Heart-Centered Innovation

Have you ever watched a powerful short film that brought you to tears? Or heard a joke that made you laugh so hard your stomach hurt? The common thread between those two examples is that they touched your heart in some way and triggered an emotion that moved you.

We see it with effective people and teams. They seem to have a magic -- an ease to delivering on their visions with unstoppable momentum and resilience; and a passion that drives them through any setbacks they may have to achieve ultimate success.

It’s compelling when those moments of inspiration happen. But are those moments just for inventors or scientist types, or can the rest of us tap into that force? And does innovation exist only with products, services and widgets, or can there be a heart-felt “experience” instead?

Companies have been using human-centered design practices and design thinking for years to accelerate innovation. Organizations such as IDEO, the Stanford University Institute of Design (The d. School), the Design Management Institute, Luma Institute and the Center for Creative Leadership, among others, are teaching how to put those design practices and creative mind-sets into action.

As Forrester Research states in the June 2015 report, Design Methods in the Age of the Customer, “Customer experience (CX) professionals want to grow and transform their businesses by fostering empathy for their customers, quickly adapting to challenges, and creating effective and compelling experiences. To do that, they turn to design methods that are already familiar to digital and product teams, including design thinking, Lean, and Agile methodologies.”

These are the first steps to building a cohesive and effective program that's optimized for customers, markets, capabilities, and goals.

The other day, as I was scrolling on Twitter, a Harvard Business Review article caught my eye, so I read the story.

It turns out that most of us are up in our heads when we think about how to innovate in our work environment, when actually, the best innovative thinking and problem solving is triggered by an inspiration in our hearts. Here’s what the CEO of a U.S. hospital said about the importance of new approaches…ways of thinking and having empathy in patient care.

 “When we touch the hearts of our patients we create a healing relationship that generates a relaxation response, lowers the blood pressure, improves the happy neurotransmitters, reduces pain, and improves outcomes — for both the patient and the caregiver.”

The author of the article, Gary Hamel, stated, “If you want to innovate, you need to be inspired, your colleagues need to be inspired, and ultimately, your customers need to be inspired.”

Where Inspiration and Business Meet

What have you or teams done recently to inspire others, to boost your empathic spirit, and turn the corner on a project? And can the moments of inspiration that seem to come so easily outside of work be tapped into and brought into the office , so we can live them all the time? Here are some tips:

• If you identify a challenge and are looking for a practical solution, brainstorm the possibilities as a team. Enlist those people who experience the problem first-hand to stay on track, then identify a potential, holistic solution that makes sense, create a prototype and test it.
• Sometimes the smallest changes to optimize a process, a workflow or a design can yield the biggest breakthrough and benefits. And if you fail at your attempt together, just try again. You’ll get your creative muscles going as a team.
• Remember to put people at the center of everything you do.

I’m always on a journey to bring more of a human-centered approach to my work. To bring creativity and passion forward to connect with and help others, because you never know what innovative solutions may surface that could benefit your team, your organization or your customer.

It’s energizing when moments of inspiration happen that send goose bumps up your arms and remind you that you’re on track.