As more and more white-collar jobs get siphoned away by not-so-friendly AI-Chat Bot Assistants, being innovative is one way to stay a step ahead of the robots.
What does it mean to be innovative?
Being innovative gets mixed up with being creative a lot of the time. Creativity is about generating novel and valuable ideas, the big idea, the 1%. On the other hand, innovation is about the implementation, the 99% of the effort, transforming those big ideas into tangible solutions.
That’s innovation.
Creativity has been in abundant supply at the big companies I’ve had the pleasure of working for and working at. Everyone is creative, and in a healthy organization, everyone will get to show off their creative chops at some point.
But when implementing those big creative ideas, fear often rules the day. Fear of failure, fear of rocking the boat, and the fear of stepping out of the status quo boundaries keep innovation at bay.
Jorge Barba at Game-Changer.net has a quick read, “Innovation Dies When Fear Rules,” that touches on what stands in the way of innovation: culture.
Leadership plays a pivotal role in fostering innovation. If your culture is not modeling innovation by eliminating the fear of failure from the top down, then you are not creating the conditions for innovation to thrive. As a leader, you can shape your organization’s culture and inspire your team to embrace innovation.
When people play it safe, innovation dies. A good leader is not afraid to fail and models how to learn from mistakes. Big ideas are great, but bringing those big ideas to life and creating concrete solutions is the most satisfying and fulfilling part of being in the professional services industry. It’s what keeps us motivated and excited about our work.
What steps do you take to ensure you don’t stifle innovation at your company? Cheers!
