chewy edge (four “lucky” corner pieces have two chewy edges).

The Solution: Design a new brownie pan that has a different shape.  Here’s a picture of the innovative brownie pan showing the new shape that produces lots of edges.

The new design produces a batch of brownies where every brownie has at least two chewy edges, thus solving the problem mentioned above.  An added benefit: the new design provides more uniform cooking so there are fewer undercooked center pieces and burned edge pieces.

A larger version of this baking pan is available to make lasagna.

How about lasagna and brownies for dinner tonight!

An innovation strategy for your business should support your business objectives – including both short-term and long-term goals.  Does your Innovation Strategy have a long-term outlook to identify and develop a steady flow of creative ideas?

Unfortunately, many companies actively identify and develop innovations for a period of time.  The flow of creative ideas is often strong when a company is getting started and looking to establish itself with a unique product or service.  However, once that first innovation is identified and developed, too many companies stop the innovation process that created the business success in the first place.

Don’t fall into this trap.  Here are a few ideas to maintain a steady flow of innovative ideas.

Develop A Culture of Innovation – Encourage everyone in your business to identify creative ideas and submit those ideas for evaluation.  Make innovation a part of the daily routine for all personnel.

Schedule Regular Brainstorming Sessions – These can be individual brainstorming sessions as well as small group sessions. Try different brainstorming formats to see what works best in your business environment.

Hold an Innovation Contest – Do something to make innovation fun – a diversion from the “regular job”.  Offer prizes, put together innovation teams and schedule innovation activities. You will be surprised at the creative ideas an innovation contest can generate.

Celebrate Innovation Success – Throw a party to celebrate successful innovations that strengthen your business. These are fun events and they provide excellent examples to all employees about the importance of innovations to the growth of the business.

Implement one or more of the ideas mentioned above to continually identify creative ideas that can increase revenue, create a competitive edge in your industry, and reduce business expenses.

When people discuss “innovators” in your industry, do they mention your company?  If not, you can start taking steps today to establish your business as an innovator and begin attracting loyal customers and fans.

What companies do you believe are leaders and innovators in their market?  Do you follow these companies in anticipation of their next product or service announcement?  This type of position in any industry can generate lots of attention: customers talk about your company online and with friends, and publications write about your company and its products. This attention strengthens your competitive position in the marketplace.

If you are not yet seen as an innovator in your industry, you can change this perception. As your business develops innovations and introduces them to the market, the business will position itself as a source of creative ideas. People will take notice and begin following your activities and announcements.

You can leverage your business’ innovative activities through advertising, social media and other announcements to show customers (and potential customers) that your business is a leader.  Start identifying innovations today by looking for new products or new features that satisfy unmet needs in your industry.

Share your innovation success stories in the comment section below.