Company Growth Comes from Inspiring Innovation

Posted on August 23, 2010
Filed Under Innovation, Talent-Management, Tips for Success | Leave a Comment

The Wall Street Journal ran a fascinating article today entitled “Who Has Innovative Ideas? Employees,” which stated that “Most great ideas for enhancing corporate growth and profits from the people who daily fight the company’s battles, who serve the customers, explore new markets and fend off the competition.” Namely, the employees.

According to the authors, “A lot of senior managers think the opposite: that the people around them don’t understand what’s needed or are incapable of seeing the big picture. But we say this often shows a signal lack of strategic courage and resolve. We say trust your own people.” The key to harnessing employee innovation is learning how to tap and foster it, using tools the authors refer to as “Innovation Communities.”

Innovation communities tap the potential of internal talent by bringing internal resources together to solve a problem or come up with the next big idea. They can be created at little cost and can hit the ground running as the employees are already well aware of the company’s goals, challenges and target audiences.

The authors give seven characteristics of a successful innovation community:

In this case, as with most of the management issues we have discussed, communication and trust are key. Allow your employees to work outside of the box and develop great solutions. Keep an open line of communication and be open to new ideas. As the authors point out, “As past downturns have shown, the current economic weakness offers new opportunities for those who seize them. Companies with imagination and courage can do more than tread water amid the slump.”

Read the full article here!

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