INNOVATION – HOW TO UNLOCK YOUR CREATIVITY

Innovation moves society forward, leading to novel solutions that propel progress. Unlocking game-changing innovation, however, can feel elusive for organizations. While serendipity plays a role, leaders can also set strategic foundations to increase their odds of pioneering market disruptions.

Assemble Diverse Teams – Homogenous groups run higher risks of confirmation bias and tunnel vision based on similar backgrounds. Leaders seeking innovation must therefore intentionally construct diverse teams spanning different disciplines, ethnicities, age brackets and personality strengths. Multifaceted input expands how challenges and opportunities are framed while mitigating collective blind spots. Promote psychological safety so all team members feel confident contributing freely.

Question Core Assumptions – Innovative breakthroughs often emerge from bravely questioning the status quo rather than accepting the so-called status quo. Assess whether sacred cow processes that have gone unchallenged for decades still serve their original purposes. Are there outdated assumptions or norms that need re-examining? Systematically discussing which conventions to overturn versus optimize will reveal openings.

Scan Peripheral Fields – Look to adjacencies and emerging fields that sit at the edges of your industry for sparks of inspiration. Keep close tabs on the bleeding edge of science and technology domains collectively shaping the future. Introduce concepts and approaches from vastly different sectors during brainstorm sessions to encourage lateral thinking. The cross-pollination can yield brilliant mashups.

Prototype Rapidly – Maintain an experimentation mindset by quickly building prototypes to test concepts. Making ideas tangible faster produces feedback to iteratively enhance and pivot from. Allocate resources specially for tinkering labs or innovation outposts where creators feel empowered to play freely. Celebrate failures during the testing process as learning opportunities rather than embarrassments.

Incentivize Outside Partnerships – Tapping partnerships beyond your walls provides invaluable exposure to how different organizations operate, leverage strengths, and see common challenges through fresh lenses. These collaborations also forge access to new distribution channels. Maintain an open framework allowing internal teams to regularly engage partners through external hackathons, idea exchanges and customized accelerator programs.

While sparking innovation involves discomfort on leadership’s part initially ceding some control, organizations can develop cultures and communities primed for trailblazing breakthroughs by living these strategies. As emerging competition constantly raises customer expectation bars, ongoing innovation remains imperative for continued relevance and growth.