Avoiding Disruption: How to Create a Culture of Innovation
Every Fortune 500 CEO knows there are 100+ fast moving and innovative competitors leveraging the latest technology and know-how to try to put them out of business.
What’s fueling this revolution is the acceleration in the development of technology paired with the drastic reduction in the cost, giving everyone with a laptop the ability to start the next billion dollar business. This is know as “The Law of Accelerating Returns” and worth reading about if you’re interested. If not, here’s a high-level explanation:
“The Law of Accelerating Returns” states that all new technology is built on existing technology and as technology accumulates we can take bigger leaps forward.
You can think about it this way; the difference between the years 1400 and 1600 (microscope, pencil, thermometer, etc.) seems uninspiring compared to the difference between the year 1800 and 2000 (bullet trains, cars, planes, personal computers, space travel, the internet, etc.).
This is because the tech invented between 1800 and 2000 was built on a larger based of accumulated knowledge, which “accelerated” the speed it could be developed.
As a business leader, what do you do to ensure your company is ahead of the curve is this fast-paced and accelerating environment? What happens to your company when technology that use to take a decade to develop and cost $1m now takes a year and costs $300?
Don’t think of this as a simple problem with a one-time fix, instead think about how to shift the culture of your company to one that embraces this reality by encouraging on-going learning, knowledge sharing, and evolution.
The solution to this culture shift is right in front of you: your people.
Your employees are your most nimble and creative asset, just give an iPhone to a 5 year old and come back a week later and you’ll see how quickly and eagerly human beings can learn and adapt.
The challenge is creating an environment at work that encourages learning and spreading knowledge. If you can pull this off it won’t matter how fast technology moves, your employees and the operations they’re responsible for will always be on the cutting edge.
How do you create a culture that embraces learning and the sharing of knowledge? Here is a great place to start:
- Embrace the Innovators: You already have employees that are eager to learn about the latest trends, technology, and competition in your industry. You need to identify and embrace them, because it’s these smart creatives that will lead your company into the future.
- Give Them a Voice: Make it simple for these thinkers to share the knowledge they find with their colleagues and get recognition for it. This needs to happen seamlessly without spamming everyone in your company, but at the same time be easily accessible to everyone.
- Let Everyone Contribute: You’ll quickly realize the vast majority of people love to learn. Once the early innovators at your company have shown their colleagues how important it is to learn and that there is recognition for being the person leading the effort, everyone will want to participate.
This won’t solve all your problems, but it is a great place to start and something that every company across every industry can implement.
At Cliption we’ve built an application designed specifically to solve this problem that integrates seamlessly into the existing way your employees are learning.
If you’d like to learn more about our proprietary technology, reach out to us and let’s have a chat!
Be sure to check out Keeping Employees On The Cutting Edge To Ensure Your Business Survives
