By Rosa Lokaisingh

“You don’t have to be creative to be a brilliant innovator! Listening carefully is the soul of innovation and the reason I take some pride in not being creative. I’m good at listening to customers, empathizing with their problems and project-managing a solution. They don’t pay me to make stuff up,” says Ken Tencer, CEO of Spyder Works Inc. a branding and innovation thought leader who is the co-author of two books on innovation including the bestseller, ‘Cause a Disturbance’.

It’s been a misconception for a long time, that to be innovative, one has to be creative and constantly come up with new ideas, but we are learning that this is not necessarily so. After reading Ken’s book “Cause a Disturbance”, and attending his seminar on the same topic, I learned that “innovation” means “disrupting the status quo, discovering different, shifting markets, stimulating growth, and delighting customers”. I can’t begin to tell you how that takes the pressure off. It means any one of us can be innovative, as long as we are doing any one of those things above, and “it doesn’t cost a lot of money to make small changes,” says Ken.

Listening to our teams and our customers can solve one big problem. We don’t have to come up with the answers and solutions from the management’s perspective, as we simply need to hear what they are telling us, and act upon that. Who knows best what works for them? Doesn’t the staff know what motivates them to come in to the office everyday? Don’t your customers know what they want and why it works for them? Just ask them, they’ll tell you.

But once you have heard what your team and your customers need, then comes the issue of implementing some new processes, services, or products. This would be the time you may require an expert to help you with change management. This is a critical piece, because if this is not done right, a lot of time and money can be wasted, while causing huge frustration and setbacks. Let the experts do their job. I suggest this would be a good time to call in a consultation team for change management. Get it done right, and get it done fast! Time is of the essence once you have agreed to implement the new ideas, as your teams and customers will be waiting to see a shift in the way you have been running your operations or doing business. So organize some brainstorming sessions, and get ready to engage your people to delight your customers and your bottom line with your next change program? Create a compelling vision for change and disrupt your organization with Sticky Change.

Ken is the co-creator of the D!Series workshops (www.theDseries.com) and can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/90percentrule. The Eight Steps to Sticky ChangeTM

Rosa Lokaisingh, is our Business Innovation Connector at  Advantage Mississauga. She can be reached at 905-273-6151 Ext. 390 or
[email protected]. Visit www.advantagemississauga.com