The Challenge of Innovation

How to start organised innovation in the modern day workplace

Atomic Innovation

I’m going to call this atomic innovation, for want of a better phrase. But these are the little bits of innovation we do as individuals every day.

The human race is particularly curious, this is why we are so innovative. Each and every human being has the power to be creative, this is why we are top of the food chain, why we can send people to space, perform keyhole heart surgery and push our sports people to the edge of physical bounds.

Let’s not forget about those atomic innovations that we undertake as individuals on a daily basis. I’m going to call this atomic innovation, for want of a better phrase. But these are the little bits of innovation we do as individuals every day. Using that duck tape to remove a pin from a crack in the floor, find a quick way to make 7 cups of tea for your team mates, file your papers so we don’t waste time looking for them or improve an old process at work.

Creativity and innovation go hand in hand and in isolation innovation is like one domino at the start of a world record breaking domino drop. Without the ability to produced a chain of similar events to continue the thought process innovation remains at the atomic level. Take innovation domino theory, where you are one domino. The majority of us do not have the capacity to take this to the next innovative step as quickly than if we had a group of people bought into a process of innovation. This is organised innovation.

Organised Innovation

So every day we get on with our work. We sometimes do little things that make our life easier in some way and we make atomic innovations that are awesome. What if we could take this to the next level and take on seed of innovation and cause a domino effect turning one idea into another over and over again, each time evolving the last idea until your time is up.

Many minds are quicker and better than one

Organised innovation is when we deliberately innovate in a methodical way. The domino effect is simply teamwork and by having a simple process in place to innovate you can bring great minds together to create this awesome effect. Many minds are quicker and better than one. Lets be practical, it’s not easy to go from nothing to something quickly. It’s change and you may not have the authority now. But you can build up over time.

Your first step

Every environment is different. Finding the right process for your environment is important. It’s likely you’ll need to sell the idea to your higher ups. But here’s a process I know works for me:

• Prove innovation can work by innovating. Pick a challenge or problem and with some teammates brainstorm ideas.
• Create something tangible. A prototype of your solution “paints a thousand words”
• Show your key stakeholders and decision makers. The more senior the better — I have found buy in from the decision makers and senior people helps move things forwards faster. But think baby steps.
• Just do it — Getting started is the hardest. Just get going and see what happens.