Innovation management not only teaches us how to introduce new products and services to the market but can also be used as an instructional tool to achieve diverse aims. Building resilience in uncertain times is one of the goals that is frequently placed before managers. It is a wide management discipline, but some of the strategies for establishing it may be found in innovation management itself. This is owing to the nature of innovations, which are essentially unpredictable pieces of work. As a result, the previously established innovation development techniques described in the text can help any firm progress its resilience initiatives.
- Concentrate on the most pressing issue
When there is a problem to be solved, it appears that solutions, whatever they may be, appear everywhere. When, on the other hand, you already have a ready answer, every problem for which it is not made will go unresolved. Focusing on the issue rather than the solution allows you to preserve flexibility, which, you will agree, is the most effective weapon against unforeseen events. Flexibility is the most valuable asset of any resilient company, and individuals involved in innovation have long recognized the importance of flexibility.
“If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions,” Einstein remarked. As a response, before you begin developing a solution, be sure that you have a thorough grasp of the issue at hand.
- Align your activities around existing strategy
When your everyday activities are appropriately aligned with your organization’s goals, it leads to increased agility. Putting everyone on the same page helps your company not break apart in the face of disruption and allows you to remain nimble enough to access and deploy the creative talent and technology which innovation requires to tackle new challenges. This is accomplished through building resilient and sustainable teams capable of quickly adapting to changing and uncertain market conditions. Leaders must address both individual and team resilience, as well as organizational resilience, by communicating to everyone in the organization about where they are going so that it can influence their daily decision-making.
- Experiment and test your assumptions
When it comes to innovation, experimentation is important for assessing current assumptions and, if required, making specific modifications to them. In times of uncertainty, this innovation method will keep your company on the right track by removing outdated assumptions. Experimenting to test your assumptions will improve your company’s capacity to adapt to a changing environment.
- Develop a learning mindset
Everything you know may be useless in times of uncertainty. It is the same when it comes to innovations. Engaging in innovations requires new ways of thinking, which are required for them to occur at all. This is why, when it comes to innovation, we must all be open to new knowledge and learning along the route. It is also a means of being flexible in the face of possible systemic disruptions. To obtain a comprehensive picture of where they should be heading, everyone on the team must be aware of and alert to external signals. Adopting a learning mindset is a tactic employed while dealing with innovation, as well as a method of increasing resilience.
