What Makes Innovators Tic
Innovation for most company’s is a benchmark towards success. It’s not hard to notice in how our present business environment values innovators and what they can offer as a catalyst to the next idea or product that offers the next big impact.
Having a business culture that innovates can be the difference to keep producing and developing into new territory for a company to grow.
On a personal level innovation requires we continually dig deep and take interest in yourself and generate something new, something better, something quicker, something that costs less.
It’s through Innovation we brings out an underlining attitude where different ideas become used to improve the important parts in your life.
While everyone can be creative and engage in creative thinking, not everyone is necessarily innovative.
Innovators tend to live and think outside the confines of conventional wisdom. For innovators its often fun imagining the next breakthrough concept that would change the way something is done and how this will improve our experience in the world.
Question: If you were to hire innovative people what would you look for?
Question: What is the criteria for your innovative culture that fits your company’s next stage and growth phase?
Innovation is a lot about using your mental faculties. For some its a concept that is out of reach, while others tap in everyday and can begin by simply looking around the workplace and identify what can be done more effectively.
“Psychology Today” found that the most creative and innovative people tackle what they need to do head on and have genuine energy to get behind problems while people who are not, tire and lose focus almost instantly.
Question: When you think about innovation as a mindset what comes to mind for you?
What a mindset is, derives as predominantly an attitude held by a set of attributes that is organized into an ongoing focus.
Question: Is the innovative mindset for your company very particular and fixed or can it be more open? Maybe its a bit of both.
Research published by Princeton University explained that in essence, their are two types of innovation:
- Product: In business, this involves bringing a new product, service of offering to market.
- Process: A process innovation is essentially something that streamlines an organization’s output, be that internally or externally.
Additionally, people who tend to be innovative display certain traits that separate then from people who are generally not. Along with required work skill sets and core competencies, innovative people display certain traits or qualities that enable them to be innovative.
They are often more open to idea’s and the flow of ideas and naturally go to imagining those solutions that people might need or want. Then they simply get up and do something about it.
Innovation and creativity can also go hand in hand as both offer the ability to come up with something entirely new.
Yet innovators don’t just create something, rather they will produce something that may not be their idea to begin with however can jump in and assist in the process until completion.
A Norwegian Business School did a study published by Science Daily that explained innovative people can have one to several of these criteria traits :
- Associative orientation: Has a wealth of ideas & able to commit to them.
- Ambition: Desire to be an influencer of change
- Originality: Consistently aim to defy convention.
- Flexibility: Adapt to the problems at hand.
- Motivation: Determined to tackle difficult issues.
They also concluded in their study that creative people at times require assistance to get their projects off the ground while innovators tend to be a little more resilient and will work to meet gaps in phases or next step to a plan.
Companies who look for highly creative innovative people value this hidden talent and will assist to help innovators get their chance to get off the ground.
Another important aspect with innovative thinking is its natural to be innovative and at the same time, its certainly a skill that can be learned by anyone overtime.
In fact, a characteristic of great companies who harness great innovators is they can cultivate people who become innovative just by being immersed into the innovative culture of the organization.
As a Coach and Consultant, it is helpful to recognize who the innovative people naturally are in a given organization and who has gifts in other areas.
There are several area’s one can recognize innovators.
In this article, I have researched and compiled to look at Innovators and their traits from a couple of areas assembling this together as multi-dimensional approach.
I say dimensional as it offers to see how innovation is a two fold process from one being attributes and traits developed from work situations to qualities and practice shaped from life experiences overtime.
In this compilation is three key area’s
- What are Innovation traits in people
- What hinders Innovation
- How is Innovation a set of qualities
Each area identifies facets in people who are innovators and pulls together a useful compendium. From this one can get a detailed set of attributes in innovators and how to arouse the creativity in an innovative culture
If you were to hire innovative people and wanted to get an idea of their traits say for your next project or company here is a working guideline to dial into and notice who's who in your innovative zoo and in your next hiring conversation.
1# What are Innovative Traits — Sourced from SMARTstorming and thinking as an innovator
1. Do they have natural curiosity?
Curiosity and a lean towards discovering something new. For innovators curiosity is the “beginner’s mind,” This is followed by a deep, child-like sense of wonder about the world, the relationship between different things and how things work.
2. They display and express an active Imagination
This is the behaviours that conceive and develop a new idea. This is where innovators are 'possibility thinkers' and their Innovation is fuelled by leaps within their imagination, demonstrating how to make novel new connections between seemingly disparate ideas, concepts or objects.
3. Do they trust their Intuition?
This is where people trust their inner knowing first. Letting it guide next steps using facts and figures to make decisions some call this the sixth sense or gut feeling to follow one’s instincts, no matter how unconventional or illogical the direction.
4. Can they talk openly about things they Invented?
This stems from an inquisitive passion to discuss, play or tinker with something. Other traits is innovators possess the desire to arrange and re-arrange ideas or things in new and different combinations often challenging or change a status quo in approach or thinking.
5. Are they playful in a disciplined way?
Innovators when they are switched on often are “lost in their work”, for innovators this is when amazing things begin to happen. Calibration to time, self-consciousness, seriousness and any sense of limitation falls away, and a zone emerges where challenges are handled with ease. The attitude of playfulness is, “Everything is possible.”
6. They act and hold through flexible viewpoints to get behind an idea.
Innovators have a capacity to suspend judgment and embrace two (or more) seemingly contradictory or unrelated viewpoints at the same time. This creates a dynamic tension that ultimately stimulates creative resolutions (solutions) in entirely generative approaches.
7. There is a natural underneath persistence in their manner.
Skilled Innovators greatest creative talent is they rarely give up or in, before the work is done. Values, orientation, and guiding dynamics is unearthed in real-time persistence mixed with passion, willpower and enthusiasm to overcome setbacks and discouragement. This allows innovative thinkers to keep trying new possibilities until success is achieved.
Developing your mindset becomes your formula for success and so for every value that is identified. The innovators internal state is poised to produce. And for every value identified through innovation it also harbours or contains it's opposite or contrast.
This is particularly relevant when hiring whose inclined to be innovative and whose optimal for something else. Below are some personality traits to keep your eye out for that can stifle or disengage innovation. People who want to be innovative generally are not aware of why they are not.
When looking for innovators to hire, its imperative to recognize what prevents innovation and the behavioural traits that express them and why its important to recognize the difference.
2# What are Traits that inhibit Innovation - Sourced by InnoCentive
1# Agreeableness - Go along to get along
Agreeable people who are generally pleasant to be around, nice to work with and easy to get along with tend to not be the best innovators.
Agreeable are great employee to have in a company but not on an innovative team as their greatest gifts becomes inhibitive in the 'heat of the moment' for genuine innovative thinking. People who innovate like to get into the thick of things by sorting out and disagreeing before finally coming up with a new process or finished product.
Disagreements, when presented respectfully, can be one of the most productive forms of finding solutions because it allows for the entry of new thoughts and approaches to solving a problem.
A team full of agreeable people will simply follow the strongest personality, resulting in a single idea or approach running the show, while a team of disagreeable people will have a healthy debate about the best way to approach a problem.
2# Methodical - We’ve always done it this way
Productive people operate out of methods and procedure that work well, however this prevents new ideas from entering the equation.
Consider this: a machine is methodical because it can replicate a certain process with efficiency. This makes machines highly useful in a manufacturing setting. But a machine isn’t original computing in design at this time. For e.g. Can a machine be capable to paint a painting on its own?
Machines manufacture and automate they don’t prepare thoughts and ideas and then create from them. Human minds still are the optimal creative inspiration with using both original and referenced thoughts along with being able to discern or possess critically those thoughts and then shape their ideas into something new.
Likewise a highly procedural person will miss the boat preferring to stay in the narrow path that works well in one area but incompatible in another.
In order for a person to innovate, they must break from the normal methodical characteristics that dictate their actions. To find new ways of doing things, they must improve upon old habits, no matter how productive they may have been for years or decades.
3# Closed Mindedness - Not Invented Here and only people like me can solve this
People whose tendency is skeptical and suspicious of new ideas live a life with horse blinders on.
This is called being “set-in-your ways” and is inherently disabling for innovation. Innovation requires to go out on a limb and move forward with unqualified faith and vision.
When theories get established, researchers act on faith that innovators will work through by rigorous testing to either prove or disprove them. Innovators turn to open-mindedness and vision, without constraints of “we’ve always done it this way,” and release themselves to explore NEW possibility.
Without the ability to open your mind to new ideas, and new ways of thinking new ideas have a tough time filtering out.
4# Predictability - It’s always been safe in the past
Predictable people provide value and do have new ideas, but are those ideas able to timely shake the tree, be disruptive when it counts and refine those ideas to become innovative?
People who tend to stay with predictable ideas often lack the further creativity and diversity in perspectives that need to found outside the box.
Their is a tendency to remain within the obvious solution to the problem that has been predictable over time. While obvious answers could be the right solution for some problems, overtime they are not efficient or ground breaking without diverse active perspectives to challenge predictability.
For E.G. If you are trying to find the best way to traverse between two points, the predictable answer would be to draw a straight line between them. While this may seem like the best route to take because it is simple and predictable, it is ignoring the other obstacles that may be between the two points.
These variables must be taken into account when finding the best solution to the problem. An unpredictable person tries any number of other pathways between the two points, often arriving at a better solution than the obvious predictable answer. This is called utilizing a mindset for a mindset.
5# Risk Avoidance - Reservations
Having reservations limits your risk legitimacy. The best rewards often require being willing to take a certain amount of risk in order to be obtained. Innovation only occurs by taking risks, not playing it safe.
Charting unknown territory is risky business, but it is the optimal way to approach and find new concepts from ideas, new synergies from process, new products from things. To be innovative is to have courage and be open to discover.
These kinds of thinkers under whatever critical process will find new solutions to any problem with fewer reservations than those that have them.
Innovation is also an interesting process that will develop people from the inside out, challenging us to grow and be present to what life has to offer often testing us when we least expect it.
Question: When opportunity strikes what comes out and through you to develop and come up with something new? Do you accept the challenge in a healthy way? Or prefer to distance yourself and let others accept the creative whim life throws out?
For those that find Innovation as natural as breathing may have certain success strategies firmly in place but they didn't start there.It took a few years to develop and refine innovative attributes into a trusted ally that they hone and practice ALL THE TIME...
Here is a more personable list that looks at the qualities of innovators in learning to develop their competency in being innovative.
As in all things, if we don’t practice in being innovative, we lose its ability to summon and seize the moment to sharpen the saw.
3# What is Innovation as a Set of Qualities — Sourced from Brian Tracy International
1. Do you Ask Questions?
First and foremost quality is again creative thinkers are intensely curious. We are always asking questions.
Questions that open values, beliefs and process back into real-time. We need to move back to being the child who asks about everything for the first time, seeing life without a bias assumption or predictable filter. Ask, “What”, “How”, and “Why not?” or “Why can’t we do it?” “Even if it hasn’t been done before, can it be done now?”
2. Do you Practice Zero Based Thinking?
An important second quality in innovative thinkers is the tendency to practice “Zero-Based Thinking”. This is effectively asking “If I were not now doing what I am doing, knowing what I now know, would I have started?”
Zero based thinking for those who don’t know what it is a decision making process based on imagining yourself back at the very beginning or point before a decision was made and free of the cause and effect prior to make new decisions with awareness, observer/observed positioning and know-how for new potential and outcomes. Innovation uses this to legitimize risk and know when to hold, fold, play their cards, or walk away.
In studying how decisions are made its amazing how many people will persist in something that they wouldn’t even get into if they had to do over again. And they wonder why they are making so little progress.
3. Are you able to Change your Mind?
The third quality of that enhances innovation is that innovative people have a willingness to change. They recognize that our world and how it works, the unwillingness or inability to change instinctively leads to nirvana.
On the flip side innovative people trust and prefer to be in charge and direct their lives rather than being caught up in the herd mentality or group critical mass that leads to inevitable and unavoidable circumstance.
In flexible people, a person simply can say, “I changed my mind.” According to research, 70% of the decisions you make turn out to be wrong as long term consequence.
Innovators learned that you must be willing to change your mind and try something. Mental, emotional and psychological flexibility with the attitude to try something else allows one to move through difficult transitions with more ease. If what you first tried does not work then try something else is an important quality to succeed in the 21st century.
4. Can you Admit when you are Wrong?
A fourth quality of highly creative thinkers is their willingness to admit when they are wrong. Statistics show 80% of people burn up most of their mental and emotional energy defending against admitting that they made a wrong decision.
Truly intelligent people, who have learned humbleness and enjoy pouring out their creativity stay open minded, fluid, flexible and are willing to both change their mind and admit that they are wrong when their earlier decisions turn out to be incorrect. Such a balance is a resourceful and empowering playing field from which to design, create and most importantly share with others...
5. Do you Love to Continue in Learning?
A fifth quality found in highly creative innovative people can also comfortably say, “I don’t know.” They recognize that it is impossible for anyone to know anything and everyone is wrong in their life, no matter who they are and what they are doing.
So when someone asks them a particular question. They simply say, “I don’t know.” The difference that makes the difference with innovators is they turn that around and go about finding the answer.
In life, an intelligent person may not be the person who comes up with the idea. At times, its a stroke of insight. A flash that sparked the process. Fans that growth the fire...
The smart person is the one who can learn intimately the success factors from how an idea turns it into a working model then is transferable to others.
And is often that same person who recognizes other aspects of a value from an idea that is able to make it fortuitous while the originator did not see how that fit.
6. As a Creative Thinkers are you Goal Oriented?
The sixth quality of people who practice innovative creativity is that they set goals for themselves time and time again. Ideas that want to come to life are intense and have a resectable creative tension as part of the package.
This is raw and requires focus, requiring an eager mindset and the ability to develop manageable goals. This is turn means that creative innovators learned what they want, its sometimes written clearly down and they can attentively rehearse and visualize the process, even though they may not know what the finished product is.
Success and answers are found by assembling their goals into action as much as they possible They imagine and are able to step into, shaping what their goal would look like if it were a reality today.
7. Are you able to balance your Ego?
The seventh quality of highly creative thinkers is that they have less ego involvement in being right or spotlight attention.
They are more concerned with the moving and evolving big picture in which there ego fits as service. For e.g. what’s right rather than who’s right.
They are willing to accept ideas from any source to achieve the end result, this makes one quick and versatile to overcome and transform obstacles, or solve problems that ego driven thinking could not and remains stuck when the gates finally open to race.
IN SUMMARY
Creative and Innovative Thinking Generates new Ideas into new Realities.
The important part of creative thinking is our ability to generate these ideas, keeping an open clear channel to be an instrument of our creativity.
This requests to activate your mental faculties and be curious to think-out-the-box not just as a habit but as a lifestyle that spearheads who you are and the kind of work you get into. Innovative thinking is at times irresistible to the innovator and they don’t want to stop being innovative.
So the greater the quantity of ideas that you generate, the greater the quality your ideas will become.
Ideas become the measuring stick to how you approach what you are doing and how to proceed.
This is where ideas sizzle and become a quanta of energy and with enough ideas and turning them into something, you become capable to have the right idea at the right time and people positively feed off of this and thank you for your insight.
But generating ideas is only 1% of the equation. As Thomas Edison once wrote, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”
If you were to hire someone innovative how do you want to tap into their energy? And what is a culture that supports them to have your organization win?
