How Do You Kickstart An Innovation Process?

Dreaming up dozens of new ideas displays creativity, but until a creative idea is turned into an actual project, we cannot talk about innovation.

A lot of creative potential is in every organization just waiting to be unleashed, but, there is no innovation until an idea gets implemented, and that's why we need to talk more on the practical side of an innovation process. What does it mean?

It means that today you can choose between various collaboration and communication tools that aim to sparkle innovation and creativity.

That’s why we need to talk on how in particular collaborative platform can accomplish that: help people demonstrate their own brilliance.

This is where we answer the question:

How do you kickstart an innovation process with a collaboration platform?

Allow Everyone To Show Their Slice of Genius

If you want to nurture innovation in your company, you have to allow people to experiment and debate, sometimes even creatively conflict opinions. 

In innovative companies, people at all levels are encouraged to show their full potential at work.

This means: to take risks, to raise questions, even to disagree. All this is possible if you build a collaborative space that encourages participations and calls everyone to sit at the table and share their strengths, ideas, knowledge with colleagues from other areas.

If you encourage these behaviors, you unleash people’s creativity and with it, innovation takes place.

Build A Foundation And Sense Of Purpose

To allow and motivate people to innovate means determining a team’s shared values and establishing rules of engagement that are conducive to innovation and sustaining a community.

Who are we?

Why are we together?

People do all kinds of innovative things outside of work but have no call to action for performing in the same level within their company. Moreover, we are taught not to bring our whole selves to the office. On the other hand, we oftentimes lack the tools and the kind of environment that enables us to work together constructively.

This calls for making space for people to pursue their talents by creating an environment to which people want to belong.

Harvest Ideas And Expertise From Different Sources

When innovation is trapped inside individual companies who are not responsive to them, many business ideas will simply go in vain.

Do you remember the story about the Kodak engineer who invented the first digital camera in 1975?

The initial corporate response to Steve Sasson’s invention was this:

"But it was filmless photography, so management’s reaction was, ‘that’s cute—but don’t tell anyone about it.”

Kodak’s missed opportunities to see digital photography as a disruptive technology was a strategic failure.

Successful innovation requires exploring competencies - bringing in insights and know-how from various outside parties and sources.

Innovation is the implementation of something new, and “the new” flows into and out of organizations through many routes such as partnerships, alliances, acquisitions, venture investments, customers and suppliers and the relationships and curiosity of individual employees.

These sources of external influence are valuable and important; in fact, they might play pivotal roles for corporate innovation strategy. Sustainable innovation requires becoming more open.

Break Down The Barriers To Sharing Information

Individuals and organizations play equally important role in facilitating innovation, but ideas might never occur if they are working on their own. 

Many companies use collaborative technology and means of communication to share information with their clients and one another so that they could position themselves in the idea flow but keep their competitive advantage. Sharing knowledge enables companies to find ways to link their innovation efforts.

Is there a technology that helps break out of the innovation boxes? Yes, there is. 

The innovation comes from technologies that provide undisputed communication and collaboration, building strong community where talents and creativity thrive. Collaboration platforms are the technology you seek as they -

• Provide the space to encourage participation
• Enhance corporate culture
• Enable open collaboration and communication
• Help companies leverage their knowledge potential through knowledge sharing

As business world becomes increasingly complex, the biggest growth opportunities won’t necessarily come from individuals who act on their own. This’s why you need a collaborative technology to kickstart an innovation process.