Productivity — innovation as a fix
This is part two in my series on productivity. Last week I talked about why I don’t believe that hybrid working is solely to blame for lower levels of productivity. This week I’m exploring why creating an innovation culture is a business necessity as well as a key driver of productivity.
PWC’s annual CEO report states that 4,410 chief executives said “evolve or die”. Most of those CEOs feel it’s critically important for them to reinvent their businesses for the future and forty percent think their organisation will no longer be economically viable in ten years’ time.
It’s very easy in times of crisis and economic turmoil to allow present worries to become a distraction from the bigger mission and to think that ‘survival’ is the end goal. Tough times actually afford you the humility to reconsider assumptions, to think differently and emerge stronger and fitter in a more elevated position. However many leaders and organisations tend to protect what they have and wait for a return to “normal” — that’s a very high-risk strategy. The role of innovation should be even more significant and necessary given the current economic climate. To thrive we need to refocus innovation efforts on fresh thinking to create growth and diversification. The fear of innovation (or lack thereof) is usually a cultural phenomenon and creating the right mindset doesn’t happen by accident or overnight. Where can you start?
Get up close and personal with your customers
The secret of successful innovation is focusing more on the progress people seek to achieve than on the product that gets them there. Customers can’t always tell you what they want, but they can most certainly tell you what they are hoping to accomplish. In order to understand their ambitions you need to have a deep two-way connection — you don’t get this through a survey or by just scouring data — get out and meet them IRL.
The most successful companies in the last decade are able to maintain customer centricity at scale. Understanding customers accelerates continuous innovation. Companies who continually seek to understand, then solve customer problems and have a shared knowledge of those problems, from CEO to intern, are the ones that win. You can read more here.
Take the shackles off and empower your people
The world, customer needs and technology development is moving at a hyper fast pace, so it’s crucial that your people — and those closest to your customers — are able to act just as fast. All employees need a common language, shared understanding of how to make agile decisions and the tools to implement evolutionary change in real time.
Leaders should crowdsource ideas maximising diversity and creative thinking to unearth fresh thinking to make bigger, bolder innovative growth leaps and stay ahead of the competition.
Resilience and tenacity should not be underrated
It’s well known that innovation requires the ability to face setbacks and bounce back. Learning is a huge part of the process and this requires high levels of R & T. Even the best entrepreneurs in the world rarely make it first time and when inside large corporations you have a million one stakeholders to contend with on top. Leaders need to create an environment where employees aren’t fearing failure but are embracing the unknown where psychological safety is valued, which brings me full circle back to my last productivity article and the importance of employee wellbeing. According to Deloitte, poor mental health costs employers £45 billion pounds per year and the figure is rising.
In summary, an innovation culture leads to increased productivity and profitability. It allows businesses to attract and retain top talent. The best and brightest minds want to work for companies where they can have a real impact and be challenged to think creatively.
Surviving is weathering the storm. Thriving is about emerging from a situation stronger than before and finding new ways to create long-term value.
Next week I’ll be sharing thoughts on how agile is another key and important lever of raising productivity and employee engagement levels.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic and what you’re seeing in your organisations. Drop me a line at jenny.burns@wearemagnetic.com.
