Make time for innovation & watch what happens
Identifying future problems all starts in understanding how changing market conditions can affect your business. What would happen if interest rates changed? What would happen if you suddenly had an increase in competition? What would happen if a business-changing technology was launched? And finally, what would happen if a global pandemic broke out? Needless to say, these things are often difficult to predict until they are upon us. But it doesn’t stop us from wondering, if we were more aware that the situation was about to break, would we have done anything differently to prepare?
All businesses experience changes in some way, with the degree of change varying each time. One thing we have noticed is how quickly a lot of businesses reacted to the changes during COVID-19 and how so many new companies were formed pretty much overnight! What would normally take months seemed to take shape in a fraction of the time, so it has us wondering… If we forced ourselves into a pressure cooker environment where one thing that we heavily relied on failed or wasn’t there for us, could we develop creative new ways to work without it or even better invent something new to supersede it?
“Don’t be afraid of new ideas. Be afraid of old ideas. They keep you where you are and stop you from growing and moving forward. Concentrate on where you want to go, not on what you fear.” Tony Robbins
You might be thinking, hang on, slow down, we aren’t that creative! However, creativity in people can sometimes spark under pressure. Some people swear that they do their most creative work under tight deadlines and as far as our team goes, high pressure environments aren’t for all of us. Understanding the people in your team and which ones can handle a little added pressure is important. You could create a test to see if anything good comes out of setting a tight deadline to produce something new for the business and ensure that all other deadlines are removed so they can give the new task their full attention.
Really, what we are suggesting is to take time to think, plan, brainstorm and research. We all know it can be difficult to find the time to do it, but if you actually make time for it, who knows, the next greatest idea for your business could be born.
Tony Robbins is quoted saying: “Don’t be afraid of new ideas. Be afraid of old ideas. They keep you where you are and stop you from growing and moving forward. Concentrate on where you want to go, not on what you fear.”
Making and creating time for innovation is something our team does regularly. We are often the “go to” place of new ideas for clients and we simply love our role. If you have a great idea but unsure what to do next, we can guide you. If you need a clever new way of taking your same old worn out message to market, we can create something new and make it different and exciting.
All we can say is that the saying “the more you do something the better you get” applies to new ideas also.
Remember, businesses don’t innovate, people do. Make time for the people in your business to be innovative and we would love to hear from you about your successful strategies.
If you are feeling blocked, stuck or uninspired, here are a few things you can try that always helps bring our mojo back.
- Trust that new ideas will come – your brain is an endless source of ideas, so don’t ever fear that you will ever run out of them.
- Set the mood – whether that be through your surroundings or music, get yourself and/or your team into an environment that feels just right.
- Check out your competitors – review what they are up to and how they take their message to market.
- Check out businesses outside your industry – see how you could apply a concept or way of thinking to your business.
- Makes notes when you see something you like – and share this information with your team or keep it somewhere for easy reference.
