As industries\u00a0are disrupted and business models change overnight, everyone is asking the same question: How can I keep up with the evolving\u00a0business landscape and be a leader instead of a follower when it comes to innovation?<\/p>\n
“An accelerating pace of change is the reality. Change is happening faster than ever before,” says Centric Consulting President Larry English<\/a>. “It’s going to be an exciting time. Business models. Technologies. Ideas. They’re all going to revolutionize almost every industry. You have to be prepared and you have to start addressing it now.”<\/p>\n But, how do you address this wave of change? The kind that’s so big you don’t see it coming?<\/p>\n “If you’re going to survive it, you have to start developing a culture of innovation,” Larry added. “And you need to start experimenting.”<\/strong><\/p>\n Many of our clients are grappling with how to better innovate internally, and they’re asking us to help them. So, we asked members of our team who are part of our own internal efforts to provide some recommendations\u00a0on steps to take toward innovation.<\/p>\n Here’s what they had to say.<\/p>\n Marc Johnson, Centric National Senior Architect, says to start small and start with a pilot. Treat your pilot like an innovation idea or experiment and test it.<\/p>\n “Innovation is all about experimentation. If you spend months and invest a lot of money trying to get your questions answered, you\u2019re probably going to fail more often than not and\u00a0lose\u00a0a lot of money.\u00a0So your pilot, just like your ideas, should start with something very manageable, such as a hypothesis\u00a0that includes the\u00a0value you want to add. Then, figure out the cheapest, quickest way\u00a0to\u00a0get to that.”<\/strong><\/p>\n Carmen Fontana<\/a>, Centric\u2019s Cloud and Artificial Intelligence Ldead, innovates by solving problems in new ways.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen confronted with a problem, I try to map out what the conventional solution would be. Then, I take a deep breath, throw that solution away and challenge myself to think of an atypical answer to the problem at hand.\u00a0Right now, I\u2019m part of a team exploring if machine learning will help us with recruiting and staffing. Matching people to projects is traditionally done with search queries and spreadsheets \u2013 we want to see if it can be done successfully with a completely different methodology.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul Holway<\/a>, Centric St. Louis\u2019 Technology Leader, says innovation happens when unique approaches are applied to your vision, not from incremental improvements or following trends.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest innovations come not usually from experts, but by people outside the field unencumbered by bias. With that in mind, be balanced in what you pursue, don\u2019t be afraid to have a broad exposure across interests, and take time to be challenged.<\/strong> Check out the site\u00a0https:\/\/liminalthinking.com<\/a>\u00a0for ways to help break your bias and expand the creativity you put toward being innovative.\u201d<\/p>\nRiding the Wave of Change<\/h2>\n
1. Launch an Innovation Pilot and Experiment First<\/h3>\n
2. Think of Atypical Solutions for Problems<\/h3>\n
3. Break Your Bias<\/h3>\n
4. Mentor Innovators Through the Experimentation Process<\/h3>\n