As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to ensure your business will not only thrive in a competitive market but also innovate. Innovation is easier said than done, as a truly original idea is rare in today’s modern era. As such, many companies suffer from disruption without knowing due to the lack of overall innovation.
For example, while your business endeavors are going well, how long do you think that’s going to continue? How likely is your company to suffer from stagnation a year or two from now? Do you have a proper roadmap set for the future? These are all questions you need to answer if you intend to make the most out of your opportunities, especially as a startup owner. So here are a few ways to overcome disruption when innovating.
One surprisingly easy way to accomplish your goals when growing your business is to consider open innovation. But what is open innovation? The thing about innovation is some companies and corporations tend to innovate in secret. This silo mentality is meant to protect the company’s ideas, especially when said ideas could potentially make a lot of money. However, one of the issues of the silo mentality is that the failure is also yours. If you fail to innovate and suffer from disruption, there’s nowhere else to go. You have to either pick up where you left off or start from scratch.
It's not an easy way to manage innovation, especially when there are so many organizations out there you can use as an example. The passion and creativity of other organizations are available through open innovation, and they allow you to develop new and exciting ideas for your business without being bogged down by the silo mentality.
Some company owners make the common mistake of putting their customers before everyone else—employees included. When you take care of your customers, they're more likely to trust your business. However, if you do so at the expense of your employees, how can you expect your customers to be happy if they're not treated well by your staff? Treating your employees well is crucial, as that translates to productivity and innovation. If you want satisfied customers, you start with happy employees.
It’s easy to suffer from disruption if you have disgruntled employees. All it takes is a single unhappy staff member for the issues to start.
One novel way of innovating as a business owner is to gather as much customer feedback as possible and use the list as a roadmap for your business. While customer feedback isn’t always helpful, there are some diamonds in the rough, especially when you have loyal supporters. So take advantage of social media as much as you can, though ensure you retain a professional relationship with your supporters.
You can overcome disruption when innovating by following the above steps. Open innovation, in particular, can be an extremely effective method for innovation without risks.
