Innovation is necessary for continued success for any business. Too often – when we think of innovation – we think of absolute genius, an amazing idea that will change everything. However, that is not all that innovation is. Yes – it certainly is the absolutely brilliant idea that will change the world; but it is also little steps that you make toward improvements in your business. In the book I co-authored, The CIG to Best Practices for Small Businesses (October, 2011), we discuss how to innovate for success in one of our chapters. Bottom line – continuous innovation is necessary for the long-term success of a business. Look for ways to:
- Increase efficiencies in your business
- Increase productivity
- Improve the quality of your products and services
- Increase your market share
- Improve your customer relationships
- Find new markets to enter
Small improvements in how you do the work of the business, interact with your customers, share information with suppliers and distributors, all leads to increasing efficiencies and effectiveness which leads to increased profits. Who isn’t pleased about more money?
Create a culture of innovation in your business by encouraging ideas from your employees on a regular basis. Set aside some time each week to meet with employees, discuss the business, and talk about what is working well and what can be improved upon. These regular conversations challenge employees – and you as the business owner! – to be a bit more creative in how you solve the problems of the business and get the work done.
Ask your employees:
- What are we doing well?
- What can we do better?
- What would you change in how we do business if you could do anything you wanted?
- How can we better serve our customers and meet their expectations?
- How can we stay ahead of the competition?
Reward employees for creative, innovative ideas about the business with movie tickets, comp time, gift certificates, etc. When an employee has a great idea – provide him/her with time off from their regular day-to-day work to lead a team to put that idea into practice.
By just making innovation part of the culture of your business – and engaging ideas from your employees regularly – you will find that innovation isn’t so difficult and doesn’t have to be that great mind-blowing idea – but rather small creative options that improve how your business runs and meets the needs of your customers.
Your thoughts? What are you doing to be creative and innovative in your business? Share with others in the Comments field below. Thanks!
Thank you for your comment Adrian. You make a good point; sometimes if we focus just on our own interests we can’t meet the needs of our clients. However, when we can find a way to merge our interests with those of our clients – we have hit a home run! It’s great that you keep focused on the interests of your clients regularly, I often see small businesses who aren’t really in touch with their clients. That understanding of our clients and the industry/marketplace – the ability to build relationships to understand their needs, understand where the industry is headed, etc. – is essential to small business success.
Thank you again for your comment and thanks for reading!
Best regards,
Gina
This was a great article. I think for my business being innovative means finding ways to merge my business with pop culture in an effective way. Since spirituality based products are constantly changing (angels one year, channeling or mediumship the next), it is important to keep my mind focused on the pulse of what people are interested in rather than what I am interested in.