subject: Want an Innovative Business? 5 Things to Change Now [print this page] Want an Innovative Business? 5 Things to Change Now
There are very few businesses that are managing to continually evolve and innovate and keep up with the demands of the markets.
And, for those that don't believe they are quite there yet, but have the desire to move forward, adopting the following strategy will give your business a significant boost.
Five key strategies foryour business to innovate and evolve
1. Courageous conversation
Communication is so important in a successful organisation and this doesn't just mean day to day conversations but building strong communication frameworks where individuals can have a say in how the business operates and provide both positive and negative feedback without feeling they will be victimised or ignored. Courageous conversation is ensuring employees understand they can bring ideas and challenge existing beliefs for the great good of the business.
2. Effective leadership
One of the ways your business can continue to grow and flourish is through careful implementation of a leadership development programme, because just like anything else in business the only way to improve leadership is by learning and then putting that effective learning into practice.
3. Clear business mission
Your business needs a mission. This gives everybody a clear focus on what they are working for and why. Without a clear mission that all your employees are working towards, you will find that individual agendas are followed with more focus and energy. All energy should be focused on achieving this mission which overrides everything your business does. This mission should be set early and should remain and be changed very little. It should be the driving force behind everything you set out to achieve and match your businesses purpose.
4. Solid business objectives
Once you have created your business mission will objectives that your business wants to achieve. You have three key areas to satisfy, your shareholders, your employees and your customers. These objectives can have greater flexibility and evolve as the business grows. Setting objectives will be dependant on a number of factors such as the state of your market, your growth strategy, the culture of your business and how that fits within wider global demands, your products and how effectively they service your customers and your vision of how you want your company to grow.
Business objectives are a real challenge to decide and implement especially if they have to be created from adverse challenges such as the economic climate or threats from globalisation. There are three key points that should be considered when setting objectives:
Will this make a profit?
Will this reduce our cost?
Will this save us time?
5. Developing leaders not workers
One way to do this is by developing leaders within your organisation. This means that you are building a team of leaders who are willing to take responsibility for themselves and others within the business to achieve your objectives, but also to be creative and bring new ideas within their role about how to do things better.This innovative way of working requires a level of trust with your employees and at some companies means employees even get time within their working week to work on individual projects that are then implemented by the company.
By fostering a culture of developing leaders and continually backing this up by allowing employees to share in the success of the business through genuine implementation of their ideas and trusting them to manage projects your employees will help your business innovate.
