Being Innovative

Early in your career, advancement is generally easier and is just a matter of doing "more"……more tasks, bigger tasks, more responsibility.  But, transitioning to senior levels may require a different approach - being more innovative.  Senior members of the team are usually expected to bring new solutions, approaches, and ideas to the problems the team tackles.  These expectations can best be met by those on the team that are the most innovative.

Innovative solutions can often lead to improved efficiencies, reduced costs, or new product lines.  Before we look at some techniques that could help you be more innovative, let's talk about some of the benefits of adopting this mindset.

• Opportunities to lead - those who provide thought leadership are often the ones given the chance to lead the efforts to implement those ideas.
• Demonstrates value - those who provide the most value are often promoted fastest; by being the one to solve difficult problems, you can give yourself an edge.
• Drives learning - innovation requires learning new skills and staying abreast of advancements in your field.
• Inspire teammates - by facing difficult problems with curiosity and determination in order to find a solution, others on the team will follow suit resulting in an elevation of the capabilities of the team.

With some of the key benefits outlined, we turn towards some techniques that you can  leverage to encourage more innovative thinking.  Some of these techniques will work better in person, but several of them can be used in a remote setting, so regardless of whether your company has deemed there to be a Return To Office, you can still find ways to be innovative.

• Host brainstorming sessions - whether in-person or virtual, hold sessions where anything and everything is considered a viable solution.  Spend the first half of the session just listing out possible solutions, regardless of how absurd the idea seems.  Then, as new ideas slow, transition to analyzing each idea.  Don't consider why an idea WON'T work until every idea has been reviewed as to why it WOULD work.  This will ensure that each idea has had adequate consideration and not dismissed unfairly.
• Bring together cross-functional teams - by working with people in other areas, you may be able to find parallels within their respective fields that can be applied in novel ways to your problem.  Additionally, it can help you strengthen your network making it easier to implement the solution once identified.
• Schedule "thinking" time - one way to foster innovation is to schedule regular time on your calendar to just sit and think.  During this scheduled time, turn off all distractions and if possible, get away from your normal workstation.  Innovating is a skill and you build skill through repetition and practice.  By scheduling recurring time to just think, over time, you'll find that you are able to envision ideas and solutions with less and less effort.
• Create prototypes - prototypes allow you to test aspects of an idea without focusing on a complete solution.  Proving smaller complex pieces reduces the overall risk of adopting an unfamiliar approach and allows the cycle of innovation to proceed faster.

Regardless of the techniques you use, there are several tools that can aid you as you work on ideas.

• Whiteboards - whiteboards are one of my favorite tools because they allow you to capture notes or quickly edit as you think through ideas.  Using multiple colored pens provide simple ways to categorize your notes or to make important parts stand out.
• Idea prompts - There are numerous apps and websites that will generate random words or random prompts.  There are also physical books that offer thinking strategies.  Using these types of tools allow you to contemplate the problem from angles that you may not normally consider.
• Idea diagrams - There are also several different popular brainstorming diagrams such as mindmaps, fishbones, flowcharts, bubble maps, and affinity diagrams.  The structure of a standard diagram can help ensure that your ideas have traceability back to the problem you are trying to solve.

There is no one "right" way for being innovative, but through continued practice, you can get better at coming up with new and novel ideas.  Not all of them will be "good" or "great" but by honing the skill you begin being adaptable to unfamiliar situations and open yourself to being receptive of new ideas.

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