The
innovators that were highlighted in this week’s article Find Your Mission were definitely very inspirational (Safian, 2014). I personally have always been a fan of Jared
Leto, not necessarily his music and acting, but his ambition and perseverance. I gained a new respect for Jared after
watching his documentary about his battle with his music label, which brings up
lesson number one for me, which is channeling your creative passion into what
you do (Safian, 2014). Safian tells us
that there is a general sense of disconnect between people and their workplace. In fact, a study conducted by Gallup
demonstrated that “companies with engaged work-forces have higher earnings per
share” and engagement improves performance (Safian, 2014, p. 72). I believe that passion for what you do helps
to stir creativity and innovation. We
are more motivated to improve how we work and what we do if we feel passionate.
Another lesson I’ve learned from
reading about Chipotle is the importance of business integrity (Safian, 2014). Within the company Chipotle, integrity
“animates every decision the company makes, from the slaughterhouse to the food
line at your local outlet to the strategic planning at the Denver headquarters”
(Safian, 2014, p. 68). Business
integrity should not just be a plaque on the wall, but something a company
builds into the business culture, into the people and into how things are
done. The market is changing and
consumers are moved by a higher societal purpose. As Safian says “the more they focus on
something beyond money, the more money they make” (2014, p. 70). The perspective users or consumers have of a
product or service will have a higher level of perceived usability if they feel
a company is run with integrity (McKeown, 2014).
The third
lesson I learned is following an inside-out strategy. In essence, you make the “beliefs and ideals
of management become the core” (Safian, 2014, p. 74). It is important to have a focused and clear
plan that is useful and valuable to your customers. Safian also explains how important it is to
maintain purpose when trying to innovate.
Innovation with purpose helps keep people engaged in the mission and
gives them a sense of ownership. The
kind of enthusiasm that a sense of purpose creates is very contagious.
My
innovative skills revolve around my natural creativity and imagination. I also am a good critical thinker and enjoy
taking ideas and processes apart in my mind and re-organizing them for better
efficiency. I have been able to
streamline a lot of the procedures we use in the office for higher efficiency. I am constantly asking myself: how can I do my
job better? What can I do to make my job
easier? Taking from the reading of Canfield
(2011) I apply what he calls Continuous improvement (CI) initiatives which
teaches us how to detect and eliminate waste within your organization. Innovation is not just about creating new
ideas but also getting rid of those processes that are no longer useful. This has been another one of my innovative
skills which is streamlining how we conduct business. Another of my creative skills involves my
imaginative solutions for marketing strategies. I have a natural ability to not only pinpoint possible
audiences for our educational programs but I also have the ability of creating
and executing marketing initiatives that are specific to these target
audiences. Again, the idea is to create
the perception of the usefulness of the product, in this case, our educational
programs. I am also a firm believer of
innovation with integrity. As long as I
keep the needs of my students as my prime motivator, I know that I will be
moving towards positive growth for my campus. This is why it is important to understand your
organizations mission and keep that at the forefront while working through any
innovative process.
Reference
Canfield,
J. (2011). Imagine: Ideation skills for improvement and innovation today. Black
Press: Holland.
McKeown, M. (2014). The innovation book [Kindle Version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com
No comments:
Post a Comment