All innovation comes from an idea that started with a problem and ended with a solution. It seems simple, right?
There’s just a small — though very important — differentiator: Everyone can think of problems, but not everyone has the same ability to come up with solutions. That is why collaboration is such a valuable tool. One person might see the problem clearly, but it might take the perspective of another to see the solution clearly.
If your goal is to have your business find the answers for the problems and pain points of your customers, then you need to set your company up to successfully collaborate with the best and brightest in your niche. By following these steps, I’ve found collaboration and innovation can become much easier:
Understand your starting point.
Over time, the knowledge each company brings to its specific niche becomes even more specialized. This is because you get better at what you do and can solve the issues that come up for those specific pain points.
However, to find a solution to a customer’s problem, your knowledge might be too specialized to see a valuable solution. It is vital that you have an understanding of what you know as a company — and what you do not know. That way, you see where the gaps are that you need to fill in.
Many leaders today reach out to startups or collaborate with individuals from completely different industries in order to identify these gaps. My personal favorite (and what I’ve found is one of the most powerful ways to learn) is working with children. What if you asked your employees’ kids to test your product in order to challenge your processes and assess your operations? It can be insightful and a true eye-opener to start asking your next-generation customers (as well as your next-generation talents) for their perspective.
Combine teams to improve the knowledge base.
To make sure your company can come up with as many innovative solutions as possible, make sure your knowledge base is vast. This can be done by mixing employees from different departments and having them work as a combined team on selected company challenges. This way, they can bring in their specific skills and expertise, as well as learn from and train their new team members — an excellent and fast way to build and share knowledge inside your organization.
As previously mentioned, it can be very insightful to conduct “experts workshops” with external experts such as young entrepreneurs, influencers, representatives from suppliers, artists, etc. to get their perspectives on the challenge the team is facing. For extra credit, make sure these teams have access to some guidance or a toolbox of creative and innovate techniques so they get support when trying to come up with innovative solutions.
If your teams are unable to work together at first, provide some team-building exercises to help them learn how to rely on one another and value others’ opinions. The more closely each team works together, the sooner their collaboration can result in innovative thinking. Again, for extra credit, make sure the office space is set up in a way that fosters and supports collaboration and creative brainstorming sessions (yes, innovation is often more of a “people” thing than a “technology” thing).
Encourage people to collaborate on all aspects of a business.
While many believe they already understand how to collaborate, your company might need your teams to work together differently than they are used to. For example, by simply taking two ideas from different use cases or product lines and putting them together, you might get a completely new solution, or maybe even a new business model. However, if you take two known ideas and your teams work together to add in one whole new part, it might be just different enough from what has been tried in the past to create a unique, new and innovative solution.
It’s important that your people understand the power of trying something unique in order to come up with a solution your clients will love. Nevertheless, doing minor adjustments to an existing way of doing it can also sometimes be just enough of what’s needed. The bottom line is that as long as your teams remain open and are willing to give different perspectives and collaboration a try, they are on a good track.
Many companies have taught the value of collaboration to their employees by simply encouraging them to keep striving for new answers. They show through the organization’s culture that they value communication and an agile leadership style in all avenues of how they do business. These companies give rewards to those who continually step up and provide more than what is expected of them. They are set up to listen to new ideas regularly, and they truly understand the concept of “fail fast and fail forward.”
If you want your company to have successful, innovative ideas and collaborative people, then you need to encourage collaboration at every level of the company. Even brand-new employees should be encouraged to be a part of this practice, as you never know where the next breakthrough will come from.
Conclusion
The good news is that your company has all of the innovation potential. You simply need to ensure that you are set up to collaborate with the best talents. Make yourself aware of your shortcomings, and fill in those gaps with people from the outside who can elevate your company. If you are not sure where to begin or what shortcomings you might have, reach out to sparring partners who can show you how to bring your company up to the next level of innovation and collaboration. After all, fast innovation capabilities will turn more and more into a key currency in the digital economy.
This article appeared in its original version on forbes.com late 2019.
Today’s business world is different than it used to be, requiring business leaders to have new sets of skills to succeed. The sheer amount of responsibility that CEOs now must face can be incredibly overwhelming. The term that many apply to this concept is VUCA, which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. This concept shows how the state of the world is in constant flux, which makes leading far more difficult. However, having the right tools can make that prospect a little easier. Let me share with you today some tools many successful entrepreneurs, young leaders and progressive startup founders use that can help you stay in control no matter how uncertain or complex a situation may seem.
1. 360° Talking
In an uncertain environment, communication skills are easily able to make any situation better. Thus, today’s entrepreneurs need to be able to ask the right questions to determine the problem, delegate tasks to the right people or departments and explain how their knowledge and skills can resolve the situation. These skills can reduce the uncertainty of many situations and bring a level of control to an otherwise ambiguous situation.
2. Uber-Management
To get into a CEO position or any position of leadership, people must have above-average management skills. However, in today’s world, it is more important than ever before. Projects have more facets than they used to, with more people in multiple locations and with a plethora of cultural backgrounds required to make those projects successful. Juggling these facets, the people, the budgets and all of the details require someone who can manage a lot while still staying focused on the final objectives.
3. Talent Combination
As mentioned, today’s projects are more complicated than ever before with more people involved. Getting these people to work together is one of the most effective ways of reducing the unknowns of any project while still achieving peak performance. People may be in the office, work remotely or some combination of both, making the ability to get these teams working together essential — and success critical!
4. Lateral And Critical Thinking
Some people accuse millennial entrepreneurs and young leaders of not having lateral or critical thinking skills that are on the same level as those of workers in the generations before them. The question, though, is not which generation is better at problem thinking. The key question is how to improve personal development skills to be able to see what is going on and come up with solutions. It’s critical to alter these solutions to fit a myriad of problems, and people need to be able to implement these solutions into the problems effectively. If one solution does not work to reduce the problem, the solutions will need to undergo alterations to work as imagined.
5. Collaborative Know-How
One of the most sought-after skills for current entrepreneurs and successful leaders is collaboration. This needs to be within the company, with customers or clients and with any other stakeholders. Doing it right allows for increased company performance, as well as more innovative solutions for the company to bring to the market.
6. Underutilized Inspiration
Being inspirational is something that many overlook when it comes to leadership. Today’s CEOs — more than ever before — need to be role models that employees can emulate. Doing so boosts the organization’s culture and allows for a more cohesive experience when a customer or client works with people at different levels within the company. Plus, it allows everyone in the company to reach out in an attempt to reach the same goals.
7. Vital Flexibility
Stress is an inevitable result of the constant change that comes with today’s business environment. Point taken! That is why flexibility is so vital to successful CEOs. It helps avoid some of the stress that comes with these fluctuations and allows for a more agile way of working. Additional plus: Being flexible and working with agile tools is the only way to stay current with fast-moving market trends and consumer behaviors. Evolution is going to happen during every role that we play, so if you want to become a high performer, you need to be flexible enough to evolve with it.
The more of these skills that young entrepreneurs learn to master, the less the VUCA world is going to challenge them. When your goal is to have more healthy high performance in your life as an entrepreneur or young leader, let’s focus on these seven must-haves to surpass even your own expectations and learn to be the leader your company wants and deserves! Reach out to us at braininspa today and let’s jointly work on your skills – because we care for you!
This article was originally published on Forbes.com in October 2019.
A couple of years ago, organizations of all sizes were proud to have their high-caliber strategy department where some young and not-so-young smart brains thought about the best direction for the company given the current situation, anticipated challenges, and upcoming trends. Today things are different. The same companies face fundamental strategic uncertainties, which question the basis of their business models. How will this impact strategy work at your company? Well, consider those 4 key trends we see today in setting the right priorities for your company’s future
1) Digital is really your biggest challenge!
Although this term resounded throughout the land over the last months and years, it is still the most important challenge to master. This 4th industrial revolution will shake existing business models and supply chains to a level where they collapse or re-invent themselves. It is not a question of which industry you belong to because digital does not stop at music, taxi or retail! It needs smart answers to managing these disruptions – sitting, waiting and watching are NOT an option!
2) Expect a death in a decade!
More than half of the business models that you know today won’t be successful nor possible in the future. The question we are so used to about our USP and our competitive advantage is no more critical but will be replaced by a temporary advantage. Bundling the right services, products and channels for a period of time in order to serve existing consumer needs is the new approach.
3) Change your strategy development!
There aren’t only new requirements regarding your strategy development when it comes to the content but also for the process of doing so. Prepare for systematical and analytical capabilities combined with a big portion of flexibility. Allowing for and learning by mistakes is not a lip service but existing practice. To plan is one thing and will be still necessary but always leave room in your best plan for some spontaneous adjustments.
4) Strategy is a team approach!
Days are gone when the smartest brains in your strategy department were considered the “Gods in suits” nor is it the task of your c-suite team to define the strategy and then delegate down the hierarchy to execute. Make all your employees – regardless of education, generation and location- part of the process. Even expand your strategy development team to the vertical and horizontal supply chain partners where appropriate.
If you and your company’s strategy team feel a bit like Columbus and his team with a wooden armada sent to discovering virgin soul, make sure you don’t fall in love with your Santa Maria but adjust the ship, the material of your boat, the route and the crew constantly to explore and enjoy one competitive advantage after the other.
There is a feeling some people call “being overwhelmed.” It makes them unsure about where to start because there are a trillion things requiring their attention. Others call it “being off-balance.” Something feels just not right. And then there are those who keep repeating what nobody can hear anymore because everyone is feeling the same thing: “I am so stressed. I don’t even know where to start.”
Do You Know Your Priorities?
Whatever you call it, the feeling is prominent these days, and it is often a sign that you are not living by your priorities. Maybe you live on autopilot and take care ofwhatever others require you to do, what you are supposed to do, or what your family or boss requested that you do. Isn’t it time to get your balance back, to be your own master and complete those to-dos that bring you closer to your desired goals? To do this, it is critical that you define which priorities you have for your life, specifically right now, for this exact moment in your life.
Between Stimulus And Response, You Have The Freedom To Choose
Maybe you’ve heard of Viktor Frankl, a Jewish psychiatrist who was imprisoned in a Nazis concentration camp but survived and wrote a book called Man’s Search for Meaning. It was during these agonizing days when Frankl became aware of what would later be quoted a million times: “Between stimulus and response, you have the freedom to choose.” Frankl realized that whatever happened to him (the stimulus), he himself (and nobody else) had the freedom to choose his response to the stimulus.
Saying No To Everything — Almost Everything
Transferring this idea to our daily struggle means that at any given moment, you have a chance to choose. Say yes or no; do or don’t; go left or right. Most importantly, once you have identified your vision and your key priorities in life, you should say no to everything that distracts you or takes away time from your priorities.
Assuming you have a clear vision of where you are going with your life, and you have defined your goals, then you can judge which activities help you go in the right direction. In assessing whether something presented to you is a priority and should get your time and attention, ask yourself only two simple questions:
1. Is this really my subject, my problem, or somebody else’s? This question should help you identify who has the ownership of this topic and if that subject is important for you or has an impact on your bigger goals.
2. Will there be consequences that affect my goals if I choose not to respond? This question should help you understand how to prioritize this task, as well as lead you to consider what action is required.
If one or both of these questions is answered with no, there is no required action from you, so either disregard the task/topic presented to you or put it on your “maybe of interest someday” list. Answering both of these questions with yes means that you need to deal with the subject, allowing for your time and attention. Finally, consider the three-minute-rule. If the required action derived from this request takes less than three minutes of your time, and you can do it right away — get it done. If the task needs more than three minutes, delegate it and make sure it shows up on your “waiting for” list.
You can also put a date on the task to indicate when you will schedule time in your calendar to work on it. I learned from true productivity masters to schedule meetings for less time than you might otherwise. For example, 15 minutes instead of the commonly used 30 minutes. Without question, this allows you to fit many more potential discussions or meetings into your calendar and helps participants focus on what really matters. Last but not least, you could place this task that takes more than three minutes on your “next action items” list. Maybe you structure this list by topic or project. This “next action items” list is your No. 1 go-to place when it comes to defining your day or your week.
This article was first published with Forbes®.com.
One of the most common challenges my senior management clients face is how to foster curious, high-performing, healthy and engaged employees during an era in which constant change and innovation are keys to success (see also Leadership In The Digital Age). The answer is actually simple: The No. 1 factor for preparing employees across functions and business units to become a true asset to the business is trust. And trust doesn’t cost money. It starts at the leadership level, with the behavior of each and every leader.
But nearly all of my clients overlook this. Instead, they expect to hear suggestions like invest more budget in talent development programs, approve requests for more team-building workshops, hire the latest VR-enabled training gadget, offer more flexible work time and other perks, and so on. These are all good ideas and, for sure, they can pay off, but it is trust that makes the real difference.
Why trust? Because trust has the power to inspire and influence. It’s the glue that bonds us to each other and turns threads of connections into steel cables. Trust is among the strongest known predictors of a country’s wealth and it is the basis for long-term investments, motivation, engagement, and innovation. The 2015 Edelman Trust Reporteven ranked trust as the essential factor for innovation. Yet leaders across the globe do a lousy job in building trust with their teams. Although we know from research that key trust-building leadership attributes are beyond the 50% importance rank, only 20% of leaders meet that expected level.
Can you build trust? Yes, of course! Can you do this easily? No, not at all! It takes time, and the trust and reputation you build over years can be destroyed and ruined within seconds. Nevertheless, there are always a few steps you can take to improve:
Talk open-book.
Don’t tell your people only half of the truth – be honest with them. Tell them the full story, explain where you stand, and demonstrate integrity. Leadership isn’t about being the smart one keeping secrets from a stupid crowd of employees. Be transparent and get feedback.
Correct wrongs.
Remember how you told your kids or were told by your parents to say “sorry” if you did something wrong or to fix the sandcastle if you destroyed it on purpose? How come we forget to apply the same principle as adults in the business world? If we as leaders mess up, we should apologize and try to fix our mistake.
See people, not hierarchies.
In almost all the large, medium and small organizations that I’ve worked with, there is a phrase about demonstrating respect written into each organization’s core values. Make sure that you apply this in your daily business life — play fair, play kind, and be respectful regardless of age and gender, and most importantly, regardless of hierarchy.
Do what you said.
Again, this is one of those attributes that we value most and try to teach our next generation. But it’s all worthless if we ourselves don’t live up to being trustworthy, keeping our commitments, and doing what we promised or said we would do.
Listen with five senses.
We experience a lot of information all day (and night) long. Make time for face-to-face conversations with your team members. Then, make sure you listen first, go back and ask for clarification, and then ask for feedback. Listen with all your senses — because sometimes our eyes and our hearts are better listeners than our ears.
Building trust takes time, but investing in these steps now will help you, your employees and your organization succeed.
This article was first published with Forbes®.com
