Are You Looking For Innovation In The Wrong Places?

Big, business-changing concepts are why a lot of us got into this game in the first place, but what if bigger isn’t always better? Great ideas can come from checking your blind spots.
Because that might be where you find your spark – exactly where you weren’t looking.

Learn from the top

It can be easy to think of ‘innovation’ as a skill belonging to a specific group of people, and whilst we can’t all be Steve Jobs, we can learn and apply. That starts with looking at how the titan brands are doing things.

Google’s ‘Eight Pillars of Innovation’ was defined back in 2011, and has shaped the brand’s attitude towards innovative thinking. From enforcing a mission statement with purpose to allowing their employees to dedicate 20% of their week to focus on whatever they want, their pillars have pushed them to grow exponentially and always stay innovative.

Reinvention isn’t a necessity

Innovation doesn’t mean reinvention – quite the opposite. The lessons learned by those who have faced the same problems before us is the foundation of progress. Here at BBT, educating ourselves about existing solutions has often shown us innovative ways of building on, and bettering something that already exists.

Sometimes, it’s about not connecting the dots. Ask yourself what hasn’t been linked together before, then link it. Cross-pollination creates new questions that need new answers, which can ultimately lead to new solutions.

Get to know fear

If you’re feeling afraid, then you could be close to something great. That doesn’t mean being fearless; it means understanding that you need to be brave and take risks. Eradicating fear can eradicate creative thinking. The key here is to feel the fear, and keep going anyway.

I encourage my team to know fear and I also let them know it’s okay to fail now and again. As long as they learn from their mistakes, correct them fast, and don’t make that same mistake again. In the digital space we operate in, we need to take risks or get left behind. That’s the nature of the beast.

Share, Share, Share

Innovative thinking isn’t a one man show, so don’t keep it all to yourself. Sharing with your team encourages discussion and helps see ideas from different perspectives – this can lead to new outcomes.

At BBT, my aim has always been to create a culture of sharing. I want my team to know that if they have an idea or they need input on a decision they can talk about it. This kind of visibility and transparency does wonders for creative thinking.

When everyone is looking right, look left

Opposition is a tool often overlooked. If you’re feeling stuck, analyse what others in your field are doing and run full-steam ahead at the complete opposite.

Outdoor and clothing brand, REI found their ‘left’ back in 2015 with their Black Friday campaign, #OptOutside: closing all of its stores, suspending ecommerce, paying employees to enjoy a day outdoors, and encouraging their consumers to do the same. A risk that paid off according to REI, with 1.4 million people opting to #OptOutside and the hashtag generating 1.2 billion social impressions. Not to mention the array of awards and press coverage.

The Best Innovation is customer innovation

If you’re completely lost in your quest for new ideas, go back to who you are talking to – your customers. The best innovation sparks when you understand them. Figure out their needs, their pain points, and really ask yourself how you can make their lives easier. In this digital age, with the access we have to data, we have the unique opportunity to really understand what people want, so delve deep into the stats and pull out the key learnings. The answer was probably there all along.

When I’m talking to our clients about innovation, I am talking about my team keeping their brains sharp and asking them to think how others might not be. But I’m also talking about building on existing foundations, having a thirst to learn from competitors and never, ever thinking we know it all.

I don’t discount the big ideas at BBT, far from it. I only ask that we haven’t just had a quick look about, but a deeper search of the places we might not have considered, the areas that can’t be seen. Only then, can we move forward.