Five Easy Ways to Jump Start Your Company’s Innovation

Thursday, 04. 22. 2010  –  Category: Ranger Wireless Solutions

The race to come up with the next great innovation is always a ticking clock.  It is just a matter of time before one of your competitors strikes something big, so your company need to be cultivating new opportunities every day to stay afloat.  But what if you cannot afford the time because you are too focused on the day to day operations of simply keeping your existing business going?   Here are five simple ways to pump up innovative activities in your organization without taxing your existing resources.
1.  Open Your Eyes and Ears.
There is a good chance that your next ideas is already out there, you have just not tuned in to hear it.  It could be waiting in the form of a recommendation from a junior executive who knows how your products really work because they are on the ground floor.  It could be waiting in the grumblings of staffers in the break room who see inefficiencies every day but no one listens to them.  Your next big breaks are right there in front of you, and the company needs to be in a position to capture what is already being generated.
2.  Never Turn an Idea Down…Without a Positive Explanation.
Everyone likes to share their ideas.  But it doesn’t take much for individuals to shut down those lines of communication if they feel like their opinions are being trivialized.  When ideas come up that don’t fit the company’s current need, explain why to the suggesting employee.  More importantly, however, guide their future suggestions by offering up the areas for which you are looking for fresh ideas.
3.  Little Wins Pay Off.
It’s like they say in baseball.  Don’t just swing for the fences.  Just put the ball in play and good things will happen.  Innovation doesn’t need to come in the form of revolutionary new products.  Instead, look for smaller adjustments that can be made that could have a big impact on revenue, expenses or efficiency.  Doing so will take the burden off of your staff to try to come up with the big idea, and instead get them focusing on building a better business.
4.  It is About More Than the Idea.
Don’t believe the romanticism of innovation coming from an individual brainstorming an idea alone and immediately changing the world overnight.  Even with the best systems for implementation, a great idea requires a tremendous amount of time and energy to become a reality.  Embrace the process and understand that in order to be successful it will require critical thinking and a marathon runner’s mental endurance to survive.
5.  Decide What You Want and Then Move Backwards.
Sometimes it is easy to get caught up what you are good at or the options available to you.  Instead, let your brainstorming open up to what it is you would like to see happen.  It may be a bit “pie in the sky” at first, and in the end those options might limit your scope.  But by not simply focusing on the constraints, you may uncover some interesting aspects of your idea that would otherwise never have been considered.

The race to come up with the next great innovation is always a ticking clock.  It is just a matter of time before one of your competitors strikes something big, so your company need to be cultivating new opportunities every day to stay afloat.  But what if you cannot afford the time because you are too focused on the day to day operations of simply keeping your existing business going?   Here are five simple ways to pump up innovative activities in your organization without taxing your existing resources.

1.  Open Your Eyes and Ears.

There is a good chance that your next ideas is already out there, you have just not tuned in to hear it.  It could be waiting in the form of a recommendation from a junior executive who knows how your products really work because they are on the ground floor.  It could be waiting in the grumblings of staffers in the break room who see inefficiencies every day but no one listens to them.  Your next big breaks are right there in front of you, and the company needs to be in a position to capture what is already being generated.

2.  Never Turn an Idea Down…Without a Positive Explanation.

Everyone likes to share their ideas.  But it doesn’t take much for individuals to shut down those lines of communication if they feel like their opinions are being trivialized.  When ideas come up that don’t fit the company’s current need, explain why to the suggesting employee.  More importantly, however, guide their future suggestions by offering up the areas for which you are looking for fresh ideas.

3.  Little Wins Pay Off.

It’s like they say in baseball.  Don’t just swing for the fences.  Just put the ball in play and good things will happen.  Innovation doesn’t need to come in the form of revolutionary new products.  Instead, look for smaller adjustments that can be made that could have a big impact on revenue, expenses or efficiency.  Doing so will take the burden off of your staff to try to come up with the big idea, and instead get them focusing on building a better business.

4.  It is About More Than the Idea.

Don’t believe the romanticism of innovation coming from an individual brainstorming an idea alone and immediately changing the world overnight.  Even with the best systems for implementation, a great idea requires a tremendous amount of time and energy to become a reality.  Embrace the process and understand that in order to be successful it will require critical thinking and a marathon runner’s mental endurance to survive.

5.  Decide What You Want and Then Move Backwards.

Sometimes it is easy to get caught up what you are good at or the options available to you.  Instead, let your brainstorming open up to what it is you would like to see happen.  It may be a bit “pie in the sky” at first, and in the end those options might limit your scope.  But by not simply focusing on the constraints, you may uncover some interesting aspects of your idea that would otherwise never have been considered.

David Fleming is the Director of Corporate Communications for CornerWorld Corporation, parent company ofRANGER Wireless Solutions.

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