I’ve been told I need to be more innovative in my business.

What does that even mean, why is it important and how do I go about doing so?

You may not think about it this way, but each time a customer interacts with you – enters your store, buys your product or service, etc. – they expect you to be better, deliver a better experience than during the previous interaction. They may not articulate it exactly in that way, but subliminally, they are always looking for positive change. Without it, their mind will gravitate toward other ways to satisfy their always changing needs.

So if you’re not constantly changing, you’re like a beach dune constantly eroding with each wave that comes ashore. Eventually a storm (competition) comes ashore and washes away your market share.

Business innovation is the process of constantly evolving to match, or ideally stay ahead of your customers’ expectations. Some of the innovation evolutions may be always staring you in the face – like the increasing pace of technology customers expect you to master. Others may be more subtle and require you to anticipate the kinds of experiences your customers will likely come to ask of you in the future. This category of innovation is what separates the great businesses, those with staying power, from those who just get by and who barely are able to ride the coattails of those leaders.

Many business leaders equate innovation with ideation, which is to constantly create new ideas for the business. While in some small part this is an important facet of innovation, it is however only the tip of the entire innovation iceberg. In other words, they are missing the majority of

Ideas by themselves do not innovate a business. They are however the fuel which powers a well-crafted and executed innovation program. The innovation program in turn produces actions which innovate the business.

What is an innovation program? It is a sequence of orchestrated steps which the business, together with its leader undertakes to assure the desired innovation outcome. These steps include activities such as:

• Determine the business’ innovation charter, which addresses areas such as (1) how much risk is the business prepared to tolerate while innovating, (2) level of investment the business is able to make to innovate, (3) timeframe – whether small, incremental steps with immediate impact, or large steps over a longer period of time, (4) areas to target – which parts of the business does this cycle of innovation (yes, there will be many) aim to target
• Create a clear Innovation Challenge Statement against which later results will be measured
• Structured brainstorming which forces participants to ideate within define boundaries
• Implementation plan for the selected idea(s) which this cycle of innovation will include

If you feel like there is work to be done in your business to put in on the path of continuous innovation, please come talk to us. We will dive deep into your operating model and orchestrate and help you develop and run an innovation program aligned with your needs, and by so doing, help you accelerate your business.