Each month Innergy research an area of business that is pertinent to our customer database, carrying out a brief survey and providing some practical ideas that can be immediately implemented to help individuals, teams and organisations overcome some of the key challenges they face.
This month we asked: How innovative is your business? To what extent are ideas encouraged, generated and implemented?
‘Innovate or die’ might be a little dramatic, yet over the years the businesses we have observed who continually and systematically innovate typically grow and thrive, despite facing similar tough economic conditions. Those that don’t, who carrying on doing more of the same, will eventually start being overtaken by other hungrier, dynamic and entrepreneurial competitors or will be the losers in the market. For example, the pub sector has and continues to contract – there are 10,000 fewer pubs in the UK than there were 10 years ago – and you can bet those who failed to innovate failed to survive.
The message from the Rapid Review is clear there are businesses that can innovate and many who need to become more effective.
So how can we develop this ability to innovate? Let’s look at both how to innovate and also where to get ideas from.
How to Innovate
The I4 approach is a simple method which is consistent with most approaches for innovating and is simply a way of structuring our thinking.
Identify the Facts
What exactly is happening now?
Gather all the relevant facts. Whatever you do don’t take a short cut on this approach, every fact presents an opportunity to do something differently.
Isolate the opportunity
What exactly is the problem or opportunity?
Get to the root cause – keep asking ‘why’ until you get to the real problem/opportunity.
Ideas
What ideas might improve the situation? Anything goes!
Remember – anything goes. Don’t limit the thinking by discussing ideas or debating them too long – get as many down as possible before determining those that will have the biggest impact.
Implement
What exactly will you do, with whom, and by when? Who needs to bought into it and how?
Develop a plan!
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