The Way to Program Innovation and Expansion
#innovation is all the rage these days, with companies and organizations consistently producing new ideas, products, and services through innovative strategies. Competition is tough, but what sets winners apart from losers is their willingness to try harder than everyone else, their willingness to take risks, their passion, and their innovation #strategy.
Taking an innovative approach to business is often more of a challenge for established companies because if history has shown us anything, it is that established companies are much better executors than innovators. Reasons for this range from structural to cultural, but at the end of the day it is much easier for large and established companies to optimize their existing business rather than create innovative and fresh ideas, products, or services. ?However, it is possible and necessary for all companies to practice innovation, even if at a small scale, to remain relevant, grow business, and effectuate change. So, what does innovation mean to us and how do we prioritize our innovation strategy?
Walking the Walk
When D&G was founded, we wanted to set ourselves apart. We knew that despite being the underdog and despite being small, we could reshape the way that government contracting is done, and we could prove that size and resources don’t matter as much as the heart, skills, and courage of the people.
D&G's #culture can be summed up by the untold story of David & Goliath, where David's unique skills, talents, and life experiences equipped him to tackle the formidable giant. David & Goliath changes our perspective of strengths and weaknesses, advantages, and disadvantages, blessing and misfortune. In many cases in life and work, what we consider valuable arises out of these kinds of lopsided conflicts, because the act of facing overwhelming odds produces tenacity.
These values and history seeps into our work and is what sets us apart. We value each individual’s unique capabilities, life experiences, and contributions. Because we know that even if you’re the underdog, you can tackle the “Goliath,” by relying on your unique skills. While we understand that having extensive resources can be an advantage, it can also make you immobile and stagnant. Meanwhile, movement, endurance, individual intelligence, knowledge, and courage allow the underdogs to do the impossible. Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the sources of great weakness. These values have been at the heart of our innovation strategy and drive us to be creative and bold in how we do #business and how we serve our country.
How to develop an innovation strategy
Key to any innovative strategy is #collaboration, ideation, value creation, and implementation. Innovation must at its core create value. Having an innovation strategy is not only for companies whose business models revolves around generating ideas, products, and services. Innovation strategies should be the norm in a society where circumstances, #technologies, and practices are constantly changing. Innovation has become imperative not only to remain relevant and up to date in the business world but is essential for achieving longer term business goals. Business strategy tells you where you want the business to be in 5-10 years’ time. The innovation strategy tells you how to incorporate innovative practices to help you achieve those longer-term business goals.
领英推荐
The first step in developing an effective innovation strategy is to strike a balance between structures, capabilities, culture, and strategy. One of the most important parts of balancing each of these categories is ensuring that your business goals and strategies are aligned. This may seem like a no brainer but can be more difficult in practice than many people realize. Where do you want the business to be in the next 5-10 years and what role does innovation play in those longer-term goals? Is the way that you want to innovate compatible with your business goals and values? Sometimes new flashy ideas may at first glance appear to be worthwhile to invest in, but always remember to ask yourself if this new idea will help you achieve your larger business goals and is in line with your values as a business. Innovation can only work if your strategy matches your business goals and if you have the right people, processes, and structures in place that allow for innovation to blossom.
Often overlooked in innovation strategies are the practical goals that are less “flashy,” but are the most essential for long-term innovative success. It is one thing to have a business or innovation strategy in place, but developing actionable steps to achieve those goals is what sets successful innovators apart. At D&G, we are big on follow through. Being committed to achieving our goals and being adaptable when circumstances inevitably change has been a large contributor to our success. When we set out to do something, nothing stands in our way of achieving that goal even if how we get there changes along the way.
A final key component of a successful innovation plan is to develop a systematic roadmap to execute different initiatives at the same time. Rather than focusing narrowly on one aspect of the business to innovate in, executing multiple initiatives simultaneously is an effective way to achieve larger business goals and innovation goals at a faster pace. Of course, when implementing multiple initiatives at once it is necessary to keep capacity in mind. Not all companies will be in a position to implement multiple innovative initiatives at the same time depending on their resources, timeline, and priorities.
Where D&G stands out, is in our prioritization of collaboration, teamwork, and value creation. We place a strong emphasis on ensuring that we have the right people, processes, and structures in place to successfully innovate. We create opportunities where none previously existed, identify and fill gaps, and develop solutions that produce lasting results. What we are missing in size we make up for in dedication, spirit, hard work, and innovative practices. We believe that at its core, innovation relies on the knowledge, skills, and capabilities of those who make innovation possible. If you have the right team, you can achieve anything. We certainly have proved that fact to be true and continue to take a methodical approach to our innovation strategy.?
SOURCES