Large successful corporations started as small companies. They were once unknown entities thriving on with their limited available funds. In a world where large corporations dominate the market, small companies would easily collapse.

So what have made these used to be small companies stay in the market? Innovation breeds success. When these companies were just starting out, they were not afraid to try out something new. Innovation is taking improvement to a much higher level. Whereas improvement is just making an existing process or product better, innovation is creating changes and discovering new methods.

Innovation is thinking out of the box. To be innovative, one must not set limitations to what he could do. Chances for success stops the moment limitations are set upon the horizons.

When things might seem hopeless, innovation could give more options. Companies that are just starting up definitely needs a lot of innovation. External factors might lack confidence in what a company can possibly do. Funds might be low but it shouldn’t hinder a company from succeeding. Innovation is capable of creating opportunities when none could be found.

At first, ideas generated might seem absurd but when these ideas are taken further, these create more feasible possibilities. Success stories usually begin with formulating ideas and creating ways to materialize them. At the onset, ideas are usually ridiculed and thought of as silly imaginations which couldn’t be done.

With the very competitive market that we have today, innovation is important. One small innovative idea could spell great success for a company. Innovation gives the lead from other competitors. Opportunities will continue pouring in as more and more ideas are generated.

In a day, millions of ideas are generated, but only a few of them really make it out to the market and fewer stays in the market. In business, pursuing that brilliant idea would make a significant difference. Starting from scratch is not at all a problem. That’s precisely what innovation is – creating something out of nothing. A lot of businesses benefit from this.

Innovation could also be applied to marketing strategies. New approach to business marketing would lead to better product advertising. Customers are always dying to try out something new. There are always room for improvement, as well as lot more room for more new business ideas. In the fight to stay in the market, those who have shown surprising and breakthrough ideas are the ones that stay.

Most of the time, failures are inevitable but these do not dampen the spirits of an innovator. Being innovative does not happen overnight, it is a product taking each outrageous idea to the next higher level.

Failures contribute to successes. Successful companies definitely had their share of failures. Usually these might even outnumber their successes. However, success due to just one innovative idea reap greater effects than a million failures. Those failures will just then be considered chapters of a great success story.

Anybody could be innovative if they chose to be so. All it takes is just a lot of freedom to let the thoughts wander about. Businesses are in cutthroat competition with each other. Whoever gets to discover new ways and products usually gets the edge.

Being innovative is defying every limits set by yourself or by other people. When others might think that it won’t be possible, innovators take it as a challenge. To be innovative means developing strong visions and working on those visions for the success of the business.

Usually, innovation would initially draw negative reactions. It would shake up the existing status quo. It is not afraid to take calculated risks. When this happens, it would broaden the opportunities for the business, thus giving it greater chances for success.

By: Mario Churchill

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Every business, whether it has a core IT function or deliverable or not seeks to achieve and strengthen their own market differentiator. But how do we create the behaviour that will ensure that we truly achieve what we believe we can?

It follows that every business, especially in the current climate, needs to innovate. Do you rely on the Developers, the analysts or the Directors to be creative? No – it should be a core behaviour right through your business – however big, or however small it is.

So how do we get our people ‘unleashed’ in this area?

Thinking – Challenge the norm – Innovate

There is a school of thought that says that creativity, something most people regard as a talent you either have or you don’t, is actually a skill like any other. It can be trained in the same way as you condition the brain to excel in any other skill. So if you can train IT skills, you can train creative thinking?

The key ingredient in getting people to innovate and be creative is to take away the barriers that naturally prevent it in a normal business environment. For example, you might expect the following thought process in almost any business.

1. Why should I try to be creative? I might fail. I will have to persuade others to get on side. Better that I just keep my head down.

2. Things are going ok, why change it? And if things get bad, then no one will want my crazy ideas with all their uncertainties. Better I keep my head down.

3. If I go public on that idea I had, it might not be 100%. Better I keep my head down.

4. The only great ideas get backed up by fact and logic in the end, so logic should come up with the good ideas – where’s the need for me to be creative? Better I keep my head down.

Great ideas don’t come from the sky in a flash of creative genius, they come from the confidence to challenge the norm – with the authority of knowledge and experience.

So what’s the short answer?

Have the confidence to be creative yourself and have the confidence to allow your people to be creative.

Confidence is the key.   Successful innovation comes when people have the confidence to challenge, the confidence to know from experience that new ideas are possible and better ways can be found.

The norm is most people do what you want them to do – what they think they are paid to do.  The minority, a few rebels, don’t.   It is expected that the challenge to the norm will come from the rebels, so the rest, the majority, don’t challenge by nature.

Make creativity and challenge a norm in your team, not the sole jurisdiction of the rebels.   Make it an expectation of behaviour – finish every team meeting with an opportunity to air new ideas.   Give your team the confidence to have them.   Most importantly, expect your team to have them.   If they do not, then the job is not being done – that is a shortfall in performance.

Eventually you get a new ‘norm’ – the Creative, innovative business or team you have set out to create



By: Grant

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As companies and organizations pursue innovation to transform themselves from what they currently are or offer, to what they want to become or provide the marketplace, accountability is the rudder that steers pursuits and prevents a wandering, directionless ship.

Wikipedia defines “Accountability” as part responsibility and answerability, liability and enforcement, blameworthiness and consequences. “Accountability is defined as ‘A is accountable to B when A is obliged to inform B about A’s (past or future) actions and decisions, to justify them, and to suffer punishment in the case of eventual misconduct.”

Whether an independent endeavor or one pursued with the counsel of an Innovation Coach or consultant, accountability within a team is like the principle that guides a group of mountaineers. Each member is tethered to the same length of climbing rope. Each climber lends stability and confidence to the next. But slippage jeopardizes the entire team. One member slips, and while the team is there to catch and recover, the group nonetheless becomes vulnerable.

Accountability is owning up to what’s yours – earning kudos when things go right, and shouldering the blame when things go wrong. For the organization in pursuit of innovation, no component is more critical than the trust borne of accountability. It’s team members holding to deadlines, having your back, or adhering to schedules so the team can advance as a whole.

How should your organization infuse the concept of responsible accountability throughout the enterprise? The following methods can be highly effective at inculcating a culture of Innovation Accountability in an organization…

-          Give Them Enough Rope To… Allow team members decide “how” projects or tasks will get done. Should they get off track, guide them back.

-          It’s Expected: From the start, tell team members what their responsibilities are.

-          We Know that You Know the Answers: Don’t create organizational co-dependency. Step back. Let your people come up with the solutions.

-          Tread Lightly on the Gas Pedal: Once the initial role of providing direction and support is over, build your team’s confidence by backing out of the situation.

-          Skinner Was Right: Positive reinforcement works. When your team, or a team member, does well, lavish praise.

For more tips, visit Robert’s Rules of Innovation’s Accountability page  and click on “Tips“.

In a corporate environment, each team member must feel a responsibility to deliver, to be held accountable, to make good on expectations. This level of accountability is about culture. It’s about buy in. It’s about people knowing their roles, and the limitless possibilities – and positive personal rewards – of jobs performed in an organization guided by the rudder of accountability.

Robert Brands is Author of “Robert’s Rules of Innovation” by Wiley Spring, 2010

www.robertsrulesofinnovation.com

By: Robert F. Brands

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