Is your business an Innovation Factory?

Many businesses start with a great idea that’s a niche area but soon competition joins and it’s a mass market.

Here are some ideas to foster innovation and keep your business ahead of the competition.

1. Build Innovation Factories with Partners and Teams

Great ideas for innovation come from the broader workforce and Partners, not just the Leadership Team and Specialists.

Innovation Factories with Partners and Teams enable many ideas to be continually harnessed. Look to build a culture where themes are regularly explored and innovated. Create themes that challenge the norm “why do we do it that way”. Create monthly awards that lead to an annual event.

Consider World Café forums to rapidly capture and build ideas across a group. World Cafes (virtual or physical) are set with a range of questions in corners of the room. People come together as a dynamic team to explore the topic and generate ideas. People then rotate to a different topic, hear a summary of the prior group, and further build on the ideas.

2. Be a niche player

Look for areas the business can stand-out to do things better.

Businesses can stand out by breaking the rules ethically with the goal to improve the customer experience.

Have designated “Rule-breaking sessions” with Leaders and across Teams

– How can we break the industry-norm to improve?

– What are the bug-bears of our customers?

– What industry or government practices are holding us back?

Look for areas that target the edge of the bell curve, and then make it easy for customers to rapidly adapt.

3. Disrupt your own business with innovation

Innovation is a key to remaining competitive. Look to Disrupt Your Business Before Someone Else Does. The only question is whether your business is going to cause disruption or fall victim to it.

In essence, build a culture across all areas of your organisation where creative innovation is fostered and rewarded.