Innovate Your Employee Experience
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An organization's ability to generate new ideas and better ways to do things is critical to maintaining relevancy in a constantly evolving environment. Within your organization exists a multitude of diverse perspectives and heuristics that can be tapped to help solve big problems and create innovative solutions.
The author Steven Johnson calls this, “exploring the Adjacent Possible” and relates the search for innovation to a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself.
Creating a Culture of Innovation
InnovatEX is not a process, it's a management style that fosters a culture of innovation and is a visible way to include your employees in the success of the company. This inclusion is proof a company cares what its people think, and this motivation helps create employee loyalty.
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What is your first reaction when people come to you with an idea? Unfortunately, most of us react by immediately judging the merits of the idea without hearing any of the details. Now put yourself in their shoes. They intended to bring you an idea they felt added value, and before they even had the opportunity to explain, you've shot them down. How likely will it be they come to you again with an idea? What if that next idea is the one that would have helped you make your number this year?
A culture of innovation is one where ideas are encouraged and allowed to grow. Even if an idea isn't practical at the moment, it most likely contains some aspects that can be useful. I work with my clients to diagnose the current state of the innovative culture and provide an assessment on:
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The utilization of the organization's Cognitive Diversity (The different perspectives and heuristics within the organization)
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How the creative potential of the organization is accessed and utilized
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What organizational values (what is espoused) align with organizational norms (how things are)
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With this assessment, I can create a plan to increase an organization's innovative potential by working with leaders and managers to foster ideas in a way that maintains an employee's motivation and dignity. I'll also provide an action plan to increase innovative potential by:
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Utilizing Cognitive Diversity in decision making
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Understanding the creative process and how to optimize it
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Help leaders learn to ask provocative questions to help answer hard questions
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Adopt a process to explore new ideas in a way that does not negatively impact current operations
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Innovation is not a process that requires incremental time. Gathering people together in a room and asking them to innovate works counter to the way our brains process ideas. If innovation is baked into what you do daily, new ideas can flourish without taking time away from other important activities.
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