Seven Ways to Prevent Innovation
You know, there are some organisations out there that are looking at their plummeting bottom lines and wondering where it’s all going wrong.
They’re trying to innovate but are not meeting with any success. They cling to the past and the tried and tested but that’s not a great recipe for success.
If you’re having problems with your innovation pipeline some of the following reasons might apply to you:
How to Prevent Innovation
1) We’ve always done it that way – just because something has worked in the past does not mean it will work in the future. When new problems arise you only resort to default thinking that’s helped you out before rather than coming up with new ways to solve the issue.
2) Having a ‘failure is not an option mindset’– if that’s your attitude how will you ever succeed? It’s become a cliche that one of the best ways to innovate is to screw up and then to learn from the mistakes. You need to give your employees the freedom to fail.
3) It’s us against the world – Really, is that what you’re thinking nowadays? Companies that go it alone and refuse to embrace external sources of brainpower will eventually go the way of the Dodo and the dinosaurs. Don’t limit your innovation ability to just a small subset of your business. Embrace the talent and creativity of people outside your four walls. As the saying goes, “most of your best ideas are likely to be found outside your organisation”.
4) Our managers ‘know it all’ – no they don’t.
5) Don’t allow people to challenge the status quo – unless assumptions, traditions and conventions are challenged you’ll never move forward.
6) We know best what our customers want – do you? Have you talked to them recently? Ignore customers at your peril. Your customers are an asset, their knowledge can help you refine existing products and create new ones.
7) Having your innovators produce detailed weekly reports – yep, there’s nothing like layers of bureaucracy to stop innovation dead in its tracks.
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