Innovation is often described as “something different that creates value.” And while “creating value” might sound great, it’s the “something different” that we often struggle with.
Humans don’t like change.
We might say we do. But “different” is unknown. It’s unfamiliar. And it’s uncomfortable. It requires us to change in some way, whether we're changing our attitudes, our processes, or our current ways of thinking.
Nobody wants to feel uncomfortable. And that’s precisely why every bright idea you come up with is met with a “hmm” and a “haw”.
So, your first challenge is to convince enough people that the juice is worth the squeeze. In other words, you must convince your stakeholders that their temporary discomfort in exploring new ideas and entertaining the prospect of change will create a better tomorrow.
But how?
This week, I learned more about the two most common roadblocks to innovation and what you can do to move past them.
The biggest and most frustrating roadblock to innovation is our natural tendency to resist change.
Many organizations will continue doing what they’ve always done simply because it’s always worked. Even if there are, admittedly, better and far more efficient ways of doing it.
But familiarity is comfortable, it contains no surprises, and it’s predictable. Investors like predictability, and companies like having happy investors.
So, risk aversion is a completely understandable part of the human condition. But, as we’ve seen with the advent of new technologies and ways of doing things, those who never change are left behind.
As military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun Tzu once wrote:
“The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.”
The best way to overcome this resistance to change is through clear communication.
If stakeholders aren’t aware of the benefits of change — and equally, the risks of not changing—they have no motivation to risk that comfort and familiarity they have with the current way of doing things.
But inspiring that willingness to change requires a compelling challenge, and a vision for what the world will look like if we meet that challenge.
This is where a good discovery and idea management tool like Acclaim Ideas can help.
Our team uses Acclaim Ideas to share brand-new ideas with each other — even when these ideas are still in an embryonic state.
In fact, I find that the earlier you can share an idea with your team, the better. That way, you can use their feedback to improve and build better iterations of your idea before you fully commit. Just be prepared to make a case for why your idea aligns with your organization’s mission, vision and values. Then, open the floor to discussion.
The great thing about using Acclaim Ideas is that it lets you invite stakeholders to judge and score each idea on its level of desirability, feasibility, viability, and alignment with your strategy. So you can evaluate how much users actually want or need your idea, whether you can feasibly build it, if you can viably sell and market it, and whether it aligns with your business objectives.
Discover why evaluating your ideas against desirability, feasibility, viability and strategy is so important to your product or feature success in our free guide here.
During this collaborative process, you’ll find that no one wants to be the person to completely shut down a new idea, even if they may not be fully on board with it. Welcome their feedback and incorporate what you deem valuable.
This will allow you to make an even stronger case for your idea in the next round.
Organizations can get caught in the trap of focusing too much on short-term goals and immediate concerns — at the expense of long-term planning and strategic thinking.
Sound familiar?
While short-term thinking can help organizations stay agile and responsive in a rapidly changing environment, it can have a profoundly negative impact on innovation.
That’s because short-term thinking traps organizations into a perpetual posture of reaction instead of action, as well as making them less willing to invest in high-risk, high-reward projects that have the potential to generate significant long-term benefits.
Additionally, organizations with a short-term outlook are less likely to allocate sufficient resources to research and development, exploring emerging technologies, or monitoring market trends. Which can really hinder their ability to stay ahead of the competition.
To move past this roadblock, explore strategies to shift your organization’s mindset to a more balanced mix of both long- and short-term thinking.
While you might not be able to single-handedly change your organization's culture of short-term thinking, you can certainly influence it by implementing the following strategies:
By implementing these strategies, you’ll sow the seeds for both short- and long-term thinking.
Organizations small and large resist change. Heck, I’m resistant to change in my own life in more ways than I’d like to admit.
But when you’re interested in innovating current products and processes, you must address the most common roadblocks to innovation and employ strategies for overcoming those roadblocks.
Paired with the above strategies, Acclaim Ideas helps you cultivate an environment that promotes innovation and navigate the challenges of change. This will ultimately lead to happier customers and increased profits.