You ask, we answer. The Generosity Culture & Innovation.

How can I increase my ROI without an outlay of cash? How can you help me create a better environment for innovation to happen by itself? Especially this year where employers don't have funding available to just be "generous"!

Your #investment does not need to be cash. We talked a little bit in our latest webinar (link: https://lnkd.in/dFC3g-B) how we hear the word ‘generous’, and we do always think that that has to do with money. But bluntly, you investing your time, your knowledge, your value that you have as a person, as a team, is actually far more valuable and will drive much more #ROI than just throwing money at the problem. We talked about those different ways you can invest in your people by talking to them.

Also, by really having those open lines of communication, and learning what is important to the staff, and offering that value to them.

Often, the benefits that are the most important for the ‘A-players’ that we have in our organisation are things like robust lines of communication, the ability to take on more responsibility and grow as a person, and the ability to know that they are contributing to a team.

So there are a lot of ways to invest in building an environment and a #culture that is conducive to #innovation that don’t cost anything.

How do you change the leadership style to allow the generosity mindset?

From the words of April Shprintz at our last event:

"So it’s interesting, I feel that a lot of times folks are leading from a position that isn’t necessarily leadership. I personally have been a part of organisations where this [generosity mindset] wasn’t the mindset of the overall organisation. And what I found was, when you start with yourself, and you start modelling it to others, you start doing things like always volunteering to help when you can; the words, “that’s not my job” don’t exist for you. And really making an impact.

Being that person who under promises and over delivers. When it comes to your involvement with your teammates, and clients etc., leaders will start to take notice of that. Now, one of two things is going to happen:

One, they’re going to take notice of it, see value in it, talk to you about it and start to make it a bigger part of your organisation.

Or two, you’re going to see that that’s just not something that they believe in. And by really being that person yourself, and making bigger and bigger differences, you’re probably going to find that other opportunities are going to come your way. And you’re going to be drawn to an organisation that thinks more that way, and have an opportunity there."

As a business leader, I may think that I’m being generous to my staff. At what point do I draw the line and say no more, I’m now being taken advantage of here?

This is one of those areas where, if it doesn’t feel good, if giving your time and yourself doesn’t feel good to you, then that equation is now out of balance.

It’s not going to feel good to your employees, if it doesn’t feel good to you. Just like when you’re selling, a prospect can feel your intent. Or when you’re talking to a child, they can feel your intent. Not necessarily your words, but how you feel about it, it’s the same thing with giving.

So as a leader, do it to the point that it feels rewarding to you, again, without worrying about that reciprocity. When it stops, then pull back a little bit, and make sure that you’re also taking care of and investing in yourself first.

It’s just like when you’re on the aeroplane, you put that oxygen mask on yourself, and then you take care of others. If you’re at a point where you feel like you’ve given and given and given and you’re not getting anything back, the first clue there would be that you’re not doing the level of self-care and taking care of yourself that you deserve. And so, maybe pull back a little bit and spend some of that focus on yourself.

I think the key is creating a culture of psychological safety, where people feel bold, to kind of embrace that, and then move forward and really start to pay it forward to other people. What strategies would you have to help people to be able to create that with their business?

One of the most important things that leaders can do is to embrace their own vulnerability. Successful leaders, they share that they are human and that they fail. So that not only are they investing in their employees growth, but they're really candidly sharing with them, they personally don’t always get it right either. That fear of failure doesn't get the better of them. Successful leaders make it okay to fail.

To have a innovative culture, you have got to have the ability to not get it right the first time. And the second thing is really embracing a philosophy of iterations.

Another way that you can really encourage your people is to let them know that nothing has to be perfect, get it the best you can to get it going, test it and get feedback on it. Then move on to iteration two and make that even better.

What budget should our company allow for R&D and Innovation?

The amount you should allow for varies a lot, because margins are different. If you're making 50% margin, you can spend more as a percentage of sales. If you're making 30%, it would be different.

You need to look at risk capital, and it’s not a bad idea to say, for example in 2021 we’re going to risk ￡50,000. We’re going to risk this, knowing that we could lose it, but we’re going to risk it on innovative projects to help the company forward.

You have to bear in mind you might lose the ￡50,000.

The inherent nature of R&D is uncertain. At the end of the day, that’s why the government in most countries have R&D incentives and tax rebates help out.

Want to find out more about how you can save on R&D? At Innovolo we work closely with Catax Group, and together we can help you out on tax relief for R&D projects.

To innovate, companies may think that will cost them a lot of money, money that they don’t have. How do you tackle this challenge?

The question you need to ask yourself is, "can I afford not to #innovate?"

You can sit down with Blockbuster now and say, "I believe you were offered Netflix for ￡50million, you turned it down." Or to Kodak who didn’t want digital cameras, to Marks and Spencer’s who said, "Oh, no, we don’t do deliveries. And we don’t open on Sundays. We don’t have changing rooms."

Now Marks & Spencer are closing 100 stores down!

So, by all means, run away from innovation, don’t make the #investments. That is if you are willing to set your business up for failure.

In terms of the cost, if there’s is an issue, as long you have got the drive, you can always find a way around it.

The battleground is littered with companies that couldn’t afford to innovate. Now they can’t afford to open the doors.

It’s up to you. It’s the big "what if it goes wrong? What if it doesn’t work? What if it falls back."

You take the likes of Dyson Hoover’s. James Dyson, he failed 1,500 times and he’s now in was he worth ￡6.5billion and you think of Elon Musk, he fails three times seriously. Now worth an excess of ￡60billion!

So, if you’ve actually got the drive, put the fears aside, you can get you there and Innovolo can work with you to do whatever it takes.

What do you say to people who feel they’re giving more than they’ve been getting? Take a boss that does what a good leader does, but his people on his team don’t appreciate or don’t reciprocate it.

A very realistic question!

One of the things that work the best about having the mindset of "how can I help" and the #generosityculture is that idea of letting go of the outcome. Letting go of that expectation of reciprocity.

When you feel good about giving and helping, in return you get that feeling of "I’m so happy to help, I’m so happy to contribute".

Things will absolutely come back to you, from your employees and from others, however you need to let go of the idea that it has to be from a certain person or from a certain client.

That’s when the magic really happens.

It’s like the 80/20 rule, 80% of what you give is going to come from back from 20% of the people.

It's really key to be able to let go of where the results come from when they happen, and to just be generous because it feels like the right thing to do.

That’s when the results get really exponential and exciting.

We know that we need to innovate to stay ahead, but we can't seem to find the time to set aside for R&D and NPD. What should we do?   

One of the most common phrases people say when asked if they get involved in #Innovativeproducts is "we’ve got no #time".

Everyone’s in a whirlwind especially with the crazy year we have all had! Things get postponed and normally its the things that actually have the most long-term benefits. These tasks don't look terribly urgent. That is until the metal strikes the bone in the business and then they become very urgent and we find we need to push it through as quickly as we can which normally results in rushing and evidently #failure.

You need to make it urgent, if you don’t make it urgent, you’ll just keep on putting it off, procrastinating until it's too late. You can make it urgent by outsourcing or making it someone's specific job role. It’s really important that you have a part of your company that is dedicated and committed to #innovation.

#Outsourcing Innovation is a great solution. No stress, no bother, just leave it in capable hands to make sure it happens because otherwise it’s not going to happen! A lot of businesses today don't have that team available to dedicate themselves to New Product Development, and that is where the business slowly starts to fade away little by little.

That is where Innovolo come in

What will drive an Innovation Culture?

So when you add this theme of generosity, this way of being to your culture in your company, there are three ways that that’s going to breed or drive innovation.

1. The Mindset Shift

The first is the mindset shift. When you add the generosity culture to the way that you run your business, the mindset stops being how do we make more money? And it becomes, how can I help? Now, why does that matter? It matters because the greatest innovations in our history have come from people who are trying to solve problems we’re trying to help. Edison didn’t invent the lightbulb so that he could make a lot of money selling it. He invented the light bulb so that he could help people be productive in the darkest hours of the day. We think of Madam CJ Walker, who is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first self-made female millionaire, her product, which was a hair growth serum, she didn’t make it to become a millionaire, she made it because she had a scalp disorder that caused her to lose her hair. And she wanted to help others with the same problem. So when you help when you have that culture of generosity, and everyone is always thinking about how can I make this better? How can I help other folks, the ideas start to generate, and they come at people at the speed of light.

2. Caring for (not just leveraging) Your People

The second, when you pour into your people, instead of just leveraging them, there is not only a huge difference in your culture, but there is a huge increase in innovation. And here’s why. When you are just leveraging your people and you are getting out of them what you can for what you pay them, there is a sense of fear or a sense of I don’t want to mess up, I don’t want to disappoint anyone, the most important thing is that I do everything right every time. And we all know that to really innovate, we have to have a lack of fear, we have to be willing to make mistakes and willing to do things that might not end up exactly right and learn from them. And when you’re pouring into your employees, they know that you care about their development, about what they create, and about the experience as much if not more than you care about the results. And that creates a culture that can really innovate, you cannot innovate if you’re never allowed to make a mistake. And knowing that they’re cared about and valued as people gives them the freedom to get those ideas that might seem crazy in the moment, but might be what really changes things for you for the better.

3. Lasting vs Transactional Client Relationships

So lastly, pouring into your clients, that creates a different type of relationship. I talked about that a little bit in the trucking story. And there’s a lot more information to that where that client came back and was willing to actually pay more. So they could have exclusive contracts with that company, it really becomes an actual relationship instead of transactional, where you’re bouncing ideas off of each other. And as any leader knows, as much as we want to be the ones driving innovation in our company, most of the time it’s going to be your frontline employees, it’s going to be the folks that interact the most with your end users that are going to get the information that makes the most difference and can drive the most change in what you do in your company. So by pouring into your clients and making that the way that you do business now only is it more profitable, but it is driving dialogue that can lead to the very best ideas.

Should we intentionally invest time in business to be generous? What does that look like?

It can be as simple as putting some time on your calendar every week to plan to spend an hour or two touching bases with your team. Understand what’s going on, checking in on clients. It doesn’t have to be this huge investment of time!

Most of us who work out, we spend an hour a day in the gym. So, just spend an hour a day checking in on your clients and your staff, and just really touching base with them.

One of the first things people are going to say is, "I don’t have time to do that". You don’t have time not to! If you take the time to do that, you are going to be surprised at how much you’re empowered employees can take off of your plate, at how much proactively addressing concerns and questions that your clients have, reduces the time that you’re dealing with actual problems.

When you engage that way with your clients on a regular basis, your sales team isn’t going to have to prospect as much, because your reputation and the loyalty that you breed with the people that already worked with you is going to drive business to you.

How can I implement the generosity culture within my company?

1. Pour into Your People!

The best ideas are going to come from your clients. Give them what they want. Service them in a different way. Pour into that client. Fast forward and within six months, your company will be profitable. Investing in your people is when you pour into your people. You invest your time and give that value to the folks that are working for you.

2. Pour into your Community

Find ways whether it be locally or globally to make a difference in that community. When you want to have a wonderful environment for your community, you enrich the soil of that environment, you make yourself a really integral part of that community. Now what that also then goes and does, for not just the community but also your people, it gives them a way to give to the community. To have an even greater purpose than just their job gives them, that ability to have brand loyalty.

What would your people be like if instead of showing up because that’s their duty, they are pulled out of bed? How exciting could that be? And how could that help them better innovate?