As a Florin staffing firm, we know that innovation is one of the most critical factor in whether a company succeeds in this increasingly global economy. Furthermore, in today’s world, things change rapidly; often in what seems like the blink of an eye. So if innovation has become stagnant, your business can quickly lose its competitive edge – and lose ground with its customers. But by unleashing creativity, you can energize and motivate your staff and grow your intellectual capital. Here are some tips to help you along the way:
Educate.
Whether it’s a better way to deliver customer service or the need for a new product to fill a gap in the marketplace, your team needs to know what issues are most important. With knowledge of the problem, you can boost the flow of ideas and find one that works best for you and your customers.
Encourage input at every level.
Don’t just expect your top-level management team to come up with ideas for innovation. Encourage input and ideas from employees at every level. Even if some concepts sound like a pipe dream or totally unsaleable, you never know what can be achieved. Just look at inventions like the Post-it note. It took a few years for the product to come to fruition, partly due to 3M management’s doubts about the product’s ability to sell.
Take calculated risks.
Innovation requires taking risks. Perhaps T.S. Eliot captured it best when he said, “only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
Reward ideas that work.
By offering incentives that reward innovative thinking and creative partnerships, you can create a team that is committed to improving your company’s bottom line.
Evaluate ideas that don’t work.
To be truly innovative, you must have a tolerance for failure. So rather than letting an idea that didn’t work kill your staff’s motivation, look at that failure as an opportunity for improvement. Study the idea to determine what went wrong. Also, never let an unsuccessful idea hinder a staff member’s ability to move forward at the company. You’ll only kill innovation by doing so.
Create a culture of learning.
Enable innovation by giving employees the opportunity to enhance skills and learn new knowledge, whether through access to training programs or by paying partially or fully for advanced degrees.
If part of your lack of innovation comes from not having the right people on staff, then please contact Pacific Staffing, a leading Florin staffing firm. We can shorten your search for hard-to-find creative talent – talent that can have a positive impact on your firm and your bottom line. Contact us today to learn more!