Practices that encourage entrepreneurship are critical for the success of any innovation-driven organization. Unfortunately, some companies don’t value innovation, which, in some instances, leads to their demise. If management is interested in implementing innovation in their organization, they can apply strategies and create an environment that cultivates innovation.
Your organization is desperately in need of continuous improvement, whether you’re willing to acknowledge it or not. As a leader, you must begin to apply strategies that transform your approach. One such practice that has positively impacted innovation in my experience is training and developing your team with broad application in mind. The observation that has influenced my perspective is that all facets of a business are intertwined. Furthermore, having a broad understanding of how your organization connects to the next internally and externally goes a long way to shaping where to invest. So where is this investment best made? If you said, your team you are bang on! If businesses are intertwined, what connects them is the people. By funneling investment towards your teams you position them to broaden their understanding of their vocation and how other industries influence their space. As for your organization, what your team learns they bring the knowledge as tools to discover new ways of doing things.
Learning from your surroundings helps build an understanding of what you need to do. Exposing your team to the same is even better. In the article “Training for effective continuous quality improvement” (Anderson 1994), we learn a fundamental aspect of innovation that reigns true to this day - if an organization wants to nurture continued quality improvement, non-domain related training will open an avenue through which to broaden the effectiveness and impacts of quality within an organization. Training your team to be equipped enough to meet the need of where you are going is more important than saving money to invest in the future. If your organization's goal is to increase your profit margins, you had better start getting it together on what or who you are investing in. Let me put it another way if you want to see a significant increase in your profit margins, your most important investment is your employees. An equipped employee is a considerable force.
Over the years, I have been fortunate to learn how to use process management and continuous quality advancement to influence how senior management views systems implementation. The domino effect has led to cost savings in areas they may not have expected and ultimately impacting how work is done. Surprise surprise, this happens to be our definition of innovation. With that said, it is my opinion that where the goal is to encourage entrepreneurship, training with broad applications draws in new knowledge through staff, and challenges an organization's status quo. What's paramount is putting your money where your mouth is and positioning your organization for greater success by investing in your team.
References
Anderson, J. C., Dooley, K., & Rungtusanatham, M. (1994, 12). Training for effective continuous quality improvement. Quality Progress, 27, 57. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/214757070?accountid=197609
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