business challenges | Human-Centered Change and Innovation

The Biggest Challenge for Innovation is Organizational Inertia

GUEST POST from Stefan Lindegaard

I often talk about organizational inertia being the biggest obstacle for innovation but if this is true for your organization what should you look out for? Here’s my take.

Aligning with organizational goals and strategy: Innovation teams need to ensure that their ideas and initiatives are aligned with the broader goals and strategy of the organization. This can be challenging if there is a lack of clear communication or alignment between the innovation team and other parts of the organization.
Gaining support and buy-in: Innovation teams often need to gain support and buy-in from others within the organization in order to move forward with their ideas. This can be difficult if there is resistance to change or a lack of understanding of the value of the team’s ideas.
Overcoming cultural barriers and resistance to change: Many organizations have entrenched cultures and practices that can be resistant to change. This can make it difficult for innovation teams to gain support and buy-in for their ideas, and can even lead to resistance or pushback from others within the organization.
Navigating organizational structure and processes: Innovation teams may face challenges related to the structure and processes of their organization, such as bureaucratic red tape or a lack of clear decision-making processes.
Generating new and creative ideas: Innovation teams need to constantly come up with fresh ideas, which can be a challenging and pressure-filled task.
Delivering results quickly: In today’s fast-paced business environment, innovation teams often face pressure to deliver results quickly, which can be difficult if their ideas require a significant amount of time and resources to develop.
Communicating and collaborating effectively: Innovation teams often need to work closely with others, including other teams, departments, and even external partners. This can be challenging if team members have different backgrounds, perspectives, and communication styles.
Operating within constraints: Innovation teams often have to work within the constraints of limited budgets, resources, and other factors, which can make it difficult to pursue new ideas and initiatives.

Overall, these challenges can make it difficult for innovation teams to be effective and successful in driving innovation within their organizations.

How to address this is very much related the specific situation of an organization and in particular the root causes they deal with.

There is, however, no doubt that this has to dealt with from the top down in order to release the full potential of innovation for the organization.

Image Credit: Stefan Lindegaard, Pixabay

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Changing Mindsets: How to Take a Creative Approach to Business Challenges

GUEST POST from Art Inteligencia

Businesses of all sizes are constantly presented with a range of unique challenges that can disrupt operations, stretch resources, and inhibit growth. To successfully navigate these challenges and put a business on an upward trajectory, leaders need to employ creative problem-solving tactics and be willing to change their mindset. By taking a new approach to business challenges, leaders can find new solutions and put businesses on a path to success.

Case Study 1 – Zomato

One of the best ways to embrace a creative approach to problem-solving is by exploring examples from other businesses that have encountered similar challenges. For instance, Zomato, a New Delhi based restaurant search and delivery service, encountered a significant challenge when it was unable to offer delivery services to certain areas because of a lack of resources. Despite this obstacle, the company was able to think outside the box and find a solution from an unlikely source – a network of independent delivery people. By leveraging this new resource, Zomato was able to deliver food to locations it previously had no access to.

Case Study 2 – Shinola

Another example of a company that successfully adopted a creative approach to problem-solving is Shinola, the upscale Detroit-based watch manufacturer. The brand faced a significant challenge when it needed to scale up production to meet the high demand for its products. Instead of outsourcing production, the company chose to create a highly skilled and trained workforce from the local population. Not only did this strategy allow Shinola to increase its production capacity, but it also helped the local Detroit economy and provided long-term employment opportunities for residents.

Conclusion

These examples demonstrate the importance of adopting creative problem-solving tactics and the value of taking a new approach to business challenges. By looking beyond traditional solutions and exploring different sources, leaders can find the answers they need to take their business to the next level.

Too often, businesses find themselves stuck in traditional and outdated approaches to problem-solving. To successfully navigate the ever-changing landscape of business, leaders need to be open to examining new solutions and embracing the concept of change. Innovation and creativity are key ingredients for success. By speaking to a variety of experts, looking at successful examples from other businesses, and embracing creative problem-solving tactics, leaders can take their business to new heights.

SPECIAL BONUS: Braden Kelley’s Problem Finding Canvas can be a super useful starting point for doing design thinking or human-centered design.

“The Problem Finding Canvas should help you investigate a handful of areas to explore, choose the one most important to you, extract all of the potential challenges and opportunities and choose one to prioritize.”

Image credit: Pexels

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