According to Charles Darwin, the key to survival is not domination but the ability to adapt and respond to change. This applies to business now more than ever.
With technology moving at an incredible pace, many businesses are struggling to keep up. The future of your business depends on its ability to evolve, and to keep pace with changing business ecology.
If you are hesitant to adopt change throughout your business, or you wait too long to do so, you can find that you very quickly become outdated, and your business suffers.
For those who may be struggling to thrive in the current business environment, but are unsure how to implement change, here are five strategies to help you adapt and innovate so your business can grow and continue into the future.
1. Become more self-aware
Progress is not possible without a clear understanding of your current position, both from a personal and professional standpoint.
Are there patterns of behavior that are holding you back, or making others react negatively towards you? What about as a group or a company? Once you have determined the main areas that have potential for improvement, you can start to work out your strategy.
2. Create your operating vision
Having a vision gives you a direction to move in, and a shared vision helps motivate and inspire individual team members. By visualising the optimal working environment, leadership teams can enhance and strengthen existing governance practices to achieve the goals.
3. Learn innovation management skills
Innovation management skills help to enhance team and individual performance. Teach your team members important skills in innovation, valuation and business agile management practices. Providing mentoring services to your staff members can help them develop their potential, and enhance their performance across the board.
4. Create a clear step-by-step plan
There are a number of qualities that every successful innovation plan needs to have, including being practical, pragmatic, and achievable and having measurable steps.
Developing a step-by-step guide to achieving your company vision means that every team and individual staff member can be made aware of his or her role and importance in the evolution of your business – and can change it on the basis of lessons learned.
5. Designate strong leadership
Your leadership team members are the ones who will drive your business forward, and help to create a business culture of innovation and continual improvement. Your leadership team can help keep your staff members aligned with the overall company vision, and provide both safe-learning spaces and accountability where they are needs.
By building these five competencies into your business environment, you can give yourself the best chance of surviving and thriving well into the future. To be competitive, innovation needs to be combined with governance. Now is not the time to hold back – make sure your business is innovating and evolving rather than stagnating.
