As innovators, we are always striving for betterment. But how do we achieve it?
You cannot be a successful innovator alone, nor can you if you do not know the challenges you face. Some of the most important aspects of being a successful innovator are knowing yourself and knowing who can help you—and when it’s the correct time to involve them—to achieve your goals.
I have met many successful and unsuccessful innovators over my career, but there are certain qualities that always stand out. Here are the five steps you can put into daily practice to be a successful innovator.
Step 1: Know Thyself
There are multiple ways to get to know yourself as an innovator. You can get feedback on your talents and skills from others, or you can take assessments that help identify your ideation tendencies, skills, and passions—such as our Innovation Fitness™ Assessment.
Your natural behaviors will influence how you approach innovation. Everybody has a different lens on how they see a problem-opportunity. For example, you may notice a product problem when the item malfunctions and think it’s simply a broken product. Someone else may think the company that sent the broken product is corrupt and label it a social problem.
What kind of problems do you gravitate towards? We are each intrigued by different types of problems and view them from different angles. You must know yourself, then, because this is the way to better understand how to use your innovation talents to their fullest potential.
Step 2: Identify What You Want to See in the World
Identify a clear vision of the world you want to create. This starts by identifying a problem that you want to solve or want to be associated with solving—it may be an economic, social, or political problem. Identify it, be clear about the symptoms you see, and begin working on potential unique solutions that will attract others to join in your vision.
The more clarity you have, the better you will be able to outline how to get from your goal to the finish line, and the more effective innovator you will be.
Step 3: Develop Resilience through Data, Experimentation, and Intelligence
Learn to understand the data around the problem you want to solve. When you decide to solve the problem, create a set of simple experiments to test so you consistently evaluate the outcomes.
Understand that when an experiment or plan does not produce the results you desire, it is not a failure. It is instead an opportunity to learn and to pivot.
Step 4: Develop Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EQ) allows you to not only understand yourself and others, but to understand the social context in which a problem exists. Without it, you may overreact to your team and execute on something the wrong way. It helps to keep the problem in your brain and not in your heart.
EQ is a learned skill, but it starts by being clear about the problem, objective about the outcomes you are getting, and aware of your reactions to both. Then you can turn obstacles and challenging moments into learning opportunities and chances to observe and control your emotions.
Step 5: Aim for Excellence through Collaboration
Innovation is never easy. It is hard work to create meaningful change, and excellence requires collaboration. You cannot solve any major problem alone. It requires many minds working together, coming up with ideas, and executing on all six stages of innovation.
Do not settle for simple solutions. Look for the bigger picture, the bigger impact. That is the only way you can create the impact you want: by creating a culture of hard work, a culture of experimentation, and a culture of collaboration.
Once you have identified the problems you want to solve, think about your peers, colleagues, and coworkers. Who might also be interested in the problem at hand? What innovation skills do they have, and do those skills match the work that needs to be done?
By practicing these five steps regularly, you will see a change in your innovation results. It requires consistent time, collaboration, and experimentation. As innovators, we must keep striving for excellence every day.
Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t—you are right.” Be the innovator that you can be.
Header Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels
