Harvesting and Harnessing Innovation

I was working with my colleague and digital empire creator Chad Barr this past week in Ohio, developing video’s for my new website (coming soon!) We spent some time talking about Innovation and I explained to him that I have found that Innovation is not something that must be injected into an organization, instead it often permeates throughout an organization and simply requires harvesting and harnessing in order to maximize its potential.

When he asked me to explain I sketched out the visual below on a napkin to demonstrate my thinking.

There are several ways which I recommend my clients harvest and harness Innovation, here are the three most important:

1.     Craft a Culture: Innovation becomes most difficult to instill if the business culture is one that is unwilling to accept or institute change. To evolve to a culture of Innovation it’s important to craft a culture that is continuously supportive of improvement and progress.

2.     Facilitate the Process: I have yet to find a business that does not have employees, suppliers and customers who can offer ideas to inject or support Innovation. However rarely have I stumbled across an organization that has a clear means to capture, assess and prioritize  ideas. How are you capturing and capitalizing upon the Innovative ideas and solutions that surround your business?

3.     Convert to Action: Ideas and inventions are virtually useless unless they are put into action. Finding a means to test and implement new ideas is key to ensuring Innovation is achieved. Innovation results from action not strictly assessment and consideration.

So in reality Innovation is not a stretch, in fact it exists within the walls of most businesses today. More importantly, all it takes to bring Innovation to fruition is to put the three elements above into place. Consider it a harvest and harnessing process! Find the good ideas and put them into action. That’s true Innovation!

© Shawn Casemore 2013. All rights reserved.