How Innovation Spurs Productivity

Innovation is the cornerstone to any successful endeavor.

Innovation is necessary in almost every successful achievement. We need a vibrant influx of ideas to market target niches and make our brands stronger.

Innovation can result in breakthrough changes to new or fundamentally changed products and services that can radically alter what companies sell and generate major gains in revenue and profits. Examples of radical innovation include Facebook, the Internet, penicillin, ATM and iPad.

Incremental changes can be in response to evolving customer needs, or the result of ideas emerging from research labs or elsewhere.

Examples of incremental change to products include Microsoft’s Windows 7, Apple’s second generation iPad, and niche food products (e.g., 10 kinds of tomato sauce).

Examples of incremental change to services include online registration systems, drive-through coffee such as Tim Horton’s, the spa as a one-stop source for all beauty needs, and same-day dry cleaning.

Innovation plays a key role in our personal lives too. There are plenty of innovations for staying healthy, happy and prosperous and finding the right activities and people to make our lives rich and full.

We need fresh new ways to keep a marriage strong and healthy. Our finances often need to be revised and stay current with today’s challenges. There are no shortages of need for parenting innovations.

We can’t just talk about innovation. We have to encourage, support and execute it.

Here a 3 ways to develop the skill-set to become a top innovator.

Write down all your ideas

Keep a notebook and write down all your ideas as they come to mind. Even if they sound crazy, write them down.

Crazy is sometimes the foundation for a really great idea. When you have a list of great ideas you can rate them. Which one jumps off the page?

Form an innovation group

Many mastermind groups meet on a weekly or monthly basis and brainstorm ways to launch new ideas or market new products. There are personal mastermind groups as well.

People who are committed to making positive changes in their lives and take on challenges of high-quality living. You can meet on any topic or have very focused groups. It’s entirely up to you.

Become goal oriented

Take each area of your life and ask yourself:

What is working?
What’s not perfect yet?
What am I willing to do to make this the way I want?
How can I do this and enjoy the process?

Cloverleaf Innovation, a marketing consulting company in Chicago has a description of innovation here:

Unique ideas optimized to increase potential for positive, profitable results.

Productivity has a direct link to innovation in 3 ways.

Innovation provokes creativity

When we’re engaged in the creative process we are pouring our heart and soul into the work.

We aren’t watching the clock or worried about what others are doing instead. Our power and energy is on making ideas flourish and maximizing results. It’s a process that organizations must engage in to succeed in the 21st Century.

Innovation keeps us competitive

Finding external innovators and innovations that can be leveraged inside your organization will keep you one step ahead of your competition.

It’s far more productive to be heading powerfully in the direction of our choosing then to be stuck somewhere you’d rather not be. It moves us beyond what we’ve already accomplished.

Innovation challenges our fears

J.K. Rowling puts it beautifully in this simple quote,

“If you’re holding out for universal popularity I’m afraid you’ll be in this cabin for a very long time.”

Encourage your employees at all levels to drive continuous innovation. Improving productivity using innovation clearly helps us develop a life by design and achieve the success of a profitable business.

About the author: Carrie Wynne is the author of 10 Ways to be Deliriously Happy – How to Live an Inspired Life. She conducts personal development workshops based on the principles in her book showing others how to connect to the power within themselves and develop mental strategies to create an incredible life. Carrie often writes for Cloverleaf on topics such as innovation and rebranding. As a professional sales consultant she also offers training, coaching, and sales seminars. Connect with Carrie on Twitter.

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