Innovation is absolutely essential to the growth of any organization. It was Albert Einstein himself who said that anyone who continue to do what they have always done will never get anything other than what they already have. Innovation is also not something only large organizations need to think about or even have the capacity to do. While it is certainly true that those with the bigger budgets also have the bigger innovation labs, some of which are actually purpose-built, even the smallest organization in the world can have a semblance of an innovation lab.In fact, all organizations must focus on this.
Innovation Labs Are Key to the Success of an Organization
Businesses with huge budgets sometimes have a full innovation department or even separate innovation labs. Google is an example of this, but so is Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, and so on. It is certainly true that the small mom and pop store down the road does not have the capacity to build a department of this size or to invest as much money into developing ideas that are most likely going to be pipe dreams. However, every business can put at least some time aside for people to come together and think innovatively, coming up with new ideas that can drive the organization forward. whether this is done in a separate building somewhere and Silicon Valley or around a desk in a corner shop makes no difference.
All organizations, no matter what size they are, should make innovation of priority. Running innovation workshops is an ideal way to do this. Unfortunately, in corporate environments, there is still a lack of space and place for innovation. The main resource that has to be allocated however, is time. People need to have time outside of their regular workload to come up with ideas, and this is not something that should be done as an afterthought. It is something that will actually drive the success of the business as a whole. That is worth making time for.
It is heartening to see that more and more companies are now taking part in innovation training. This shows that they truly are interested in the potential and the creativity that each of their employees can bring. It recognizes that individuals have their own sets of competencies, processes, talents, knowledge, and more. By focusing on innovation, a business starts to take a holistic approach towards generating more profits. It also starts to develop a true vision in terms of where the business wants to go and how it will get there.
Innovation is difficult. Embracing innovation itself is already a form of innovation. It means changing an existing culture and that is perhaps the most difficult thing to do in any business. Again, it doesn’t matter how old that business is, what size it is, what its budget is, or where it ranks on the Fortune 500 list. Doing things differently, which is what innovation is, is always difficult. But equally, it is an absolute necessity.
