If you discuss “innovation” with people, many will say that researching an issue and then finding a solution for that issue is innovation.

Whatever the definition of innovation, what a majority of people agree upon is that innovation is only hampered by mindsets. You may have read reports where people identify structures as stumbling blocks to real innovation; however, many look at this as just an excuse for a failure to innovate. It is believed that once the need to innovate is deeply ingrained in one’s consciousness, innovation will take place, despite all odds.

Mindset is the Main Enemy

There are certain enemies of innovation; long development times, lack of coordination, no customer insight, poor idea selection, lack of proper measurement tools, lack of ideas, marketing failure or communication failure. While these are the symptoms, the main enemy of innovation is the mindset.

How does one go about changing people’s mindsets? Experts say this can be done by each person doing what they have to. People are not usually stuck due to extraneous circumstances; they are stuck because of their own mindsets. The shift to innovation has to be made at the mindset level and everything else falls into place at all other levels. Mindset changes are needed at the idea conception stage, decision stage, development stage and marketing stage.

Deference is a Mindset

Another very important thing to do is to stop deferring. Deference is a mindset that blocks idea conception, manifesting itself as deferring to market trends defined by experts, analysts etc. Breakthroughs do not happen if the company tries to conceive a product based on the existing “expertise,” because the whole idea of trying to fit in to the perceptions of future does not work.

Another manifestation of deference is when companies look up to larger competitors and try to follow them. This means they are just trying to live up to the expectations set by others and cannot think on the lines of innovation. Let us take the example of Titan Edge, the slimmest watch in the world. It was created only after the engineers at Titan stopped thinking that if the Swiss watchmakers have not made it, nobody else can. If they continued with that mindset, they wouldn’t have had the distinction of being the creators of this most unique watch.

Another aspect of deference is to provide clients’ products they currently need. While it is a fact that “customer is king,” this does not mean that companies play it safe to make these customers happy. Innovation stems from partnering up with clients instead of being subservient to them. We have to step back and ask ourselves what the market needs and not always what the customer needs. We have to learn to drive the market instead of swimming with the tide. This holds true even with regards to internet marketing. People usually tend to follow the few trend setters and make hay while the sun shines.

Shifting from this Mindset

While it is easy to condemn the mindset, it is not easy breaking out of it. There needs to be a starting point to make this shift. For this to happen, one needs to set a challenge to shift, by coming out of the safe and secure arena and take oneself out of the current playing field. Steer away from the current strategies and capabilities, only then is it possible to discover capabilities that we never knew existed.

Focusing on Insight

What is insight? Insight changes your view of your company, market or product. This is something that cannot be outsourced and has to be experienced by insiders. This can happen through brainstorming and collecting ideas. A good understanding of how things work outside of our perspective is needed. Only with brainstorming and insight into what others think, can we understand the invisible emotional needs of people. You will need to speak and let others speak for a breakthrough insight, which means getting ideas from different sources.

Decision Making

While changing the mindset, brainstorming and coming up with innovative ideas is a step towards innovation; another crucial step is decision making. Decisions that will affect the company will have to be taken. Everything from managing the resources to getting the show on the road needs to be put down on paper. This is the step where certainty and self-protection have to be ensured. Innovation does not mean steering clear of risk completely, but sharing it with the customer, leading to a breakthrough product or service.

Mould Customer Thinking

May of you may think that it is not possible to change customer thinking but it does happen if the product is really innovative and breakthrough. It is important to create completely new channels and create new challenges to interest the customers. Customers may not have deemed something like what you have created is possible and they take to it like fish to water.

For innovation to take place, companies need to break out of the traditional mindsets and this should be done as a matter of habit, constantly. Many people tend to look at the possibility of innovation when on the brink of disaster, which does not help.

Does anyone acknowledge October 16? It is a pity that employees always think of CEOs as fire-spitting dragons that remained inside the closed doors of their fancy cabins.

Boss’ day was on October 16, but for a boss who takes the time to talk and listen to the employees, it is a Boss’ day every day. A “Happy Boss’” day to the CEO of today, who discusses an employee’s grievance of the company’s compensation policy over a game of chess. You, the employee’s pleas, do not go unnoticed anymore and you are not ignored.

Effectiveness

Experts believe that a CEO’s job is the trickiest of all. Although, a CEO is always surrounded by all sorts of people willing and ready to please, access to the actual ground reality of the goings on among the middle and the junior level employees is highly restricted, causing isolation.

• Interaction: Under these circumstances, even the smallest of gestures, such as sharing a meal with the junior staff or playing a game of tennis that facilitates open communication, can make a world of difference.

• Transparency: One point that should be noted is that, after this sort of interaction, the senior level staff should be kept informed as this will make the whole thing very transparent. It is crucial not to isolate the department heads and other managers. Transparency is the key to success in any business.

A well-known company MD makes it a point to meet all the shop floor offices, front sales personnel during his tours and hears them out on business aspects, such as difficulties faced by them. He then gives a personal feedback to the HODs for redressal. Another company conducts an annual event where the chairman, CEOs and senior leadership get together to address the issues of their employees worldwide, through a webcast. The employees need to log in to a virtual chat room and express their concerns.

Productivity

• Appreciation: A famous hotel-chain celebrates its ‘Staff Appreciation Week’ every year, wherein the hotel’s management team and managers thank its staff for their efforts and carrying out their functions like serving meals and cleaning rooms etc. All employees are given a chance to voice their concerns and share their happiness over group lunches.

• Accessibility: There is also in place an ‘integrity hotline’ that allows its staff to call the CEO directly and share their concerns over any business situation or ethical or abusive issues in the hotel. This availability of the CEO to the ground level staff seeks to promote transparency.

Innovation

What kills the open culture are the assumptions and misgivings harbored by employees. This happens if employees do not appreciate each other’s positive points as well as understand the negative points.

• Sharing strengths and weaknesses: A big organization did an analysis on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the employees. The employees were asked to join a conference with the CEO along with their heads of department and the session helped people open up and talk about themselves, about their strengths and weaknesses in an open forum with the CEO presiding. Talking directly to the employees helps the CEO in grasping and gauging the emotions of the employees which is the only way to measure employee engagement.

• Employee opinion: In many companies, a cross section of employees, across different hierarchical levels and functions is taken on a random basis and discussions are conducted over tea to understand the employee perception on a wide variety of issues.

Bypassing senior managers (while keeping them in the loop) is now seen in many successful organizations as a way of creating strong bonds; whereas in companies with the old concept of management, it is seen as probing.

The new boss on the block is “the boss next door.” Many organizations give their employees an email where they can directly write to the CEO, and their identities are kept confidential. There have been several instances where employees have brought to fore unhealthy practices which have been put a stop to. It all boils down to addressing employee issues constructively and tactfully, without giving the image of seclusion, which was part of many organizations previously. It is evident that CEOs are no longer paying lip service when they claim to follow an “open-door” policy. CEOs understand the huge payoff in sharing the grievances of the employees over a cup of coffee or a game of chess. The key to developing a satisfied and engaged employee is “interaction and transparency.”