“Not all ideas are new. When you generate innovative ideas, make room for old ideas that have been around, but have never gotten a decent chance to advance.”
Occasionally, someone participating in a strategy workshop filled with innovative ideas will complain that a lot, or maybe all (REALLY? ALL?) the ideas already existed in the organization.
That used to bug the hell out of me whenever it would happen because we were there to generate new ideas. Lots of new ideas. GREAT NEW IDEAS.
Over time, I realized that we were really working with a client to develop winning business strategies.
Sometimes that includes coming up with new, innovative ideas. Other times it means giving old ideas a new day and putting solid tactics and strategic project management planning behind them to move them from ideas to implementation.
Now, when designing a strategy workshop, we often start with time for participants to share ideas they are already bringing with them at the start. This lets them get the ideas out there for others to consider so they can focus on other creative thinking. It also provides a check when someone says there were no innovative ideas. If that happens, we can compare the final ideas and strategies to see if they REALLY DID show up in the starting list of ideas. Typically, they aren't present among the starting ideas!
Whether an innovative idea is old or new is less relevant than moving innovative ideas into winning business strategies.
If that’s what’s ahead for you this year, let’s talk about working together to make it happen! – Mike Brown
Facing Innovation Barriers? We Can Help!
Are you facing organizational innovation barriers related to:
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The fear of change?
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Scarce resources?
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Limited innovation perspectives?
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An overly-internal focus?
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Multiple innovation challenges?
We have free Brainzooming eBooks for you to help navigate barriers and boost innovation!
