Keeping innovation top of mind, transparent and measurable are the three areas we are ensuring organizations focus on this year to be successful innovators.
Trying to get everything on your to do list is hard enough but how do you find time for innovation when meetings occupy your entire day? It’s important to allocate time to think about and deliver innovation.
There are times when innovation just happens; when ideas come together spontaneously and an innovation is born. This doesn’t happen consistently, if at all. Processes need to be put in place to allow for focus and time to be put on doing and thinking about things differently.
‘What you see depends on what you’re looking for” -Unknown
Focus on innovation, framing innovation and allocating time for innovation are tools for allowing innovation to happen this year. Are you looking for opportunities to innovate? The beginning of a year is a time to reflect on the past and think about what you want the future to look like. Plan to focus on innovation this year. For example, have a weekly or monthly focus meeting solely for this purpose. What short term goals can you set towards innovation? Who can you bring on board to help and collaborate with?
Part of transparency is sharing your ideas, challenges and solutions throughout the organization. Who will you be presenting your findings to? Provide regular updates and allow others to contribute ideas and help figure out how the ideas will be implemented.
Ensure you’re measuring yourself and your teams within your organization on innovation. This way, they understand that innovation is important and that they will be evaluated on their innovation efforts. This maintains focus on innovation and top of mind as a measure of success.
Keep looking for innovations and ways to innovate, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with what you find.