Thoughts of Innovation Beyond Technology

Having a strong technology background and observing, like the rest of us, technological innovation that has changed the way we shop, the way we travel, the way we work, and the way we live, it is easy to associate the word innovation to technology. Self-driving cars, intelligence that can tell us what we should like or prefer when shopping, and the various ways we can communicate and work are all ways technology innovation has changed us. The ways that the technology is approached has brought new and more efficient and effective ways to our businesses and how we engage with our co-workers and customers. 

Innovation is associated with change, upheaval, transformation, recasting, remodeling, and variation and is defined as a new method, idea, or product, etc. Technological innovation has certainly changed and transformed our personal lives and our businesses. 

Innovation can also be applied to how we lead, how we look at business operations and processes, and how we approach our daily human interactions. Innovation applied in many of the ways we interact with others, lead our teams, and move ourselves and our business is what is going to move us to the next level with or without technology.

We tend to get stuck in our responses, our expectations, and our approach to things and do things the way we have always done them. We approach our customers the same way, we work with our co-workers and team the same way, and follow the same processes and workflows the same way without questioning how we could be better. Change is not always easy, but change is necessary if we want our clients to be happier, our teams to be more productive and loyal, and our businesses to be more agile and nimble. I am not recommending change for change-sake, but I am stating that that if we aren't looking for ways to be better, both personally and professionally and in our businesses, we are stuck in the past and will probably be a piece of history before too long.

If you want your customers to be happier, leading to a stronger and more fruitful relationship, look for ways to ask for input and implement those new ideas and innovations that would do so.

If you want your coworkers and teams to be more productive, loyal, and team-oriented make sure they know that they can communicate on improvements that can be implemented. As a leader you must be able to experiment, tinker, and implement innovative practices to improve and increase morale. The old command-and-control, telling them they are terrible, and just intimidating them no longer works to motivate people and is no longer acceptable. 

Agility and nimbleness in business is essential, so a constant emphasis on examining business processes, workflow, and adaptability to industry change must be adopted.

Innovation is tough when it is more personal than technological. When we have to actually change to the needs of our customers (financial, communications, transparency, etc.), our people (morale, teamwork, etc.), and our businesses (processes, workflow, management, etc.) and think through how we could better serve it is certainly more than just installing new technology or following the lead of new technology, getting familiar with it, and rolling it into the way we’ve always done things. We need to be better than "This is the way its always been done", "I've always done it this way", and "The way we are doing things works."

Ponder new ideas, change, upheaval, transformation, recasting, remodeling, and variation personally and professionally and in your business.

Be opened to and embrace innovation that is beyond technology.