Do me a favor…. Take on the following steps and let me know what you think:
Take a deep breath for 6 seconds and then exhale on the count of 7
Next, Inhale on the count of 1 and exhale on the counts of 2 through 7
Finally, inhale on the counts of 1 to 3 and exhale for the counts 4 to 7
Which did you enjoy the most? Why?
For me, I enjoyed the first step to take a deep breath for 6 seconds and then release.
For others you may enjoy a quick start and then a more expedited outcome.
Innovation has its own rhythm of breathing.
It all begins with inhaling and then leads to an exhale. Innovation is learning, designing, creating, modifying and sharing knowledge… This is the “raw material” of innovation. Innovation then continues with exhaling which is generating, implementing and executing innovative solutions.
We all innovate. We create ideas and then execute them. Yet, each of us innovates differently. While some may see that as interesting or bad, it is reality. I personally, think it’s cool and fun to know and execute on this idea.
Imagine if every time a challenge at work came up, you approached the situation in the same way. Might that be limiting? Would there be times when your approach may be ineffective? It’s not that you are wrong but imagine if by opening your situation up to others there was a chance that the solution would be more effective or could be executed more easily or more efficiently. My guess is that somewhere we have all been told that we need to “rely on ourselves” and to not depend on others, that we are to be independent and responsible for working on our own issues. While sometimes that is true, there is another perspective to consider.
Going back to we all innovate. Yes. We innovate, but we innovate differently. Some people look at the end and work backwards. Some start with a blank page and move forward. How well do you know your approach to innovation?
There are basically four major approaches to innovation.
Like what was said previously, start with the style of yours that is most active (or comfortable), and move to learn others. You may start to perfect other styles than the one that you started with. You may also learn new things about your originating style. You can become fluent in four approaches of innovative thinking.
The question then shifts from ARE you innovative? To how do you approach innovation?
Styles of Innovation:
Visioning: To envision the ideal future
Exploring: To discover the radically new and novel
Experimenting: To combine and test different factors
Modifying: To refine and optimize what has come before
What’s important to note is that all four styles are important in the innovation process. Each style is a different strategy of innovative thinking… not a type of person.
Let’s look at differing innovation processes. Thomas Edison said, ““My first impulse on taking any apparatus into my hand… is to seek a way to improve it. I have never worked on anything that didn’t already have a working model.”
Albert Einstein took a different approach. “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” “If we knew what we were doing it wouldn’t be called research would it?”
Thomas Edison tried over 1,000 different combinations of materials before he found the right one that produced the electric light bulb.
Einstein’s life work was based on his vision of a “General Theory of Relativity”.
To explore your way of innovating, let’s look at a compass. Now that bold, innovative inspirational self can see value in each of these approaches, yet the honest part of us tends to gravitate more to one style over another (Similar to the Edison vs. Einstein way of thinking).
Each style asks a different question to stimulate innovative thinking:
Visioning: What ideas could give you an ideal, long-term solution?
Modifying: What ideas could build on, simplify, or refine what you’ve done?
Exploring: What ideas could be radically new and different?
Experimenting: What could be combined to give you new ideas?
Each of these styles support innovation. The key factor is to learn and grow from each of these styles. Start with one style. Get good at it. Then, move on to another style.
The bottom line is that innovation is important today. We need to make a commitment to ourselves to explore innovation on a consistent basis. We need to work on looking at a situation from multiple views and with the idea that while my “typical and usual” approach may be good, there are other ideas that could be better.
To learn more about the Innovation Styles, feel free to contact me at basharon@trainingedge.com. I look forward to hearing from you and to exploring how innovation is a key element in today’s workplace.
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