Do you have difficulty coming up with new ideas? It could be due to a lack of resilience in the workplace. Here are 5 tips to increase innovation resilience in your innovation team.
Like many others, you probably think that the key to success at work is going above and beyond the demands of the job. But working extra long hours or taking on additional responsibilities is not necessarily the key to innovation success. On the contrary, being able to adapt to the ever-changing environment through resilience adds more value.
What is resilience?
In very general terms, resilience is the ability to bounce back from the challenges that are an inevitable part of life. In the workplace, there are a number of such stressors that workers face.
The exciting thing about resilience is that it is a skill. Like any skill, resilience can be learned with practice. This article provides helpful tips on how you and your innovation team can become more resilient.
- Promoting a learning organization with innovation management
Companies need curious employees to build new knowledge and develop ideas that lead to innovation. Innovation moves your business forward, provides new benefits and functionality to your customers, and increases operational efficiency.
As a leader, you can help encourage, reward and implement innovative ideas. Create a culture of innovation in your company that is open to new ideas. Innovation management makes your organization more resilient and successful overall by creating a learning organization with the goal to innovate.
- Improve your time management
Plans and goals are important in innovation management. A thoroughly developed innovation strategy is the basis for this. This in turn enables employees to better plan their tasks.
The key to managing stress is to properly prioritize and organize work tasks. Broken down from the overarching innovation strategy to short-term tasks like this: Plan what you want to get done at the beginning of the week and when. We become more focused and productive when we determine how we use our time. If you manage your time properly, you will perceive less stress.
Knowing your stress level will also help you use breaks effectively throughout your day and know when to turn down tasks that overwhelm you. - Cultivate habits of positive influence.
The person in charge can play a formative role in innovation management by being a role model and encouraging employees themselves.
At work, you can't always be in control. Be it the behavior of your colleagues or your boss, the tasks assigned to you or the cooperation with a third party.
Therefore, it is beneficial not to be controlled by negative influence. Accepting the unchangeable will definitely bring you further. Managers and employees should focus on the positive qualities of their innovation team. However, this does not mean that problems should be ignored. It is important to find a middle ground that works best for everyone. - Set short-term and concrete goals
Anyone working on innovation deals with unpredictability. Nevertheless, try to set concrete goals for yourself and your employees as well. This tip for becoming more resilient is related to point 3 above, time management.
Set short-term goals if you notice an inexplicable drop in performance for yourself or your innovation team. You will create motivation with this simple action. - Look for neutral solutions to problems
Whenever there is a problem, look less for the person responsible for the problem and more for solutions.
Especially in crisis situations, tried-and-true solutions, routines and procedures suddenly fail - an all-too-familiar situation for innovation teams.
To build the necessary resilience, organizations in all areas must promote an open approach to problems and a constructive error culture. Only then can solutions be found quickly and creative strategies and innovative ideas can be developed.
Conclusion
Resilience is key to creating a flexible, learning organization.
However, in modern work environments characterized by downsizing, deadlines, competition and organizational change, success depends on individuals' ability to cope with and even overcome stress.
Employees learn to adapt and successfully deal with change, which in turn has a positive impact on the organization.
Of course, building resilience in the workplace doesn't happen overnight. It is a skill that must also be developed in an organization over time. But it is worthwhile for every employee and a successful company.
