INCREMENTAL INNOVATION: STEPPING STONES TO SUCCESS

As a business owner or a leader, you should find granular growth possibilities and enhance performance by innovating products, services, corporate processes, and business models as you create and consistently improve your businesses. Both innovation and growth in the pursuit of corporate stability are necessary for long-term success.

What Do The Executives Say About Innovation?

According to McKinsey Research, there is a significant gap between CEOs' desire to innovate and their ability. Although 84% of executives think that innovation is critical to their growth plan, only 6% are satisfied with their innovation performance. Organizational structures and practices, it claims, are not the answer. Furthermore, while executives recognize the value of innovation, they are frequently dissatisfied and unsure of the problem and how to solve it. 

What is Incremental Innovation?

A sequence of minor improvements and changes to a company's existing products and services that can also include processes and tools referred to as "incremental innovation." In general, these low-cost enhancements help a company stand out from the competitors while also enhancing present goods, services, processes, and tolls. 

These minor adjustments aim to increase its products and services' productivity, performance, efficiency, and user experience (UX). By using incremental innovation, companies can save money and differentiate themselves from competitors.

Businesses can employ incremental innovation to strengthen their market position over time and attract a larger audience to the new and better product features.

GOALS, BENEFITS, AND BEST PRACTICES OF INCREMENTAL INNOVATION

According to Harvard professor Clayton Christensen, the primary driving force behind the release of new products rushed to the market is the rising consumer demand for new products and better results. In reality, new products fail 95 percent of the time. 

By establishing the below three defined goals, incremental innovation can protect against business hazards:

1. Growth of Sales or Profits - Companies may keep their products aligned with current trends, cultural moods, and evolving wants within their market by focusing on modifying the functionality and features of existing products and services.

2. Preserve the Existing Business Models - This method may not offer the same significant returns as other types of innovation. Still, it is a low-risk strategy that reinforces its current position.

3. Create New Business Models To Enhance Existing Models - Incremental innovation has a significant cumulative impact on a company's internal processes and efficiency. This method yields consistent efficiency benefits, allowing you to stabilize existing business models before launching new ones. It also aids in discovering and nurturing fresh ideas used in conjunction with the current business.

Below are the Benefits of Incremental Innovation:

It Reduces Risks: Managers are frequently preoccupied with balancing risks and market share. It is always possible to use an incremental strategy, such as making minor but continual advancements without jeopardizing its budget.

Familiar Products with Upgrades: Consumers are more willing to acquire well-known products with new features. This strategy can help the organization increase its product line while also catering to the tastes of its customers. This can also help keep its cash flow steady as they work on more groundbreaking concepts.

Maintain Your Competitiveness: By keeping top-of-mind in the industry with another update or a new feature, organizations may maintain their market share and current consumers using this incremental innovation strategy. 

Presence in Existing Market: Companies can pitch their ideas for upgrades and unique features into the existing market with less uncertainty and risk, knowing that they'll still be able to provide clients with a high level of accessibility.

Low Budget: An incremental plan will not break the bank because it is cost-effective and allows a company to make tiny improvements without investing significant money.

Best Practices of Incremental Innovation:

Know Your Customers: You won't get far in any business if you don't understand your target market. If your current product does not match your customers' expectations, even a minor update can cost you revenue and client loyalty. Before making any changes, you can undertake surveys, customer feedback, or reviews. As you interact with clients, you'll be able to gather more feedback and learn more about their concerns regarding your products and services. These insights will assist you in determining how to create your models following their desire to enhance the user experience.

Decide Where to Focus: This strategy allows faster outcomes, encouraging more individuals to join the innovation campaign. This momentum has the potential to help eliminate doubts. The difficulty is determining where to concentrate your efforts, as there is always a myriad of incremental innovation ideas.

Collaborate: You may construct predictable pipelines for incremental innovation by spreading the task and making it a collaborative effort. In larger firms, this method is necessary because a single department cannot foster innovation across the entire organization.

Wrap Up: Take Advantage of Incremental Innovation

Incremental innovation refers to a gradual change in a company's products, services, or operations that can take many forms. Incremental innovation is critical to a company's success because it allows it to expand and evolve in response to customer and employee feedback and shifting market conditions. 

Incremental innovation is always a vital component of the most successful businesses. A business culture that encourages continual improvement with low risks is the cornerstone of long-term corporate stability and sustainability.

HUMAN CAPITAL TRENDS: DESIGN THINKING ON CRAFTING EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE (Copy)

With the high technology innovations, employees are now equipped with the constant flood of information. According to Deloitte data, people constantly check their phones more than 8 billion times per day, but productivity is scarcely increasing. HR must use design thinking, which puts the employee experience at the center, to relieve the overburdened employee and develop HR tools to help manage complexity. Design thinking shifts HR's attention away from programs and processes and toward a new goal: creating a productive and meaningful employee experience through compelling, pleasurable, and simple solutions.

The Role of Design Thinking on Employee Experience

Customers' perceptions of your company are shaped by how employees perceive it. Design thinking aids in the creation of an engaging workplace that delights employees in "moments that matter."

Design thinking allows you to focus on the employee's individual experience and build tailored processes. As a result, new tools and solutions have been developed to benefit employee satisfaction, productivity, and enjoyment. HR departments should improve their abilities to include essential design principles like digital design, mobile app design, user experience design, and behavioral economics into their work. Design thinking is valuable and practical. According to this year's poll, respondents at organizations where HR provides the most value are nearly five times more likely than their peers to use design thinking in their initiatives.

What Exactly Does "Employee Experience" Imply?

Employee experience is the total of everything that happens during a career. It begins when an employee applies for a job and ends on their last workday. 

Employee experience involves four crucial stages:

1. Recruitment: This is your first opportunity to showcase your company's culture and build trust with a prospective hire. The total experience is determined by how smooth the application procedure is.

2. Employee Onboarding: Integrating a new employee into a company. While on the job, they acquire a sense of how things will be. The smoother the onboarding process, the better their experience will be.

3. Employee Retention and Development: The candidate contributes to the company's growth and development. They've assimilated into the culture. The experience is influenced by their daily routine, work connections, growth possibilities, learning, etc.

4. Employee Exit: Employees who leave the company until their exit interview are included in this category.

Why Is Employee Engagement So Important Now?

• Engagement of Employees - In the United States, 36 percent of employees are involved in their work and workplace, the same as Gallup's composite proportion of engaged employees in 2020. Around the world, 20% of employees are engaged at work.

• Retention of Employees - In 2021, 74% of actively disengaged workers are actively looking for new work or keeping an eye out for openings. In comparison, 55 percent of disengaged employees and 30 percent of engaged employees are not involved.

• To Attract High-Performing Employees - Companies like Zappos create candidate experiences to attract high-performing employees and make it simple to find and apply for the perfect position.

Companies Design Employee Experience to Attract and Retain High-Performing People

The employee experience is more significant in the employee life cycle. At each point of the life cycle is the journey people take with your organization and their interactions with managers and associates. 

What Can Business Leaders Do?

1. Provide design thinking training and seminars to Human Resources managers.

2. Learn and apply design thinking as used in customer service.

3. Create a prototype, test it, and learn from it.

HR Leaders as Designers

HR leaders can be designers by focusing on people, resulting in a more engaging and effective HR solution. When used appropriately, design thinking is a way of problem-solving that is rigorous and disciplined. It's an opportunity for HR to rethink how it collaborates with the company and its processes while leveraging technology to promote significant employee interactions. 

When done correctly, design thinking creates a virtuous loop that increases employee satisfaction, engagement, and productivity for the organization. Talent leaders should ask themselves, given their new role as designers, how can HR build and influence the employee experience? How can HR create holistic experiences that engage employees at every stage of their careers, from prospects to alumni? How can HR assist in developing and reinforcing design talents across the organization?

4 Strategies to Foster and Facilitate a Digital Culture

Today, we can already observe how the new information technology and the internet influence how people interact as humans. The internet is now widely used as a means of communication. Anyone can send a message instantly, read or watch the latest news, and check out online transactions by simply browsing and clicking on laptops, tablets, or mobile phones.

A corporation that has not yet adopted a digital culture must realize that it is critical to its success. A lot of businesses have already been using the new digital technology in their operations.

What is Digital Culture?

Digital culture is a new type of culture in which individuals have become more digital. It is the product of technological advancements that have resulted in a completely different way of life and habits for individuals.

How can your organization develop a digital culture?

Establishing a digital culture at a company entails more than just doing digital work every day. It's all about appreciating and enjoying the digital tools that make employees' jobs easier. It will be difficult for a company that has not yet incorporated a digital culture into its operations if it is not equipped with the proper knowledge and guidance. Here are four suggestions for effectively establishing and nurturing a digital culture in your organization.

1. Digital Training and Information

Managing a successful business increasingly entails managing a digital business. A company should offer digital training to employees at all levels. The employees should grasp the knowledge about a digital business. You may understand the digital culture as a business owner, but you must communicate it to everyone to achieve the best digital success for your company.

Employees in the company play various roles and functions, and digital training may help individuals understand what they do and how it might make their jobs easier. They should undertake their digital activity in their own free time or whatever will work the best to learn the process. Part of the process includes determining their digital preferences. This may entail questionnaires, with the results assisting you in evaluating your digital cultural strategy approach.

If the workforce is busy, it is great if the training programs are adaptable. Employees can access digital information when they have time and feel the need to upskill through digital training programs that can be found online. Providing digital training and knowledge to employees is the key to a digital business strategy with a thorough plan.

2. Team Effort and Collaboration

Fostering a digital culture of a company to a compelling needs team effort. A company may compose of Sales, Marketing, Finance, Information Technology, and other essential company departments. Team collaboration can impact the success of a digital company.

Teamwork is best in sharing ideas and insights between departments for the productive and effective implementation of digital culture. Collaboration tools can be found online, such as Trello, Microsoft Teams, and Slack. These Apps can be a great collaboration tool instead of emailing back and forth the documents and instructions. Information sharing comes easy and handy for the team in achieving their common goal. The common goal must be to earn improved customer service, experience, and more income or revenue for the company.

3. Workplace Transparency

Transparency should be embraced when implementing a digital culture. From the top-down to the bottom-up, the organization should communicate honestly and openly. Workplace transparency is essential, especially when some are reluctant to share information with co-workers of the different departments.

There are numerous approaches to establishing a transparent company. The first is to develop open lines of communication. This ensures that everyone has access to the information and breaks down communication barriers inside the organization. Every department has access to significant and minor messages and announcements. Through this, all will learn about the authentic information that is not hocus-focus.

4. Recognize the Importance of Taking Risks

Transitioning to a digital culture may come with some hazards. Let everyone know that taking risks is a good thing. Let employees know that they should feel free to try anything new if they have the necessary skills and abilities. To not be afraid to innovate, employees and employers must have mutual trust.

The Importance of Psychological Safety in Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging

A diverse workplace is one in which all employees feel included and valued regardless of rank and status. Diversity in the workplace refers to people's differences in color, religion, gender, age, ethnicity, and sexual orientation being recognized, respected, and valued. A diversified team can help the company to achieve more success in the business. To achieve this, the team must work in a welcoming setting that promotes psychological well-being.

A diverse workplace has advantages, but the task is not as simple as putting together a diverse group. To achieve a successful diverse workplace, people with various abilities and backgrounds must work well together. Psychological safety is a critical component of achieving it. It is a strategy for building diversity, inclusion, and belonging in an organization, whether private or public.

What is Psychological Safety?

Psychological safety is an environment where people feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, questions, worries, and mistakes. It is believed that no one will be punished or humiliated for speaking up with their ideas, questions, concerns, or errors; this is critical for maximizing the benefits of diversity because it can help make inclusion a reality.

In a nutshell, psychological safety is about allowing people to be honest with one another. Further, psychological safety refers to members of a group's shared view that the group is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. Psychological safety is achieved in an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust of the people.

How to Cultivate Psychological Safety?

There are ways to cultivate and foster psychological safety in the workplace. Psychological safety in the workplace is the shared belief that it's safe to take interpersonal risks as a group. As a leader, you can check if your employees feel psychologically safe. Input from people from various groups is used to measure diversity, inclusion, and belonging.

As a leader, you have to help people feel comfortable and build the shared belief that the team is safe for risk-taking. The first step is to demonstrate your commitment to your team. Make it clear to employees that you are paying attention when they speak. Let them know you've taken the time to listen, comprehend, and consider their viewpoint. Be open to feedback and, most importantly, show your team that you care about their personal and professional development by supporting them.

Psychological Safety Pays Off

Business organizations that promote psychological safety can reap benefits. Among these benefits are better employee engagement and well-being, greater team collaboration, lower employee turnover, more flexibility to change, high performance of employees, and a more substantial workplace. Further, employees will feel more secure, avoid work burnout, and be more engaged at work as a result. They will have a lower likelihood of quitting their employment. Talented people will want to work for outstanding companies with leaders who understand their employees and value diversity.

Another thing is that the greater the ambiguity and need for learning in a given set of tasks, the more psychological safety is required to complete those tasks successfully. This is where psychological safety comes into play in the workplace as a critical element in predicting team success in various domains involving cognitive, emotional, and complex tasks.

It pays off to invest in psychological safety in the workplace. Overall, an organization will benefit from happier, healthier, and more engaged workers by nurturing a positive work culture through promoting psychological safety.

How Can Design Thinking Help Advance DEI Challenges in 5 Stages?

Today's DEI pieces of training and programs are frequently developed with a one-size-fits-all strategy that focuses on changing the attitudes of others. However, by being more strategic and human-centric, thinking like a designer may help us alter and enhance diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) activities.

Design thinking principles can help us holistically handle today's more complex and interrelated DEI concerns using a five-step road map.

The 5 Stages of the design thinking method as mapped out by Stanford University are the following:

1. Empathize

This is the first stage of design thinking. Typically through user research, you should get a sympathetic grasp of the problem you're trying to solve. This involves research and analysis of the gathered data to understand the company's current DEI state.

Empathy is the starting point for design thinking. People are at the heart of DEI's activities. We must have a thorough awareness of our people's wants and feelings to produce value through DEI efforts. It is essential in a human-centered design approach like design thinking. It helps you put your worldview aside and acquire meaningful insight into consumers and their needs.

2. Define

This is the stage of DEI where the problem is defined. To generate the most authentic and emotionally resonant solutions, we must put our associates at the center of the problem-solving issues. We must have to state and define the critical roadblocks that hinder sustainable progress.

The information acquired while in the Empathize stage is compiled. We then have to analyze the fundamental issues that the company and the team have identified. Problem statements are what they're termed. The proper measures to perform are asking the correct questions, selecting the right indicators, spotting the suitable patterns, and coming up with the correct answer.

3. Ideate

This stage is the time to bring in various viewpoints to identify the root of problems and potential solutions. Because we have a strong foundation of information from the last two phases, we can now begin to "think outside of the box," look for new perspectives on the problem, and develop creative solutions to the problem statement constructed. Brainstorming is especially effective in this situation.

4. Prototype

This stage is to start to create and develop solutions. The goal of this stage, which can be an experimental phase, is to find the best potential answer for each problem encountered. We can deliver a program prototype to test the solution's efficacy and relevancy by knowing which elements work and which don't.

5. Test

We pilot the solution to test results and evaluate the next iterative that expands on the existing components during the test stage.

Always pilot a solution with controllable groups before rolling it out on a big scale to test the results and learn from the experience. We have the opportunity to modify early prototypes into solutions with more promising potential based on the collected feedback and observation.

Four Ways to Avoid Burnout and Improve Work Productivity

As a leader of a company, you need to acknowledge the existence of burnout. Unfortunately, managing employees' burnout in the workplace is often forgotten if not neglected by a company. According to a recent survey, even though the organization supplied appropriate resources, only 20% of employees rated high engagement and significant burnout.

Burnout Meaning

Excessive and sustained stress can lead to burnout, a state of emotional, bodily, and mental weariness. When you're stressed, emotionally tired, and unable to meet constant demands, it's called burnout. As the tension mounts, you begin to lose interest in and motivation for the role of your work which you took on in the first place.

The Impact of Burnout in the Workplace

Employee burnout can result in job discontent, a loss of interest, and a lack of happiness at work. Employees that are burnt out may experience physical tiredness after their workday. They may be unsure of how to advance and better their careers. Job burnout is caused by several factors, including poor work culture, lack of work recognition or appreciation, and a lack of work-life balance. Employee burnout is an organizational issue that can affect your business if not dealt with at an early stage.

As an employer, you need to know that burnout is avoidable if you provide your company with the proper working conditions, company culture, and employee support. It would be best if you understood that burnout of employees doesn't happen overnight; it can develop gradually. It is best to implement in your company these four burnout prevention strategies that can at the same time improve the work productivity of your employees:

1. Wellness Activities

Employee wellness programs and activities can help your organization attract high-performing employees and keep them happy and productive while simultaneously reducing employee turnover. Every employer should provide wellness programs that promote mindfulness, exercise, and healthy eating. Through some wellness programs, employees can break and avoid the work burnout that just started to creep on them. There are available comprehensive resources you can implement as wellbeing support for your employees. These can build your employees' mental resilience and reduce their stress levels. In addition, employees can learn the strategies you can provide to manage the different areas of their mental and physical health.

2. Open Door Policy Company Culture

Open door policy company culture will allow the employees to come to the company's managers or upper-level management to speak about their work frustrations; this can help alleviate their stress. An open-door policy is a great way to help employees speak whatever is on their minds. You may never know they are struggling with their work assignments. Often employees may feel hesitant to approach the upper management. But, with open-door policy culture, employees may feel a strong connection that will make them happier and improve their work performance. Advisable is the one-on-one feedback meetings to make them aware that you care and value them.

3. Promote Professional and Continuous Development

As a company leader, you need to address continuous professional improvement through seminars and workshops for your employees. This is a responsibility to address any issue for the betterment of your employees. They can participate in the seminars and workshops you provide. It will make them better employees. They can perform their best in the job with the gained skills and knowledge.

4. Ignite Employees!

Let your employees shine. This will ignite their spirit and make them feel appreciated and inspired. Keep them excited about their work. Give them an appreciation for their accomplishments. Some existing companies provide their employees' recognition as a top employee of the month or employee of the year. This will work for your company too.

Dealing with employee burnout is manageable in your organization if the top leadership of the business organization at first hand provides some strategies. Burnout can be avoided by investing in the systems and standards that keep people healthy and surrounded by helpful coworkers and leaders. As a business owner or manager, it all starts with your plans and strategy.

The Changing Leader

The shifts in technology, migration, and globalization have resulted in a new kind of leader. Like the rest of the world, the average leader has become better informed, better connected, and empowered through digital and social channels. This change is accelerating globally, as power, information, and influence are democratized through technology. 

What is Leadership, then?

A simple question, and yet it remains to trouble famous consultants and laypeople alike. I've now written articles s on Leadership for employee engagement, and finally, it occurred to me that I never actually reflected on establishing Leadership.

Let's start with what Leadership is not…

Leadership has nothing to do with ranking or one's position in the hierarchy of a company. 

Too many talks about a company's Leadership, referring to the senior-most executives in the organization. They are merely that, senior executives. Leadership doesn't automatically follow when you reach a particular pay category. Hopefully, you discover it there, although there are no guarantees.

Leadership has naught to do with titles.

Comparable to the point above, just because you have a C-level title doesn't automatically make you a "leader." In all of my talks, I stress that you don't need a title to lead. You can lead in your workplace, your community, and your family, all without possessing a title.

Leadership has naught to do with individual characteristics.

Say the word "leader," and most people imagine an authoritative, charismatic take-charge individual. We often imagine icons from history like Donald Trump. But Leadership isn't an adjunct. We don't need extroverted charismatic traits to exercise Leadership. And those with charisma don't automatically lead.

Leadership isn't management. 

This is the big one. Leadership and management are not identical. Do you have 20 people in your downline and P&L accountability? Great for you; hopefully, you are a good manager. Good management is demanded. Managers need to coordinate, plan, measure, monitor, hire, fire, solve, and so many other things. Typically, managers grow the numbers, whereas, Leaders lead and help the people around them rise.

Each spring, I have a vision for my garden, and with loads of work, cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes become a reality. But does that make me a leader? No, it makes me a horticulturist.

So what is Leadership?

DEFINITION: Leadership is a method of social impact, which maximizes others' efforts towards achieving a goal.

Notice critical components of this definition:

• Leadership originates from social influence, not power or authority

• Leadership requires others, and that suggests they don't need to be "direct reports."

• No specifying of personality traits, attributes, or even a title; there are various styles, various paths, to effective Leadership

• It incorporates a goal, not influence with no planned outcome

A lot of my work is in the area of employee engagement and leadership development. 

Technically, a leader could use social impact to organize others' efforts, but I think Leadership is about maximizing effort. It's not, "Hey everyone, let's line up and get to the top of that hill instantly."Yet instead, "Hey, see that hill? Let's see how we can get to the top together as a team.  

Do those key elements work for you?