Innovation is a buzzword synonymous with business. Why? Because in order to stand out in a saturated market, a business needs to do or offer something different. While this might seem obvious, a large number of businesses and organizations are putting themselves in a dangerous position and risk being crushed due to their lack of innovation. But there have to be good reasons (beyond just being stubborn) a company would risk failure for not innovating. Is it because they are bombarded with competing priorities? Are they out of touch with up-to-date market research? Let's look at three reasons why businesses may not be innovating and how to avoid those pitfalls.
1. Innovation Intimidation
For some, innovation can be intimidating as it may be interpreted as needing to integrate complex algorithms or processes that use cutting-edge technology into a business. Part of living in a modern world means technology adoption within a business is inevitable. But if you’re deliberately resisting business model upgrades or assuming you can survive without the integration of technology into your sales strategy, think again. Blockbuster's reluctance to go digital left them filing for bankruptcy because they continued to believe customers preferred going into a store to rent a movie. Meanwhile, Netflix felt customers wanted to view their favorite movies and shows on their devices at their convenience. Had Blockbuster chosen to step out of their belief and embrace technology sooner they might still be in business today. The true takeaway is that innovation doesn’t require the solution to be complicated. It is simply the act of creating or trying something new and not being complacent and assuming your customers want the same thing year-after-year. It’s not smart business to rely on past success and hope it will continue to bring success in the future. Successful businesses are constantly asking how they can better meet customer needs and problem solving; this is the essence of innovation.
2. Fear of Failure
Fear of failure can drive creativity out of employees, leaving them with feelings of inadequacy. For example, an employee may feel they’ve only achieved their position because of luck and not because of their talent and qualifications. They may think topics like innovation and creativity shouldn't be left up to them as they aren’t necessarily “gifted”. Additionally, the mere thought of failing or not living up to an expectation can be so detrimental to a person's ego, they are afraid to even try. This is why company leaders need to adopt and encourage a culture of innovation. Part of such culture is recognizing and accepting occasional failure as part of the process. Integrating innovation into the company culture normalizes the process and makes failure less like a one-time event. This lowers the perceived risk of failure and allows staff to relax into the process. Mentoring is another key action that promotes a culture of innovation. When employees are told by their leaders to believe in themselves, it gets them out of their heads and out in the world participating. As leaders, it's important to admit that you don’t have all the answers, and that you don't expect your staff to have all the answers either. This creates a safe space and highlights that everyone is on the same level no matter their position in the company.
3. Being Closed To Open Innovation
Most business ideas didn’t come to light through boardroom table discussions. They came to be by garnering the input and feedback from everyday people. So why is it that after a business is established, they often only rely on their executive team or internal staff to come up with new ideas instead of encouraging a culture of open innovation? Open innovation extends the potential of value creation because it welcomes collaborative problem solving. Some of the most successful companies on the planet are the ones leveraging this approach. For example, LEGO’s open innovation platform LEGO Ideas invites the public to submit product suggestions, participate in contests, and vote on ideas. Some of the most popular LEGO sets released to date came from crowdsourced ideas. NASA has a similar platform called NASA Solve, which invites members of the public to contribute their time and expertise to advance research and participate in creative problem solving. Among the many crowdsourcing opportunities highlighted there was the Lunar Loo Challenge, which solicited ideas to help astronauts do their business in space.
Both LEGO and NASA have been around for decades. As a result, they have established followings of people who frequent their sites knowing an opportunity to give input on a project awaits. But what about businesses that are interested in open innovation but don’t know how to attract potential solvers? This is where HeroX can help. As a thought-leader in the space of open innovation, we provide a turnkey platform where clients can design challenges around problems they need solved. If you want your company to discover the power of crowdsourcing, get in touch!
