Technology is continuously changing the world as we know it. As a result, sometimes it can be difficult to stay creative and innovative with so many ideas out there. Innovation should be important to every company across the globe, because innovation is necessary for growth, profitability, better products and services, and a better standard of living.
In order to help you get your creative juices flowing, we’ve created a list of things to help inspire those who think they are fresh out of ideas. It may sound odd, but being innovative is a skill, and like all skills, the more you practice the better you get! Even if you’re not the type of person that’s creative or innovative, you can learn how to be.
- Begin with a vision. Before you start innovating yourself, assess your company’s vision statement(s). What is your company’s ultimate goal? What does it strive to do? What is its purpose? If your company doesn’t have a common, agreed-upon final destination, there will too many possibilities to consider. A vision helps narrow your thoughts and puts you one step closer to developing a realistic and useful idea.
- Ideas can come from anywhere. Keep your eyes and ears open. You never know when a great idea might strike. To practice, make simple mental notes during your day-to-day activities about what’s going on around you. Think about how the chair you’re sitting in could be better or how the work in front of you could be done more easily. Nothing is off limits and you never know what will spark an idea.
- Write things down. One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is not writing ideas down. Even if you think an idea is bad, write it down anyway. You never know when it might turn into a good one down the road.
- Ask everyone to participate. Just like ideas can come from anywhere, they also can come from anyone. The more minds and brainstorming power you have, the more ideas and feedback you’ll garner. Collaboration is key when it comes to innovation. Without it, a game-changing idea might be discarded by accident.
- Get inspired by great minds. Take some time to study successful CEOs such as Steve Jobs, Meg Whitman and Mark Zuckerberg. Learn what makes them tick and how their “out-of-box” thinking got them to where they are today. Social media is a great way to follow industry thought leaders and the content they are producing.
- Research, research, research. Extensive research never hurts. If you end up with a great idea, be sure to do some research before you fully commit to it. Someone may have already beaten you to the punch.
- Back up ideas with data. Reinforcing your ideas with helpful data will help weed out the unrealistic ones, while strengthening the realistic ones.
- Dream big, but start small. Take one step at a time. If your company has the wonderful idea of building a flying car, you might want to teach everyone how to use a wrench first. Baby steps are extremely important.
- Prepare to invest. Once you have a great, innovative idea backed by helpful data, be ready to spend some money. It’s smart to have funds saved up for research and development.
- Test it with customers. Before you invest too much time and money into an idea, see what your customers think. Ask them to take surveys and see what they specifically liked or disliked about your new concept. It may not be a good idea if your customers are neutral or give negative feedback.
- Don’t be afraid of failure. When it comes to generating innovative ideas, failure is commonplace. If something doesn’t work out, do your research, keep making adjustments and start again if necessary. It will be worth it in the end. You’ll only fail if you give up!
