What words come to mind when you think about your business and innovation?
Is it: stodgy, slow, stuck? Or maybe it's the other side of the coin: unstable, unruly, accelerated?
Neither extreme is good - especially when it comes to innovation. On one side, there's no innovation at all; and, on the other, nothing may get produced or it gets produced at too much risk.
What has helped many organizations find the happy middle ground where smart innovation abounds is adopting the strategies used by start-ups. For these smaller companies, innovation is not about the buzz words or establishing a "tiger team." It’s about being laser focused on remaining flexible, lean and strategic.
YOUR ACTION STEPS
Try out these four innovation strategies for remaining as flexible, lean and strategic as a start-up:
Become Your Customer – Immerse yourself in your customer’s world to see how your products and services are working (or not) in the real world. New ideas are often the result of closely examining the customer journey and experience.
Tap Outsiders – Identify specific organizational problems and opportunities that could benefit from external insight and find thought leaders and experts who can help your internal team gain a fresh perspective and generate new ideas.
Stay Small – Don’t try to change the world. Rapidly test ideas to identify what will have the biggest impact.
Use the Best, Invent the Rest – Don’t try to build everything yourself. There’s no shortage of tools, ideas and processes out there, so don’t be afraid to use them.
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