Don’t ‘try’ innovation, be resolute, take a firm decision and ‘Do it!’
Looking back to find inspiration for the year by Rikus Grobler of Namibia Innovation Solutions
This is the last article of the series and I want to conclude with a summary of the themes that were discussed. The idea is to give you some inspiration for your innovation efforts for the rest of the year.
Looking Back
There is some method in the madness of writing these articles and I had some specific themes during the series. Innovation is about taking action and I started with the theme of taking action, trying, failing, learning from failure and trying again. The quote of Samuel Beckett summarizes it best: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better”. I concluded this theme with a look at how self-belief can have a positive influence on your innovation capabilities.
The following theme was Risk Management. Innovation, unavoidably means taking risks. However, taking risks to innovate does not mean jumping out of an aeroplane without a parachute; it is something that can be planned for and dealt with systemically.
Next was the theme of Quality of Thinking. The key message here was that quality of thinking leads to quality of actions. A proper thinking environment, finding time to think, addressing the right questions and some techniques for creative thinking were addressed in this theme.
Following the thinking theme was the “dialectic approach” to innovation, with the key message that there is a strong element of chance in innovation which can not be planned for – called serendipity. Research has emerged that show that serendipity, or “happy accidents” can be engineered, and organisations must be open to chance occurrences and unexpected connections that can lead to innovation.
Following was the theme of the “starting point” for innovation, which looked at the use of tools like scenario planning and trend spotting to discover customers’ needs and reading trends to be in front of the curve.
Then I spent a lot of time on the issue of getting your ideas implemented, specifically selling your ideas and getting support for your ideas. The theme of embedding innovation in your daily routine also featured. I also addressed some very specific topics, namely, innovation and Big Data, innovation and Systems Thinking, Innovation Centres and innovation and Social Media.
Inspiration for this year
This is a time of the year when people start to implement new ideas and strategies. After the lull of December and January, your creative thinking should be envigorated. Now is the time to implement that new schedule to break your established work routine and habits to find some quiet time to think, plan, strategise and implement.
Whether you’re the CEO, a middle manager or a shopfloor steward, your job, organisation and career will benefit a great deal by improving your creative thinking skills and by taking action on your creative ideas.
I did not have to think too hard about what I am going to leave you with to motivate you for your further innovation efforts. I take my cure from the Stars Wars movie released in December 2015.
The Star Wars saga under leadership of George Lucas challenged the status quo of movie making on every aspect and became one of the best examples ever of creativity, innovation and inspiration.
I am sure not everybody is a fan, but whether you have seen it or not, I think you will relate to the quote I leave you with. In one scene, one of the memorable characters “Yoda”, is trying to teach his apprentice some new skills. The apprentice, Luke Skywalker, is very sceptic of his own abilities, and responds to one of his mentor’s instructions with “OK, I’ll try” leading Yoda to reply “No! Try Not. Do, or Do Not, there is no try”! So, concerning innovation in your organisation this year, go and do it, don’t say I’ll try!
Next Time
For now, this is the end of the series and I will only consider a new series after I have completed my PhD, which I expect to do in the first quarter of this year.
