Being Innovative – Is it on your New Year Resolution?

New Year Resolution. Image by USA-Reiseblogger from Pixabay

We make resolutions before every new year starts and so do organizations.

Off late innovation appears high up on the list of resolutions. Are we serious?

Do we know what it means to be “Being Innovative”?

“Being Innovative” truly means to enable the business to create new opportunities in the existing markets and to open up new markets using new business models and technologies that are made possible by new developments in globalization, consumer behaviour and technology developments.

“Being Innovative” IS NOT employees doing jobs differently, using fixes (Jugad if you are an Indian), running creativity workshops, etc.

If Innovation is part of your new year resolution, here are some of the things you should consider doing.

1. Create linkage to a higher purpose and connect innovation to your business strategy. Answer the question of why innovation and set a clear ambition.

2. Make sure your employees, especially managers and other leaders, have belief and buy into innovation need. Demonstrate that it is important and put it on top of the agenda

3. Breakdown silos; innovation is everyone’s job, not merely product development.

4. Remove the fear of failure. Innovation has uncertainties as you are peering into the future. If you can’t handle risks and uncertainties, innovation isn’t for you.

5. Demonstrate leadership that supports innovation. Innovation requires both top-down leadership and bottom-up participation. One without the other is a recipe for failure.

6. Remove secrecy around innovation. This is the era of open innovation. Innovation happens when you explore “what might be” and that requires open thinking. Engage people to build and refine ideas.

7. Experiment and learning. One of the secrets of success learnt from innovative organizations is that they carry out a massive number of experiments; they develop hypothesis, test them and make decisions based on data. This helps create a large portfolio of ideas and a larger amount of knowledge.

8. Develop a portfolio of initiatives focused on current business, new growth areas and future. Focusing only on the current business will never prepare you for the future. Make sure that you have at least 20% of resources (people and money) focused on the future and new growth areas.

Wishing you all a great New Year and look forward to a prosperous 2021

Do reach out to me if you need support for your innovation efforts.

Krishnan Naganathan

Krishnan is a leading innovation consultant and focuses on helping people and organizations innovate and build capabilities for innovation. He brings over 25 years of experience in the industry and consulting. You can reach him by phone / WhatsApp: +919791033967 or email: krishnan@thinkhorizonconsulting.com