3 simple steps to finding capacity for innovation

“I don’t have TIME for an innovation process. We’re up to our necks in productive work!” Maybe that’s YOUR situation? Here is a simple 3-step approach to finding and purging any work that is not creating profits nor exciting passion in your team, so that you can open up some time in preparation for a consistent innovation process.

1. Get Post Its. Purchase a 10 pack of Post-It notes and markers and give them to your team.
2. Indict. Over one week, as you go throughout each day, write down the tasks you do on the notes. Everything! It might be emails, filling out regulatory forms, expense reports, returning calls, manufacturing your product, website work, sales, Facebook or Twitter time. Write it all down. Pass no judgment … yet. If you have a LOT of tasks, such that you don’t even have time to write them all down, you can write down PART of your tasks, especially the best and worst.
3. Hold trial. On Monday the following week, create a 2x2 grid for profit and passion. Maybe put some colored tape on the wall in a + sign, for the 4 quadrants. Then take an hour to place each note (task) according to its Profit and Passion. It might be best to do this as a team, so that you get a balanced view. Did filling out that report help your profit, or were you passionate about it? How about recreating your web site? Every single task on trial. Those that are neither profitable nor passion creating, stop doing. Those that are both, keep doing. If one or the other, you can at least think about it.

The outcome is to open up even an hour per week -- hopefully more! -- so that you and your team can generate time to devote to an innovation process.