Having a great team is an undeniable asset, says Michael Derin, but are you making the most of their great ideas?
As seen in Smarter Business Ideas
There’s no doubt it takes get up and go to run your own business. Problems must be overcome, issues must be resolved. But did you know that encouraging the same sort of can-do approach in your staff could benefit your bottom line? Research has found that businesses which manage their people well, and let staff fully use their skills and abilities at work, tend to have higher productivity.
Performing Workplaces in Australia report, funded by the federal government and published by the Society for Knowledge Economics (SKE) in October 2011, showed that prioritising people management can lead to strong financial performance.
“High performing organisations are not just much more profitable and productive, they also perform better in many important ‘intangible attributes’ such as encouraging innovation, leadership of their people, and creating a fair workplace environment,” says Steve Vamos, the SKE president, in the report’s introduction.
It’s a simple idea: if your staff are more involved and engaged with their work, they’re more productive and innovative. They feel they have a stake in the success of your business. There’s also less staff turnover – and that’s another money saver.
So how do you go about encouraging innovation? How can you create that space for fresh ideas?
Pollenizer is a fast growing Sydney company that builds and invests in web start-ups. In this very competitive space, Pollenizer’s success depends on the creativity and problem-solving ability of its team. At Pollenizer, great ideas are encouraged from all levels of the company.
In fact, innovation often happens at the front line where customer demands are first felt. In a lot of other businesses, though, the frontline staff aren’t encouraged to speak up and solve problems.
A great way to get new ideas flowing is to create a culture of continuous improvement. A small Sydney-based consultancy business achieves this by simply having a New Ideas box. Whenever someone has a “You know what we should do?” moment, that idea is put into the box. These new ideas are discussed at a monthly meeting, with the best ones chosen to be worked on. By doing this, they have been able to develop new services and processes that put them a step ahead of their competitors.
This consultancy is also good at monitoring the progress of these new projects. There’s a clear process and measurable outcomes, and the team members involved are held accountable for an idea’s progress.
You may have heard the phrase “fail fast and fail often” as it goes hand-in-hand with innovation. Experiment and trial new ideas straight away – don’t let them get trapped in the business analysis phase. You’ll learn more quickly about what works and improve the quality and return from your innovation.
These days, innovation is a matter of survival. Changing technology is transforming how we do business. Consumer behaviour is also shifting, and you need to be able to adapt to these new demands if you want your business to not just survive, but thrive.
For clever businesses, innovation is also the path to competitive advantage and new streams of revenue. If you want to make this a reality for your enterprise, you need to make collaboration, problem solving and risk taking a part of your business’s DNA. Encourage your team to take ownership of their work and to contribute new ideas, and you will reap the rewards.
Roadblocks to innovation
Working in a silo
A fast-growing, Sydney-based manufacturer with an innovative product was being held back from realising its full financial potential because its different divisions weren’t encouraged to communicate. This lack of collaboration meant they were missing out on opportunities to streamline their procedures, such as assembly and packaging, and also to reduce errors along the production chain, reduce their wastage and operating costs, and really capitalise on their innovative product.
Resistance to change
You just have to look at the Australian retail landscape to see resistance to change. Retailers that have been resistant to online commerce have suffered amid soft consumer spending.
Leaving it to middle managers
Many business owners leave innovating to their managers. But managers tend to focus on day-to-day tasks and may find the job of developing fresh concepts too
disruptive. It’s the business owner, not the manager, who sets the tone and direction for the business. If you want innovation in your business, you should be in there driving the idea.
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