Introduction
Innovation and creativity are differentiating elements that allow a company to develop and maintain its leadership position in the market. The results of its application are new proposals for services and products that anticipate the expectations of demanding customers who ensure their loyalty.
Keeping up with the new market demands demands that companies seek new commercial approaches and even in many cases a total reinvention. In short, they face the challenge of obtaining different results and the only way to achieve this is by changing the way of thinking and acting. To achieve this, it is essential that companies allow their staff to contribute to the generation of ideas and proposals, this is achieved by promoting innovation and creativity as organizational values.
For many companies this is a critical step, since it implies abandoning the old customs and taking risks, it should not be an uncontrolled process and the role of Human Resources is decisive, to manage resources and promote creativity and innovation.
What is the way to promote innovation and creativity? There is no single recipe, but if we can make an approach with actions that help promote these elements, I invite you to consult the proposed approach.
Review of Concepts
We understand "innovation" as the application of new ideas, concepts, products, services and practices, with the intention of being useful for increasing productivity. Innovate comes from the Latin innovare, which means act or effect of innovating, becoming new or renewing, introducing a novelty.
Creativity is the human capacity to produce mental content of any kind and essentially can be considered as new and unknown to those who produce it ”. Creativity may involve the formation of new systems and new combinations of already known information.
Proposed actions
1. Include in the mission and values of the company the need to innovate and create.
1.1. Redefine the mission and values of the company, to include the need and commitment to innovation and creativity.
For example, the 3M philosophy: “As our business grows, it becomes more necessary to delegate responsibilities and encourage men and women to exercise their initiative. This requires tolerance. These men and women to whom we delegate authority and responsibility, if they are good people, they will want to do their job in their best way. Mistakes will be made, but if the person is essentially correct, the mistakes he or she makes will not be as serious in the long run as the mistakes management would make in telling those to whom they have delegated exactly how to do their job. Administration that destructively criticizes mistakes kills initiatives. And it is essential that we have people with initiative if we want to grow ”William L. McKnight.
2. Train staff on innovation and creativity
2.1. Train staff on these elements as well as promote workshops for their development, highlighting the importance and advantages of the application in the commercial field.
2.2. Discuss real cases of people (Ex: Leonardo da Vinci, Tomas Alba Edison, etc.), companies (Ex: 3M, Walmart, etc.)
3. Create an environment conducive to innovation and creativity
3.1. Promote work in multidisciplinary teams (integration of employees of different professional profiles)
3.2. Provide employees with physical or virtual spaces (intranet, forums, blogs) for creativity, with messages or decorations that stimulate innovation, change, creativity and continuous improvement; generally an environment that facilitates brainstorming.
3.3. Publish and discuss phrases promoting innovation and change every week, in such a way that the conviction in the staff about the importance of creativity is reinforced. Some examples of phrases that promote creative thinking and reinforce the mission and values:
• Fate is not a matter of chances, it is a matter of decisions; It is not something to wait for, but something to achieve.
• We are what we think. All that we are arises from our thoughts
• If you don't ride the wave of change… you will find yourself under it.
• Only those who see the invisible can do the impossible.
• The mind determines what is possible… but the soul surpasses it.
• You cannot fly like eagles if you work like Goose !!!
• To get different results, you have to do different things
3.4. Promote creativity as a lifestyle
• Contests on generating ideas
• Creativity workshops: riddles, puzzles, etc.
• Set desktop wallpapers and screensavers with creative messages on computers.
• Innovation bell. People stop what they are doing for 5 minutes to give birth to a creative idea about what they are doing.
3.5. Implement empowerment policy.
3.6. Error tolerance policy.
4. Follow up on proposals
4.1. Survey staff on the use and application of innovative and creative measures
4.2. Give public recognition to those who have contributed notable innovative ideas, and share the effect they have on the company.
4.3. Document all innovative proposals, recording with evidence of improvements (Eg: establishment of indicators).
Next steps
• Form an innovation and creativity team (voluntary and multidisciplinary), which must be widely supported by the Human Resources area.
• Rethink the mission and business values to include these new elements.
• Select short, medium and long term actions defining the responsible
• Select a business case as a practical application of creativity and innovation, example: creation or redesign of a product, service, etc., based on the needs or expectations of customers.
• Prepare a communication plan to disseminate the project and its results to the rest of the employees.
