A repository of good ideas is one of the most important assets a business can have. Anyone can copy your products or your business model, but the ability to generate new ideas is not easily replicated. If you cultivate a prolific idea machine at your company, you’ll have a much better chance of sustaining your competitive advantage.
Of course, no one really knows whether an idea is any good until it’s proven — and that takes a lot of serious work. Unfortunately, when results don’t materialize it’s often an idea that’s blamed for the failure. Guess what happens to idea generation at that point. It goes flat, because no one wants to offer up something that could be connected with laying another big goose egg.
Make sure that everyone in your company understands that ideas are just ideas, and nothing more. Giving ideas a chance to flourish will allow you to build up a treasure chest of innovation. You’ll also give morale a big boost by letting people be heard and by demonstrating that you value their input.
It’s simply impossible to have too many ideas. However, it’s frightfully common for companies to act on too many ideas and to waste a lot of time and money doing it. Contrary to popular belief, failure to execute isn’t what kills new ventures. It’s failure to focus and execute on the right things, which usually comes about when ideas aren’t market-tested. Ideas can’t do any harm until you act on them. But make no mistake about it. If you don’t vet actions with a sanity check against the market, you’ll definitely put your company in harm’s way.
Click here for articles related to this and other topics.
