If you are reading this, You have made your Choice, let’s get to Innovation then!
Dear Leader, Leadership springs from innovation and the commitment to positive change. That’s why any employee at any level can lead and lead well. Are you ready to be a change agent and innovator?
If you’re not sure about the importance of innovation in the workplace, consider this: innovation is the essential difference between the most successful businesses and all of the rest. Just ask amazon, netflix and uber. Innovation will allow your company to thrive among competitors who are struggling just to survive.
Emotional intelligence
Change initiatives are emotionally and mentally difficult for most employees. This means that you must be ready and able to act as an anchor in rough seas for your team. It may seem counter-intuitive to provide stability while fostering change, but the right kind of stability prepares your team to handle any situation.
Open to change
So many of us fear change, and that fear causes us to react with hostility or tentativeness when decisive action is needed. Being open to change means knowing your personal strengths and weaknesses in the context of dynamic situations and using your insight about your own limitations and capabilities to shape your future actions. It also means using constructive criticism as a powerful means to build new competencies. All of these are essential to successful innovation.
Teamwork
leaders facilitate, not intimidate. Strong leaders don’t need to pander employees because they earn loyalty and buy-in from their team. Monitor how much you’re talking in meetings compared with how much time you spend listening. Remember to include others by asking for their input and value it by giving them your attention.
Understand your failures
You have the power to invoke progress for your business and in your industry, but you must first identify your obstacles. If you can’t figure out what’s holding you back, you can’t move past them. Use your business plan and strategies as reference points for your examination of the business to see what obstacles you need to eliminate in order to move forward. Your targeted innovations are the tools that will get you past those challenges.
Connect your products and services with your metrics
Keep a constant eye on the relationships between your products or services and the behavior of your customers. Use your metrics to discern what’s working and what might be better. Use the numbers, not your gut, to adjust strategies and assess how effective your business plan is. If you make data-backed innovations week by week, you will see better performance over time.
Think outside the box
You want to hit each and every business target, but you can’t do that without taking aim. Creating, nurturing and promoting a vision for your business allows you that kind of successful aim. It also shows you exactly where you need innovation the most. Whether it’s your marketing strategy or your customer relationships, a creative approach to your existing goals fosters innovation.