Does innovation have to be big?

We've all seen them. Giant office blocks, full of egg heads, crunching away at computers. Perhaps this is a historical view of what innovation should be, but I fear it might be simpler.

Innovation can be big, but it does not need to be. It can be outfacing, but that can be avoided. Innovation starts by challenging the trusted workplace adage 'we've always done it like that'. Well as Kodak suggests that worn attitude was certainly not be the most sensible route. Innovation is having the curiosity to image something different. Looking at it from an unconventional way. This can apply to a super doper project or a simple process change.

The key thing being you are prepared to look beyond the obvious, consider it from a different angle. By doing so you spot things you perhaps did not notice and can connect ideas that looked separate before. You can then start to develop alternative suggestions, and although some might be rubbish, you might just get the solution to a problem that has been evading you.

A great way to foster the environment to think differently or think laterally is creativity. Being creative starts the process of asking questions and imagining. Visualising what you see (there is a closer relationship between imagination and the word image). It is a much underused human skill and is perfect to lay the foundations to innovation.

Now a word of caution. Organisations sometimes fear this. It is against process and perhaps undermines control. It is also different and sometimes imagination is seen as 'day dreaming.' That's a fair comment, but businesses that are unable to adapt to trends and customer demand will find it hard to succeed in the long run. If a careful marriage of process and creativity is developed, it will be possible to shape the innovation to suit the business.

So what benefit being innovative? Recent studies show that when disruption hits, companies that invest in innovation outperform the market by up to 30%*. It allows a company to maximise it's efficiency by creating and implementing the best ways to operate. It also supports delivering quickly what customers want and keeps you ahead of the competition.

But it does not to be big. As long as you are deploying different thinking and getting the benefit from the results, you are close to the idea of innovation.

*McKinsey & Company, “Innovation in a crisis: Why it is more critical than ever,” June 17, 2020