Home topics small-business-resources social-media-strategy-social-media Small Business Strategy Small Business Three critical skills your people need in order to be world-class innovators in your business Amantha Imber February 21, 2018 What do Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso have in common? They are all thought of as born innovators. Creative geniuses. The myths and stories surrounding these three people support the notion that one is either born an innovator… or not. And if not, perhaps consider a career in accounting. ( That’s a joke – I know I want my accountant to be highly creative ). Despite perception, great innovators are largely made, not born. Thousands of scientific studies have shown that simple tactics and methods can significantly improve anyone’s ability to be a great innovator. For organisations that place a value on innovation, the message is simple: you must deliberately focus on turning your people into great innovators. At Inventium, the innovation consultancy I lead, we literally work with thousands of employees every year, giving them practical skills to deliver better innovations to market. Here are three main areas to focus on in order to transform staff into top innovators: Uncovering opportunities Too often, the primary skill of great innovators is seen as coming up with great ideas. Certainly, this is important, but innovation doesn’t start with an idea. Instead, innovation needs to start with the customer. As such, a critical skill set for people is to know how to be a great customer detective. Customer detectives understand how