Maintaining the status quo in business is no longer viable in the current climate of high inflation, labour shortages, and banking crises. The world’s constant state of change makes innovation not just relevant but essential. Studies indicate that organizations investing in innovation during challenging times achieve more significant growth and performance once the crisis subsides.

To cultivate innovation, companies must develop specific skills within their workforce. These skills differ significantly from those required for managing existing operations. Traditional management focuses on execution skills to deliver projects efficiently and within budget. In contrast, innovation demands abilities to design new business models, identify and test risky assumptions, and adapt swiftly to fresh market insights amid high uncertainty.

Investing in skill development during uncertain times is crucial. It’s beneficial not only for companies to develop their employees and continuously foster a culture of innovation, but it’s also advantageous for everyone involved. The rapid evolution of technologies like ChatGPT underscores the significant impact of tech on careers. Considering that individuals are likely to change jobs multiple times, it’s vital to innovate in our businesses and roles within these organizations. The innovation process enhances essential soft skills such as creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking, which are valuable across various industries.

There are three key learnable skills in innovation:

1. Business Design:
   • This involves shaping and adapting value propositions and business models to create the most viable options.
   • Mastery of the Value Proposition Canvas helps design customer-centric products or services, understanding customer needs, pains, and gains.
   • Mastery of the Business Model Canvas aids in creating profitable, scalable business models, focusing on business model innovation beyond just product, technology, or price.
2. Design, Test, and Learn from Business Experiments:
   • This skill is about breaking down big ideas into testable hypotheses to minimize the risk of pursuing non-viable ideas.
   • As you design and conduct business experiments, you’ll learn which directions are more likely to result in a desirable, feasible, and viable business.
3. Lead and Manage:
   • Leading a team from an idea to a scalable business is challenging, especially without a pre-existing execution roadmap.
   • It’s crucial to focus the team on designing, testing, and overcoming obstacles in innovation within large corporations.
   • Innovation requires a portfolio approach, where multiple ideas are designed and tested simultaneously. Leaders must know how to manage, evaluate, and invest in a portfolio of innovative ideas.

These workshops empower you and your team with the skills to navigate and lead in an ever-changing business landscape.

Take Your Business to the Next Level

We help medium-sized businesses innovate and make measurable progress towards their business outcomes so their companies thrive.

Over the years, we’ve used proven Innovation & OKR processes to generate tangible business outcomes in 12 weeks ️ for companies including Roche, IBM and many others.

Stay ahead of the competition. Learn more and contact us now

By Andrew Constable MBA, LSSBB

Keywords: Business Strategy, Innovation, Leadership