Innovation Day
You certainly don’t “need” an official day like Innovation Day to tell you that innovation is important in business, but it does serve as a little encouragement to put in place some initiatives that will get the team thinking about innovation more regularly. We’re taking a look at how-to encourage innovation in the workplace by holding an innovation day (on any day!), keep reading for some hot tips.
Getting Prepared
The first step to pulling off a successful innovation day is planning. Putting aside a day that’s exclusively for innovation and plotting out your desired purpose of the day is the first step to success. Ask yourself what you want out of the day, is the business facing some new challenges? Are you looking for new product or service ideas? Or are you looking for a day of wild and uninhibited brainstorming to see what comes up?
Next, think about who you’re going to invite to participate. Remember, often the best ideas and innovations come from the places you least expect. Don’t make the mistake of only inviting the higher ups, by inviting a good mix of talent from all parts of the business allows you to tap in to the talent of a broader range of employees. Remember that those who are on the front lines will have a very different perspective than the leadership team, which can bring about some incredibly useful insights and ideas.
Pick your day, book the room and send out the invitations. If you’re a big group consider assigning a team to coordinate as there will be some important admin to take care of like managing RSVPs, catering, and supplies. Whiteboards, flipcharts, notepads, sticky notes, pens and markers, are all going to be key items you’ll need to secure before your event. Providing the opportunity to physically participate and see the progress creates energy and builds excitement.
Consider planning some fun games/activities throughout the day, these help to relax everyone and get their blood pumping. Then add this in to the day’s schedule to make it official. Scheduling out activities and breaks doesn’t have to impede the flow of ideas and creativity, but it does help to keep you on track and to make sure you get everything done that you’d hoped.
Today’s the Day!
The whole team has arrived, and they’re rearing to go. Now would be a great time for a short ice-breaking activity, something that will get everyone in the right mindset for creative thought. It’s also a great time to make everyone aware of the schedule that you’ve put in place for the day and also what your expectations are.
If you have a large group it’s helpful to break into smaller teams, assigning each team with a different task or problem to solve. You can even set all teams the same task, encouraging them by making a competition out of it. You’ll be amazed by the different solutions to the same problem that will come back.
Make sure you allow time for breaks. Creativity is at its highest when people are refreshed and relaxed. Unstructured free time activates the brains innovative area and brings out new ideas. This is why it’s a good idea to start with the ice-breaking activity before going in to the more focused work.
There are a few ways to handle the end of the day. If you have broken in to teams you could have each team present their ideas and thoughts to the rest of the group. Or, if you’ve worked as one group you could work together to agree on what the final outcome and findings of the day have been.
Time to get to Work!
Once you’ve had your fun it’s time to put these new ideas and practices to work. Don’t let your team down by doing nothing with their great ideas, especially if you have hopes of running sessions like this in the future. Enrol the team in your vision by keeping them up-to-date with changes that have been implemented as a result of your event. Even better if you can find a way to visually represent the changes taking place, perhaps it’s a chart on the wall, showing progress. Or regular staff emails congratulating them on how their great ideas have panned out.
Innovation days don’t have to be a one-time-only thing. Getting the team together for regular problem-solving sessions and brainstorming is of great benefit to everyone. It makes staff feel valued for their ideas and innovation and it helps you to dip in to the well of great ideas your staff can bring. Consider adding sessions to the calendar on a semi-regular basis, you’ll be surprised by how engaged staff can become when they feel valued in this way, as people are more naturally invested when they see changes that they helped to implement.
