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.

Writing 30 blog posts in 30 days is not as difficult as I originally thought.  Each time I wrote a blog post, I came up with at least two additional ideas for future blog posts, articles and other content.  So, I now have a long list of topics to write about!

Also, most of my 30 blog posts are finding their way into my upcoming course on developing innovation strategies to grow a business.  Writing these 30 posts kept me thinking about that course every day and I worked on its content several times each week.  I have been slowly “working” on this course for several months.  As a result of the 30 day blogging challenge,  I will be ready to launch the course in the next week or two.

Am I finished blogging now that the 30 days are over? Absolutely Not!  Now that I know how easy it is to prepare blog posts, I will be posting on a regular basis.  Probably not every day, but at least several times every week.

Unexpected Benefits:  I met some great people during this 30 day challenge – other entrepreneurs and business leaders who are passionate about their business.   I was interviewed by a fantastic person, Terrie Wurzbacher.  Thanks to her interview, I am going to start scheduling my own teleseminars on various innovation topics of interest to business leaders and entrepreneurs.

Thanks to Connie Green for offering this challenge and supporting all participants in boosting their online presence.

Please continue visiting my blog – I have plenty of new content on the way!

One of the questions I am asked most often is “How do I create innovations?”  Most people asking this question are looking to expand an existing business or launch a new product or service.  I’ve created the acronym IDEA to describe a system for creating and applying innovation in your business.

I – Identify All Innovations. Understand where and how to create innovations – through brainstorming sessions, problem solving exercises and other techniques.  You also need a system to record these innovations.  Even if the recording system merely captures the title or a one sentence description of the innovation – you must capture this information.  Provide a simple way for everyone in the company to record or submit their creative ideas.

D – Develop An Innovation Culture. Get people throughout your organization (including yourself) to make innovation part of their daily thought process.  By providing examples of other innovations and encouraging the submission of creative ideas, your business develops a culture of innovation.  Teach people to look for innovations when solving problems, and think of ways to use that solution to avoid future problems.

E – Evaluate All Innovations. Create an Innovation Review Group to evaluate innovations submitted by company personnel.  This Innovation Review Group should include people with different job functions, such as sales, marketing, product development, etc.  People with different job functions will have different perspectives on the innovations and can help evaluate creative ideas by applying a cost-benefit analysis.

A – Action. Don’t just create lists of innovations – Take Action to implement the innovations that have the most potential value to the company.  Track the results, such as increased income, reduced expenses and customer growth, and share the positive results throughout the company.  These positive results will encourage further innovative thinking and provide additional examples of successful innovation.

Start applying the IDEA system today to position your business as an innovator in your market.

I regularly use case studies to teach my clients about innovation.  Case studies show a particular example of a business innovation, but can be generalized to apply to many businesses in a variety of markets.  The following case study describes an innovation developed at one of my clients.

A law firm regularly filed documents with a government agency by first class mail.  Each mailing would include a postcard addressed to the law firm that was date-stamped by the government agency and returned to the law firm.  The postcard acted as a receipt that the documents were received by the agency.

The law firm had an internal procedure that required each postcard to be stored in a physical file containing the documents mailed to the government agency.  These physical files were also used regularly by attorneys and support staff in the law firm.  Administrative employees spent a significant amount of continue reading…