Whenever
we think about successful innovators, we see them as extraordinary gifted
people. But actually this is not the case!! Anyone of us can be a first-class
innovator. Innovation is more about psychology than intellect. Dr. Martin
Ziarati defines the Innovator as a visionary, creative thinker, with the
ability to constantly think “outside the box”. They learn from role
models and from their peers. Some of the best innovations have come about
from simplify the process, rather than reinventing the wheel!
Think outside the box
Never bound
yourself to just your organisational structure, boundaries, rules
and responsibilities. That is not to say, these rules and boundaries
should be ignored but by nature, innovation has no boundaries and rules and it
tends to create its own categories. You should be free to do as you wish when
it comes to innovating and in a sense feel and see yourself as the ruler of
your own destiny.
So why not encourage and motivate yourself to
think about possible new ideas and solutions. Always keep in mind that
Innovation is more about psychology than intellect! Many people don’t initiate
and develop new things, because they fear of failure. Remember, every failure
teaches you to do things better next time. Always take a mistake as an
experiment rather than failure. Again this does say, the risk has to be
assessed and minimised. We can all learn a great deal from Thomas A.
Edison who said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t
work“.
As
a good practice, whenever a new idea strikes your mind note it down before
it get erased. Even that one that pops up in the middle of the night!!
Apply your idea in
practice
Generating tons of
ideas does not make sense unless you apply it in real situations. Once you have
an idea, you should start doing an experiment. First of all you should create a
prototype of your idea, and then plan testing it in a target market/people.
Collect the feedback and make the effective changes. Thus, you can minimise the
risk of a failure, and furthermore it will boost your confidence to a higher
level.
Networking
A good network always helps
you in every walk of life and business. It is a innovator’s key to success! It
is very difficult to be a master in every subject and/or area of interest.
Having a good network can help you achieve these milestones, which are
extremely hard to realise if you do it alone. Start articulating problems with
others and you will notice you are articulating a solution to that problem and
do not be surprised if you come up with more novel ideas.
Networking
does not mean just knowing many people, but knowing people with diverse
backgrounds, with different skill sets and who deal with a variety of issues.
Thus, you can be exposed to diverse ideas. You should spend a couple of hours
every week talking to whom you do not generally talk to, such as someone to
whom you met in conference or meeting or an ex-colleague. You will notice some
of them will tell you something interesting, one of them may let you know
something new and valuable, and that someone may give a blockbuster idea.
Ability to combine things together
The ability to merge
different questions, problems or ideas together is a key to innovation. One of
the big secrets of great innovators is that they always try to do things
differently than use the same approaches as others. It could be seen
that the skills to think differently comes about from acting differently.
Referring to the words of Gregersen, “Anyone can become a better innovator,
just by acting like one” says a great deal about thinking about innovation and
can help a company or an individual to become more effective innovator(s).
One
needs to simply feel like he/she is in the blue-sky and keep observing how
people do things from the top and then definitely you will spot new
opportunities for improvement. You can then experiment with any novel idea
spotted and get feedback from the people and take it to next level where
success will most probably be waiting for you.
Determination/Persistence
Determination is a key
to being an outstanding innovator. Sir James Dyson, is the epitome of
determination in the invention of using cyclonic separation to create a vacuum
cleaner. However, no manufacturer or distributor would handle his product in
the UK, as it would disturb the valuable market for replacement dust bags, but
somehow with very limited resources he set up his own manufacturing company. I
remember Sir James Dyson, when he said he excelled in long distance running: “I
was quite good at it, not because I was physically good, but because I had more
determination. I learnt determination from it.” One needs to have great faith
and a laser sharp focus on her/his idea and most importantly needs to do
work very hard until he/she achieves his/her goals. Innovators are hard
workers with an eye for new ideas; and this is substantiated by Edison who
said, “Invention is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration“,
Learn from people
Never end up with just
observing people, an idle innovator should always be ready to learn from
his/her competitors, so keep an eagle eye on your peers and competitors. If
they are doing something interesting which could be valuable for your business,
then you should not hesitate to take the idea and consider it for
implementation, perhaps even with a twist on it to differentiate it!
Whenever
you may go, such as a conference, project meeting or seminar, always watch how
the other people do things differently and try to engage with them and discuss
the issues and problems of mutual interest. Then, you will get a broader
perspective of the issue or the problem and you can learn how to look at the issue
or problem from different point of view/understanding.
A
thought for the day from Theodore Levitt to help you become a successful
innovator, “Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new
things” and if that is not enough then as Michael Lance says” Innovation is the
creation of the new or the re-arranging of the old in a new way”.
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