More often than not, in my teaching and in writing about innovation and change management, I seem to spend a great deal of time looking at trends and explaining how organisations can adapt internally to position themselves to capitalise on the opportunities they may be presented with. And much of that time is currently spent trying to putting into perspective the fact that even though we've always had downturns there are still plenty of growth opportunities. But one thing is for sure, that applying creativity to those plans and making innovation the heart beat of an organisation, to allow you to hit the floor running when the ties loosen and things start to get moving again, isn’t just a nice thing to think about, but is going to be fundamental. And if you don't embrace that then you really will be toast, no matter what your size and resources.
What has become evident, to me at least, is that probably the most pressing issue for any business owner, leader and indeed any organisation leader, today is in bringing things back to the core. In order to take a step up in developing an internal innovation culture we have to take a step back first. While uncertainty and chaos disrupts local and global markets, there continue to be the basic truths that still apply: understanding your industry, competition, skills requirements, the gap in capabilities, but most importantly understanding your customer and having the ability to respond to their requirements quickly and effectively through outstanding internal communication, are the factors that will define any organisations’s future success. Thinking outside the box is all well and good but you still have to look in your own box too to see what really is there hiding in the corners. But look in a different way
So what can you do right now to make sure you are at least on the starting blocks when the pistol is fired?
Think expand.
The current climate it is undoubtedly depressing and demoralising and it's all too easy right now to lose your motivation and direction. It is easy to say but Don't let that happen! The future is out there still! So think opportunity: Apple, GM, (OK, Bad example ;-),Microsoft and my window cleaner, who now has 15 people working for him and is just as much a success as the big guys, were all founded in periods of recession.
Check your reaction times
Agility is the key word. You have to have a team that can react to opportunities faster than the competition. That means giving them the freedom to make decisions, not body-checked by internal processes and management pyramids. Allow them to take real responsibility for their own budgets and have fixed goal posts that everyone understands. Your people are way, way better and more capable than you think. Let them think and be inspired by taking off the shackles.
Immerse in creativity.
Idea generation is now at warp speed- products are insect like in their life span but appear out of nowhere. Twitter didn’t ‘exist’ 12 months ago until Stephen Fry talked about it on national TV. Incidentally have you ever seen an ad for Twitter? Rapid product change is not just desirable it is what is happening now: we don’t have choice in dealing with it, reacting to it and embracing it. We just have to face it.
Check your knowledge.
Your ability to access ever more scarce, specialised skills will define your future success. It's your ability to establish a fast, agile, quick-to-assemble collaborative team that will define your ability to grab all the opportunity that is emerging out there. If you don’t have, it get it. Creative talent is your most valuable asset. Not mini-me’s and karaoke ideation. Look outside your industry. A sign of a truly crap company, waiting like a dinosaur for the meteor to hit, is their recruitment advert which says must have xxx years experience in such and such an industry. The job that should be advertised in that company is for a new CEO .
Know thine enemies.
Where are the threats likely to be coming from? Could new business models, technologies, new regulatory, political or social trends impact your bottom line in a way that you hadn't thought of before? The biggest clothing retailers are now the supermarkets!
Scout for talent.
Heads and ideas are your most precious asset and are going to be a scarcer and scarcer resource. Just as football teams scout the playing field of the world you must do the same. And don’t look in the normal places such as the Universities and the Milk round; look outside, at the new entrepreneurs, the children in school enterprise clubs, the single mums with passion, the new entrepreneurs, give them a platform and develop the management skills to utilise these in the best way for them, not you. People leave bosses, they don’t leave companies. The rewards in developing your talent pool are way above any ROI calculation.
Define your voice.
You have to keep people focused on the future. Not what happened last week. Leadership is largely about keeping your team focused on opportunity and goals, and then carrying the water for them to allow them to deliver. Positivity, talking about the future and consistency reinforce that. If you waver, so will they and then you are on pushing a snowball up a volcano.
Check your knowledge.
Your ability to access ever more scarce, specialised skills will define your future success. It's your ability to establish a fast, agile, quick-to-assemble collaborative team that will define your ability to grab all the opportunity that is emerging out there. If you don’t have, it get it. Creative talent is your most valuable asset. Not mini-me’s and karaoke ideation. Look outside your industry. A sign of a truly crap company, waiting like a dinosaur for the meteor to hit, is their recruitment advert which says must have xxx years experience in such and such an industry. The job that should be advertised in that company is for a new CEO .
Know thine enemies.
Where are the threats likely to be coming from? Could new business models, technologies, new regulatory, political or social trends impact your bottom line in a way that you hadn't thought of before? The biggest clothing retailers are now the supermarkets!
Scout for talent.
Heads and ideas are your most precious asset and are going to be a scarcer and scarcer resource. Just as football teams scout the playing field of the world you must do the same. And don’t look in the normal places such as the Universities and the Milk round; look outside, at the new entrepreneurs, the children in school enterprise clubs, the single mums with passion, the new entrepreneurs, give them a platform and develop the management skills to utilise these in the best way for them, not you. People leave bosses, they don’t leave companies. The rewards in developing your talent pool are way above any ROI calculation.
Define your voice.
You have to keep people focused on the future. Not what happened last week. Leadership is largely about keeping your team focused on opportunity and goals, and then carrying the water for them to allow them to deliver. Positivity, talking about the future and consistency reinforce that. If you waver, so will they and then you are on pushing a snowball up a volcano.
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