The challenge of evolving as a professional is part of the daily lives of entrepreneurs. Creativity is a skill that allows the development of innovative ideas, we will seek to point out the skills that form the main highlights in the current innovation market.

When thinking about innovation, people look for global references such as Google, Apple, 3M and forget that they can be innovative in their daily skills. Global companies create innovations that change the world, like an airplane, car or computer. But, within the universe of innovations, we can predict that 99% are small or incremental, occurring on a daily basis. These are the small, everyday changes that, with a lot of planning, transform your company and your mentality. That idea of yours applied to your work routine and which allowed you to gain productivity is still innovation.

But, how to be more innovative? We've put together some tips to help you become even more innovative.

How do I become innovative?

One of the challenges of any company or entrepreneur is just getting started. Showing your idea to a friend is not worth it, okay? It is worth highlighting that in a company it is essential that leaders are facilitators and transformers to enable an innovation management model. Being innovative is much more linked to the process than to the creative side!

Daily practice will elevate your skill and thus your ability to generate new ideas and execute them. Speaking it seems much easier than it is in practice, doesn't it?

Before we continue, let's just make it clear what innovation is!

Innovation can be classified as any new idea applied to processes and products that are developed and generate economic results for those involved. An innovation, in addition to products, can also be the development of new methods, new processes, new ways of organizing work, opening new markets and creating new sources of income generation.

Now that it is clearer what innovation is, it becomes even more evident that innovation does not happen overnight. The world is full of people with brilliant ideas but who don't get them off the ground.

 “The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But most of all, the world needs dreamers who do.”  Sarah Ban Breathnach

But innovation is not simply something new. It's something new that brings results to the company. More than that, it is necessary to separate innovation from improvement.

Working in an innovative environment is motivating because individuals realize their growth and seek to overcome barriers with more creativity. An innovative company values talent and, as a result, responds more quickly to the market with new ideas, projects and happier customers. Your challenge with the skills management that we indicate in this document is to be able to configure an environment that replicates your behavior and repeats the innovation model with a continuous, structured and manageable flow.

The skills in your DNA

Our skills tips are referenced in the work written by innovation guru, Clayton M. Christensen, in collaboration with Hal Gregersen and Jeff Dyer: Innovator's DNA. In it, the authors explain in detail how to develop the five fundamental skills to be an innovative professional.

According to the book, despite there being a “DNA” of innovation, anyone can develop the skills that allow them to think innovatively. Christensen illustrates with real examples that it is possible to change the essence of a person so that they become more than a doer.

Christensen (elected by Thinkers 50 as the most influential living thinker in world management) demonstrate how anyone can develop these five skills, necessary to become an innovator. The tips are part of the result of eight years of research and interviews with almost 1,000 successful executives and entrepreneurs at companies such as Apple, Amazon and Google.

But what are the skills that differentiate innovators from ordinary professionals?

Connect

The art of associating is a differentiator and makes a lot of sense as a skill. Being able to see one segment and apply it to another is something used to innovate. Henry Ford used his experience at a food company to create his car manufacturer's first assembly line. In other words, the challenge is to connect different perspectives, problems and ideas in a simple and practical way to achieve a new and positive result.

To question

Those who don't question, don't evolve. Or worse, he becomes merely an executor. By asking good questions, you step out of your comfort zone and grow. Innovators are the ones who ask the most questions and are never satisfied with performance. After all, everything can always be improved. You can start with the basics: Why do we do this? How to be faster and maintain quality? Why have we never done it differently? Challenge common sense.

Observe

Paying attention to details will even make you ask better questions. And with that, innovate! Listening to customers, understanding the company's culture and changing to evolve will be your role as an observer. There is no point rushing out to put out a fire without understanding its cause.

Working in a network / networking

To think outside your limits, it will often be necessary to interact with people from the most diverse areas and activities of knowledge. And, one of the main benefits of a connected world is precisely the possibility of working in a network. An unexplored point of view or an insight from a colleague from another part of the world can be extremely useful for an innovation. Different generations, different knowledge in a cultural mix will be good for you and your company. When working in a network, the professional also exercises negotiation and resilience skills.

To experiment

An essential point in innovation is precisely the ability to experiment and, therefore, evolve. It's worth making mistakes, yes, but there are ways to make mistakes intelligently, correcting them quickly and adjusting your project accordingly. The main challenge of innovation is to understand, considering a mistake a failure is limiting your success. Innovation needs tests and experiments. As with any research, an idea or project does not always reach the market, but it will always deliver some knowledge return.

Planning, scenario assessment, prototype, market testing and launch of new items require costs that may not bring a return. Only those who make mistakes innovate!

In many cases, the famous innovation was at home and we needed to look more closely at the professionals themselves, like you!

Discovering new medicines, designing and investing in something radically new, designing an innovative product and testing the public's reaction in a new market are tasks that call for intelligent mistakes. Experimenting allows you to collect data about expected behavior in the future.

Execution with return in practice

Everyday life can consume your routine, so, in addition to the items above, an innovative professional also includes the capabilities of: analyzing, planning, seeing details and regulating time.

Analyzing demands choosing and viewing data for guided decisions. Planning requires mapping and seeking goals with a clear focus on objectives. The details are in the refinements and reviews of the items validated throughout your innovation process. And, finally, adjusting your time means being able to manage your agenda and try to stick to your plan or schedule!

A routine based on the items above will certainly guarantee your ability to generate innovations and transform them into execution items with tangible returns.

As an extra tip, the book on the DNA of innovators also includes a test for you to calculate your innovative DNA.

The 4Cs of Innovation

For us, a competency model is what forms the 4C model of creating innovation, because innovating involves more than just creating, but involves planning, testing and trying new things. Knowing the differentiators and skills allows you to create more performant and successful teams.

Curiosity

Curiosity is the basic element of innovation and it is from there that the development process begins. If not for curiosity, we would not be able to understand the world around us and unite resources to generate a new element. The 5 senses are essential for searching for information. This process begins at birth and accompanies us throughout our lives, being an essential item in your search for innovation skills.

Creativity

Creativity is a form of thinking in which we stop absorbing information and start processing and finding connections between the elements available to our senses to transform into ideas to make our daily lives easier. The direct result of creativity is ideas. Everyone has creativity and, as in any case, it must be stimulated daily.

Calculation

Calculation is the way we measure everything in nature. When an idea is robust enough to solve all elements of a given problem, it becomes an innovation. However, an innovation is not useful if it is not economically viable.

The way to transform it into something quantifiable occurs by calculating its structure, investment, cost and its possible result. With this applied knowledge we will have innovation in practice, ready to be commercialized. An item that you can adjust and learn with exercise in your daily life.

Commercialization

For value innovation to complete its destiny, it must go through the process of preparing the product for sale and the sale itself, through correct planning and preparation. The broad concept of commercialization is to apply business models to generate economic results.

When you realize that you can improve your performance and understand your differences as a professional and person, innovation will be a consequence. Transforming ideas into a product or service will depend on your development capacity and management to undertake it successfully. Innovating requires a method and the development of multiple skills and competencies.

A final tip is that you can also carry out an innovation diagnosis to reduce risks when launching your products. This is the best way to present the overview of your project or product. From there, you can define a roadmap that will help you decide on essential (and some even forgotten) items.

It is essential that the indicated scenario is shared among project partners and participants and, more than that, it is actually evaluated among everyone so that changes can occur in practice. Some items may be preventing your growth and, in the future, will affect the success of your idea, product or service project.

And you, do you still have any myths you want to discuss? Send it to us! Talk to us and schedule a meeting to start your innovation process!