A guest writer from the Association for Consulting Expertise advises how innovation can lead to improvements at every level of a business.
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Q: How can my organization benefit from innovation?
ACE advises: Organizations that succeed today are the ones that learn and innovate faster than their competition. The key is experimentation at every level.
The concept is based on three key ideas:
1. The world is more complex and changing faster than at any other time in history. The internet, open-sourced software and social media allow customers to quickly find and switch to better solutions.
2. Our knowledge as individuals and organizations is not fixed. Our brains are like muscles; they will grow in strength when challenged, but we don’t learn without repeated practice and failure.
3. Small, repeated improvements have much greater effects than occasional major projects. This is the compound effect – the same reason that if you start investing just a few dollars every day at age 20 you can retire a millionaire.
The best sources of innovative ideas are your customers. Ask them about their needs and behaviors. Talk to as many as you can; focus on gaining knowledge, not selling.
Use customer ideas and what you learn about their needs to develop new products, services, features, benefits and offers.
Test the innovative ideas with simple experiments, addressing one need at a time. Keep the most-desired features and benefits.
Many top companies have grown by experimentation, and you can do the same.
Imagine what your culture will be if you learn what customers value and adjust quickly, developing good habits for both leaders and employees and continuously improving overall outcomes.
Steve Musica, president of Lean East, specializes in increasing innovation, process improvement and developing high performing organizations. Contact him at steve@leaneast.com.
