To remain competitive, fostering a workplace that embraces continuous innovation is essential. Otherwise, you may quickly be outdone by forward-thinking competitors, making it harder for your company to remain a leader in your sector.
Strategic thinking is often at the core of innovation, so creating an environment where that mindset isn’t just encouraged but also rewarded is critical. If you want to know how you can keep continuous innovation at the forefront of everyone’s minds, here are three strategies to explore.
While most company leaders use tools to help monitor performance, many neglect to actively observe their workforce. By observing your employees, you can find answers to important questions, like how tasks are completed, what is or is not working, how your organizational values are displayed, and whether workers fully understand your missing strategic priorities, ensuring they can connect them to their daily tasks.
Often, observing your employees more closely requires a break from your routine. Consider auditing meetings held by other teams, speaking with customers about their experience, and reaching out to your staff to learn about operational inefficiencies or disruptive roadblocks. Then, you can use that information to help align internal activities with your larger vision, getting everyone focused on the proper areas.
If you want to be innovative, then you may need to embrace new ways of thinking and assessing. For example, divergent thinking involves imagining the future without any boundaries, encouraging everyone to disregard convention and get creative while reducing the use of judgment or quick criticism. Alternatively, convergent thinking works to narrow down from a list of options, analyzing potential pathways using logic, debate, and reasoning to eliminate approaches that aren’t ideal.
Learning to balance analytical and big-picture thinking is also beneficial. While maintaining an overview is critical, it is equally important to be able to drill down and examine the details.
Encouraging leaders to embrace interdisciplinary thinking and expertise is similarly beneficial for innovation. When managers understand how various departments and teams interact and connect, they develop a more holistic organizational view, allowing them to be more strategic when making decisions that impact the business at large.
Praise can go a long way when you want to create a culture that encourages innovation. Recognizing the efforts of your employees, even if the ideas are not pursued, shows that their way of thinking is appreciated.
Make sure to recognize any victories, no matter their size. If a worker allows you to improve efficiency in even the smallest way, let them know that their contribution is valued.
Similarly, examine the input from employees at all levels, including the entry-level ranks. Whenever strategic thinking is used by a team member, highlight their contribution to encourage them to develop this thinking skill further.
By using the three strategies above, you can encourage continuous innovation in the workplace. If you want to learn more, the staff at nTech wants to hear from you. Contact us to speak with a knowledgeable member of our team today and see how our strategic thinking expertise can benefit you.