10 steps to innovation when you have few or no extra resources (time, people, money)

Yesterday I was talking with a prospective customer, who was wondering about innovation in today’s economic climate. She said, “Maybe this isn’t the right time to engage in innovation work. After all, some say that the economy is at a 40 year low! She continued …

Inflation is 9.1%. I can see it in the materials we have to buy, and even in the gasoline it takes to get to work!

So many businesses, including ours, are short on people and struggling to hire.

Some large companies have announced layoffs: Walmart, Ford, Twitter, Meta.

The Consumer Confidence Index is down 35 points. Are my customers going to continue to buy from me?

Interest rates are up.

GDP has shrunk for a couple quarters in a row.”

As she was saying this, something seemed to dawn on her, and she ponderously said, “Wait! We HAVE to innovate now, don’t we?!!! Otherwise we’re going to lose some of our hard-won gains from the past few years, and we might even lose some customers forever. And that means that our own wallets are going to take a hit.” She had shown herself the way, and moved from “Now’s not the right time” to “When is the right time?” to “THIS is the right time!”.

“But wait -- how am I going to put time, people, and money toward innovation, when I’m already sprinting as fast as I can? I can’t take even a single day to ponder this, without dropping balls somewhere.” And there’s the rub. You and your team might not have the bandwidth or the patience or resources to take even one day to ponder this. But what if we climb the innovation ladder step by step, so that you capture insights as you’re doing your normal work? The innovations could be in “what” you’re offering to your customers, or perhaps easier and more likely, the “how” you’re delivering for them and doing your day-to-day work.

Below is a simple 10-step, 1-month, step-by-step process for innovating your way forward, which I think can be hugely helpful for YOUR company. You’re not going to innovate the next iPhone or Tesla with this process, but this is a time to avoid letting the amazing be the enemy of progress.

WEEK 1. Commit to the 3-week process.

1. Assemble an “Innovation Team” and Commit together to the 10 steps below. Your whole team will be promoted to the title of “Innovator”! Gather a team of 3 to 7 people who are willing to help out, and get them on board. Anyone can lead this -- it doesn’t have to be just “the boss”.

2. Hang a 3’x4’ poster board. Put the board ($37 for 4 at Amazon) in an easy-to-access but perhaps private (from customers) place. Include multi-color markers ($8 per pack of 12 at Amazon).

3. Make two columns to list tasks. Having the two columns is just so you have enough length to write much of what you do. On the right side of each column, add two thin columns, one for how profitable the task is, and one for how enjoyable the task is.

WEEK 2. Gather data.

4. List tasks. Try to capture as many tasks that you do as possible. Production, customer service, procurement, buying lunch, meetings, sales calls, everything you think of. Write the task briefly in a few words, then rate the profitability and enjoyment of the task. I recommend using a 5 = best and 0 = worst for each.

5. Take data for one week. Just list the tasks out as you do them or as you think of them. If you forget a few, it’s not the end of the world. We’re just trying to get as many as we can, with ratings. Some of you might worry, “I don’t know how to rate this.”. For now just use  your best judgment. For example, “Buying lunch” might be a 5 for enjoyment, and 0 for profitable, unless you find you’re generating new ideas at lunchtime.

WEEK 3. Analyze.

6. Plot on a 2x2 grid using this sheet, making a copy on your computer. Then type in your tasks and ratings for profit and enjoyment.

7. After you have the four quadrants, on another 3’x4’ poster board, make one list for those Tasks in Quadrant II (profitable and enjoyable), and another for those Tasks in Quadrant III (neither profitable nor enjoyable).

8. Generate ideas for how to reduce tasks from Quadrant III -- do you really need them at all, or perhaps you can outsource? -- and for how to increase tasks from Quadrant II. One simple technique you can use both to collect ideas and to align them is to use a Wordcloud. Have each person write a paragraph or two (or bullets or lists) on their ideas, type them all together, and then paste them into this Wordcloud site. It will show prominent words, and provides a way to discover commonality of ideas quickly.

WEEK 4. Test the ideas.

9. You’re almost done. Now TRY some of the ideas from (8) above. Find out where your ideas work, and where they fail, and stick with it. It make take longer than a week to see final results, but Week 4 might give you some idea of what will work and what must be adapted.

10. Celebrate! Hopefully you’ve had 1 or 2 victories from the above steps! If you need any help, just contact me.