Accelerating your innovation

Here are tips that can be adopted by every organization and will “jump start” innovations in their company now. These best practices amplify and expand on those shared by Ron Ashkenas in The Harvard Business Review’s Innovate with Urgency – Even When There’s No Crisis.​

1. Set exciting goals that are challenging and that when achieved will move the business forward.

• This takes a senior leader, called a sponsor, who has a clear vision and communicates that vision with excitement and specificity so others are inspired to what can be achieved. 
• Give the people involved the freedom to achieve the goals that have been set in whatever creative ways they decide with the resources either in hand or requested.

2. Select a diverse team.

• Research proves that innovations are more likely to be successful when team members are diverse in many ways. 
• Gender and ethnicity are of course very important. 
• Diverse thinking styles also impact the team’s success.
• The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is the most popular way to assess a person’s thinking style.

3. The sponsor and the team chosen to take on this innovation challenge need to learn how to create and sustain a positive mindset. 

• Human beings, particularly when challenged, are often under the influence of their reactive mindset. 
• Sustaining a positive mindset takes practice.
• One simple way to turn on a positive mindset is intentional breathing. Two or three minutes at the start of the day and periodically throughout the day help people shift from a reactive to a proactive mindset.
• This shift activates the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain that improves our abilities to collaborate and innovate. 
• Try beginning team meetings with a three-to-four-minute mindfulness breathing exercise.

4. The idea of iteration or “failing fast and repeating efforts with slight variations until a success is accomplished” has been a best practice for decades.

• Small tests repeated after examining what worked and did not work is key in all learning-oriented organizations and inspires employees to be innovative.
• Adding speed to this best practice without sacrificing scientific rigor is essential. 

5. The sponsor needs to stay visibly involved throughout the entire process. 

• They should express curiosity, not control, and be supportive of the team and the contribution each individual is making. 
• The sponsor’s additional responsibility is to communicate the team’s progress and the ultimate value of their results throughout the organization.

When an organization enacts these five steps, business results will be enhanced. New products and services will boost the bottom line as well as inspiring employees and customers.

Tom Drucker MA, ABD is a founding partner of Consultants in Corporate Innovation, transforming leaders and teams plus improving processes in companies big and small. Learn more about him at corporate-innovation.com.