We’ve been reflecting on the challenges that the organisations we work with sometimes face in coming up with new ideas in their business. We know from research that the best ideas can come from you or anyone in your organization or from others you work with regularly like suppliers, yet there can be barriers to unlocking these creative forces – from the pressures of deadlines, to whether you see yourself as creative and if risk-taking and failure is celebrated in your organisation.
Here are three practical tips we’ve learned from our work.
1. Make space for daydreaming[1]
Creativity often strikes when we least expect it. Allowing yourself or your team time to daydream and think freely can lead to unexpected breakthroughs. Take breaks and encourage your team to take breaks to do something that stimulates the mind – this might be just sitting quietly with a cuppa, looking out the window on your train commute or going for run. Giving yourself and your teams permission to daydream can help you to come up with novel ideas.
Example: Google famously encourage their staff to spend 20% of their time on projects of their choosing but that will benefit Google. They point to dividends including new products such as Google News, AdSense and Gmail. Even if 20% is not realistic for your or team, smaller amounts of thinking time can be just as valuable.
2. Get everyone involved
Innovation comes from actively seeking out diverse voices and thrives in an inclusive environment where every team member feels valued and heard. The voices might be those of your customers or suppliers or team members who don’t normally get asked to be part of this work. Encourage open communication and create opportunities for everyone to contribute their ideas. This can be achieved through regular ideation sessions, supplier days, team-building activities, and an open approach to who can contribute. Remember to build in ways that people can contribute quietly – exercises where people can anonymously add a post-it, submit an idea or write a comment can generate rich insight.
Example: At one financial services organization, after suppliers were invited in to share their insight, they expressed that they were delighted and had been waiting for the call as they were already engaging with the client’s competitors. This initiative led to greater knowledge of the advancing technology in the market which led to an improvement in a claims process resulting in faster turnaround for customers.
3. Foster a Culture of Experimentation
Encourage your team to experiment with new ideas without the fear of failure. Give some parameters to this – a key problem or problems you are trying to solve – and crucially the time and resources to develop these. Celebrate successes and learn from failures to continuously improve and innovate.
Example: UK supermarket Tesco, is known for their ‘fail fast’ approach to product innovation. In 2022 they extended this to their supply chain and small businesses creating an open innovation programme to bring the best ideas on sustainability into their business. Working in partnership with WWF, the Innovation Connections programme has resulted in 5 new partnerships with SMEs and their supply chain to develop sustainable practices.
By implementing these strategies, businesses can create an environment that nurtures creativity and innovation. Innovation is not just about having the best ideas but also about creating a culture that supports and encourages those ideas to flourish.
For more insights and support on fostering innovation within your team, visit www.pivotlab.uk . Our experts are here to help you unlock your team’s full potential and drive your business forward.
[1] Thanks to Don Leadingham for this bit of inspiration