Innovation is using creativity to improve the performance of a process, an individual, team, or organization. Creativity is the nature of developing something new, either a new idea, concept, or method. Innovation and creativity usually go hand in hand to an organization's success, especially in strategic planning and in the designing of new products and services.
Innovating is consciously letting go of "the way things are," and embracing "the way they might be." Peter Drucker defined innovation as a change that creates a new dimension of performance.
Innovation is crucial in the workplace because it gives companies a competitive edge in penetrating markets faster and provides a better connection to developing markets, which can lead to bigger opportunities.
These are some of the tips that can make you innovative as an individual and as a team:
Pursue your passions
Creative people tend to be motivated intrinsically so their drive comes from within. That inner desire prompts them to pursue their dreams.
Innovative people find themselves compelled to follow their passions. They are energized by challenging activities. Highly creative and productive people aren't always the most talented of the lot, but they follow their goals relentlessly and persistently. Internally driven motivation is usually most effective because the person desires to put in the work to succeed.
The most successful and creative people are often obsessive note-takers. They have a habit of writing things down, whether it’s a stroke of genius that came to them in a moment of inspiration or an interesting concept they read about. As great as your memory might be, when an insight comes to you, it’s always best to put it into written form so you can go back and evaluate it later.
Keeping a notepad with you
The most successful and creative people are often obsessive note-takers. They have a habit of writing things down, whether it’s a stroke of genius that came to them in a moment of inspiration or an interesting concept they read about. They jot down to-do lists, places they want to visit and books they want to read so they can refer to them later.
Broaden your mind through the knowledge and experiences.
Innovative people thrive on travelling. They enjoy learning about other cultures, visiting art museums, taking nature walks, learning how to play an instrument or some other way they can stretch their minds. When awareness and observations are mixed, the capacity of the mind to be agile and comprehend abstract concepts is improved. Innovative people need fuel, and that fuel involves learning through reading and researching new items, as well as being open to new experiences.
Value Teamwork
In an article by Greg Satell, he expressed how many of the people he spoke to when he was researching his book(2017), who were world-renowned superior innovators, were surprisingly friendly, gracious, and showed a genuine interest and desire to help. Their behaviour was so consistent that it couldn’t have been an accident. In his further research, Greg discovered that, when it comes to innovation, generosity can be a competitive advantage.
Set up a creative environment.
The atmosphere we surround ourselves with influences our ability to tap into our creativity. Innovative people know what elements will trigger their imagination. Some people are more creative at night, others in the morning. Innovative people structure their days accordingly. They set their routine and craft their environment to help them tap into their creativity.
Create awareness.
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Ask your customers and employees.
Crowdsourcing is a way of accelerating innovation and creating usable solutions to benefit people. When you think of some of the most innovative companies, like Apple, Starbucks and Airbnb, customer and employee feedback drive much of their innovation.
Diversity thinking creates new ideas
Encourage workers to have work sessions about 'culture sharing.' In learning about the multitude of cultures, and how they work and function, there is a lot to know. Employees need to see diversity in all its forms as an opportunity to reflect with new eyes on both customer experience and employee experience.
Multiple perspectives thinking.
Cheryl Cran recently stated that to innovate as well as create the future, you need information that goes beyond the classic IQ metric (. Skills like emotional intelligence, creative intelligence, generational intelligence and more need to be taught and ingrained in all workers' minds.
Multiple intelligences help to broaden one`s perspective. When workers view their work as multi-layered, they can continually build the muscle of innovation in mindset. For example, such divisions are sometimes siloed in an organization, with several divisions. When employees have different viewpoints, they will break away from silo thought and, in turn, from silo solutions.
Keithley Tongai is a Consultant intern at Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, a business management and human resources consulting firm.
References:
- https://www.lifehack.org/819323/how-to-be-innovative
- https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/313733
- https://www.siliconrepublic.com/advice/innovation-workplace-cheryl-cran
- https://managementhelp.org/innovation/index.htm
- https://engageforsuccess.org/case-study-employee-innovation-at-red-gate