How can we be this innovative?
One of the ICC team was chatting to a friend over dinner last week, and the outcome has inspired this week’s Virtual Coach! The conversation was about having an idea for a business and the challenges that presents. Not only do we need to find a gap in the market, which often requires some creative thought alongside in-depth market research, but we need to have the emotional and financial resilience to be willing to take the risk. Innovation is not easy, but when the risk pays off, it more than compensates for the blood, sweat and tears.
This got us thinking about some of the innovative products that perhaps we didn’t even realise we needed, until they became the norm….
Bagless vacuum cleaners – every household used to own vacuum cleaners that required bags to collect the dust, and most people would agree that they were perfectly adequate. A little awkward at times, but they got the job done. Then Dyson created the bagless vacuum cleaner and many of us never looked back – we no longer have to remember to order bags, get dusty when changing them, or risk setting fire to the paper bag when the vacuum gets too hot. Who knew?!
Contactless payment – when did it occur to someone that inserting a payment card into a payment reader could be made easier? Most consumers would probably have said that it was fairly easy to pay for products on their card anyway (there goes the market research up in smoke), but now that we can ‘tap and go’, payment takes milliseconds and doesn’t even require us to have a card with us. So practical!
Wireless earbuds – when Apple introduced AirPods, removing the need for a headphone jack, there were sceptics who said it was an unnecessary update to a product that already worked well. People then experienced the convenience of wireless audio and realised that it was a game changer. Wireless earbuds are now almost standard.
Taxi apps – until 15 years ago, it was standard practice to phone a taxi company and order a taxi, or flag down a black cab in London. No questions asked, this was just ‘how it was done’. We then witnessed the arrival of Uber, Lyft and Bolt, disrupting the market and providing a much more convenient way to order and pay for a taxi (or a bus or train), and track progress via an app.
Smart Thermostats – these products have added so much convenience to our lives. Thanks to companies like Nest and Hive, consumers can now control the temperature of their home, 24/7, via an app which even learns our routines and saves energy where possible. Gone are the days of arriving home to a freezing cold house after a weekend away because we forgot to set the thermostat before leaving!
These are all examples of ‘stand out’ innovations which have changed the way we live our lives. So, what can leaders do to encourage innovation in their teams and chase the next ‘big idea’? Here are a few suggestions:
- Create psychological safety – people will not innovate if they’re afraid of being judged or ‘punished’ for being wrong. Leaders can create this safety by encouraging questions, being open to ideas, and normalising a response of “I don’t know” and being willing to find out more.
- Reward experimentation, not just success – if teams see that only ‘winning’ ideas are celebrated, they will hold back from suggesting ‘bold’ ideas. Leaders can celebrate learning and smart risks, and hold debriefs on what was learnt rather than who is to blame.
- Give people autonomy – innovation doesn’t flourish in highly controlled environments. Leaders can let people choose how they tackle problems and come up with solutions, trust team members to make decisions, and give space for independent thinking.
- Remove barriers – innovation excels in environments that allow for speedy progress. Leaders can support teams to innovate by removing bureaucratic processes, fast-tracking approvals, and providing tools and resources as quickly as possible.
- Expose the team to diverse perspectives – innovation is most likely to happen when things are questioned and challenged from different positions and experiences. Leaders can support this by pulling together cross-functional teams, inviting customers or suppliers to share their challenges, and creating multi-team projects.
Whilst it is unlikely that we were going to come up with a groundbreaking idea over dinner last week, it was interesting to start thinking about the process of innovation and acknowledge that it will have its own ups and downs (we wrote about those last week) and is certainly not linear. If you or your team need support to build that psychological safety or an accountability culture, you know where we are.
You’re In Cool Company…
