These 4 mindsets may be holding your company back from innovation

It’s clear that innovation will be the key driver of success in a post-pandemic world — yet your organization is lacking a framework to fuel that necessary fire. Human-centered design provides a process by which any brand of business might begin to bring dynamic ideas to the forefront and build on these possibilities with confidence and a competitive edge, even in times of great crisis.

In keeping with the principles of this human-centered approach, here are four commonly held mentalities that can create barriers between a business and its innovative best.

Failure is not an option

The state of the world means that in business, there is more at stake on a daily basis than ever before. Many leaders who would cringe at the mere mention of failure before, are not likely to take kindly to it now. Yet today as much as yesterday, we know that difficult and even disastrous experiences, such as falling during a first-time bike ride, bring an inherent spark of innovation. We unconsciously ask ourselves why the moment happened, and what we could do to prevent it from occurring again — resulting in a brilliant and unbridled moment of human ingenuity.

Human-centered design is propelled by this theory — it encourages all levels of a business to tread fearlessly into the waters of ‘what if’ by way of trying new things and observing the outcomes. Leaders of today must remember that embracing failure within this realm is not a carte blanche for chaos. The idea is to fail early and fail fast in a low-risk environment. That is, to scrape the knee on the test run so we can ride confidently when it really counts.

We’re just not a creative bunch

So your team isn’t made up of Van Goghs and Vonneguts — no problem! Ditching the assumption that only loud and proud left-brainers are capable of creativity is an important step to unlocking deep innovative potential.

A human-centered approach to innovation decrees that while some have been stifled along the way, every human is inherently creative. It reminds that actively recharging this dormant sparkle within a professional culture — say through the introduction of improv to a mundane virtual meeting — will embolden even the most analytical employee to think freely and fantastically outside the box.

Our bottom line comes first

It would be silly to ask any established organization — especially at this time in history — not to consider their cash flow. For what is a business without revenue? But embracing a human-centered mindset does not mean innovators must set fire to their finances. Instead it suggests that they realign their priorities and to trust that considering customer needs before their own will reap major rewards.

Breaking through this barrier to innovation can be understandably tough for organizations with core practices that have been entrenched for generations. Yet a commitment to this theory has been proven to pay off exponentially.

It’s our way or the highway

Commendable as it may be for a company to commit to their framework, doing so with no room for revision is likely to prove disastrous in the long-term. The rapid-fire evolution of customer expectations, needs and want has been a long-standing reality, and the companies that are equipped to swiftly and innovatively redefine themselves to align with those evolutions will be the ones that survive and thrive through the challenges of the day and beyond.

The principles of human-centered design teach that embracing the possibility of change is fundamental to catapulting a company from stagnant supplier to ‘one to watch’. They encourage new or existing leaders within a corporate space to drive change by way of openly acknowledging flaws, encouraging fresh voices and delighting in disruptive ideas.

For expert insights and tools on human-centered design, visit our blog: blog.experiencepoint.com