The word ‘innovation’ in the context of the business world is likely to bring to mind R&D labs, start-up ventures, among others. Innovators though are pretty much everywhere –factory floor, HR department, even the C-suite. Innovation is less of a department, more a mindset that must permeate an entire enterprise. What really drives innovation is insight, which can be defined as “an imaginative understanding of an internal or external opportunity that can be tapped to improve efficiency, generate revenue, or boost engagement”. Insights could be as diverse as market dynamics, customer needs, or organizational (internal) operational issues.
Many Fortune 500 companies were founded and guided by the insight about customer demand. The Body Shop, for instance, held up the belief that animal-testing practices were crucial to consumers of beauty products. No denying that organizational insights are pregnant with the possibilities they hold, and can immensely improve operational efficiencies and outcomes. The question therefore arises, where are they to be found?
While some great ideas come forth fortuitously, others may be derived through a systematic approach. Seven “Insight Channels” could be powerful indicators for innovation. By running through each of these periodically, organizations can arrive at valuable growth ideas.
Anomalies–Identifying deviations from standard practices and norms are crucial in throwing up valuable clues. Innovators tend to arrive at information that holds up opportunities while poring over data –deviant patterns and surprise findings often conceal valuable insights waiting to be unraveled and worked upon.
Confluence–With several macro trends doing the rounds and in certain ways gaining control of our lives, new opportunities can be conceived and explored at the areas where they intersect and coalesce. It helps to study current trends, social habits, and people’s pursuits of interest that are of relevance to one’s business/organization. The following example illustrates the concept. Combining an aging population (a demographic trend) with mobile connectivity (a technological trend) and rising healthcare costs (an economic trend)can give birth to unique services pertaining to remote healthcare monitoring for seniors.
Frustrations–Interestingly our irritations and annoyances in life can also ignite the innovative spark. It is important to investigate and identify inadequacies and shortcomings in the current practice/system, as also customer pain points vis-a-visproduct, services, or solutions. Putting themselves in the shoes of customers, stakeholders, and colleagues, innovators study the handicaps/gaps closely, and thereafter build on that.
Orthodoxies–Innovation may be promoted by questioning tried and tested methods that automatically yield expected outcomes, as also by examining beliefs held sacrosanct for prolonged periods. Conventional practices and approaches often block alternative thinking and innovation. Introducing and implementing changes may be challenging especially with people reluctant to embrace new tasks. With evolving business ethos and practices, orthodoxies must be weeded out.
Extremities–Businesses concern themselves with mainstream stakeholders, but at times “positive deviants” (term coined by Richard Pascale of Oxford University) emerge as wellspring of ideas. “Positive deviants may be visionary customers who can help you see trends before they become mainstream….They may be enlightened shareholders who can help shape your company’s strategy”. Innovators thus pay close attention to the fringes of stakeholder groups too.
Voyages–When the going gets slow, innovation ideas can be derived from making ‘voyages’ i.e. stepping out of regular roles and environment, and learning from all members in the ecosystem. Besides understanding the changing needs and behaviors in the shifting sands of the business world, on-the-ground research and interaction with various stakeholders can help organizations provide cutting-edge solution seven before consumers have been able to fathom or define their exact needs.
Analogies–Innovation can also be imported, as it were, from other teams, business units, organizations, or industries. Innovation need not always call for invention, but also involve study of a diverse range of practices in unrelated industries and functional groups for analogies that lend themselves to application and adaptation.
