Innovation is key to success for the future
Apr 23 2010 By Kieran O’Brien
Employees throughout the organisation understand how innovation helps the company succeed and are nurtured by a supportive working environment where communication works effectively both vertically as well as horizontally across the organisation.
SMEs at their incorporation in our experience are inherently innovative and often established to take advantage of a gap in the market, by founders who may not have achieved their potential within their previous organisations.
In the modern constantly changing environment where the rate of change is increasing and product life cycles decreasing, innovation is an imperative and only those who adopt it as part of their strategy are likely to survive and grow in the long term.
Owner managers of these enterprises generally have similar characteristics, with a high level of skills in their fields e.g. technical or marketing, self confident, ambitious and like to make decisions and be in control. Their enterprises and organisations are usually highly dependent on them and often moulded to suit their personalities and styles.
Research suggests that these business owners rate opportunities of making their own decisions, doing something enjoyable as well as the challenge of growing their business as more important than financial rewards. Owners often employ like-minded individuals who are adaptive and when required work flexibly to achieve business objectives and ensure the success of the enterprise.
Companies in which owner managers demand a high level of control often demonstrate a lack of diversity with managers and employees, acting in line with the perceived wishes of owners rather than taking ownership of business issues.
So, while innovation generally underpins new enterprises, the owners’ personalities ultimately determine whether innovation in these organisations is one- off or whether it becomes part of successful business strategy.
Over the past year we found that seminars and workshops provided useful and up to date regulatory and market information, but more importantly in our case attracted our target audience and provided good networking opportunities. A number of these events were attended and they generated a number of business leads. In contrast the benefits from our online social networking efforts have yet to be realised.
Consultants can aid economic recovery by helping owners and managers of SMEs create innovation-friendly environments, and ensuring innovation becomes an integral part of their business strategies. We can also help them recognise their organisational limitations and encourage the delegation of decision making and promoting the empowerment of management teams. Specifically we can play important roles in building external linkages with other organisations and sharing our business knowledge and experience.
Ultimately the most effective and useful consultants will help build truly learning and innovative client organisations, ensuring the success of their clients’ enterprises and playing important part in economic recovery within the West Midlands and across the UK.
* Kieran O’Brien is a business consultant and owner-manager of DenovO Consulting Ltd. kobrien@denovoconsult.com
