adminShelter Chieza Change Management
RECENTLY I was travelling along the Harare-Chinhoyi highway and I noticed two roadside signs that were 2km apart.
The first read. “Worms for sale” and further down the road the other sign read “Big worms for sale”.
As I went further on I noticed that the same message was being conveyed in different ways, there was a bit of creativity and innovation — “Fresh worms for sale”, “Anaconda worms for sale” and “Giant worms for sale”.
I could not help but marvel at the marketing gimmicks that were being employed by the people selling the worms, which I presume to be fishermen.
These ordinary fishermen are trying to make a living using their limited knowledge of marketing.
Each one thought of a catchy phrase to market their product and it was evident that some were more innovative than others.
This is characteristic of the world we are now living in now. Innovation means so many things to a lot of people.
For some artists innovation is normally triggered by accidental or foolish things. Some great artists have pointed out that some of their deeply satisfying works have come out of bizarre or mysterious circumstances.
A local innovation guru once explained that innovation comes out of uncanny mediums of the absurd, mistakes, inconvenience, physical and psychological discomfort, and yes, so-called failure.
If you are so serious about innovation, make sure that there it total buy-in in your organisation of what you intend to achieve.
Innovation should not just be left to the marketing/business development department. We once tried to be innovative in our organisation and we called our project the “The next big thing” and it worked.
It was a contest where employees with the most effective innovations would be rewarded with prizes.
It was exciting how everyone got involved. Drivers came up with amazing ideas to beef up their department.
We followed up on all the new ideas and in the end every employee had a sense of ownership of the project.
Take, for instance, the mobile industry these days. Mobile businesses have been gaining influences.
The trick is figuring out what your customers want from your brand. If you are in an industry where it’s unlikely that people will perform the same tasks across multiple devices, then you have to figure out a way of attracting them through their mobile devices.
You need to know what your customers need most in their busy lives and include that in your mobile strategy.
Going mobile is a game changer as in future millions of dollars will be transacted through this way.
One of the world’s leading experts on strategy and globalisation, Anil Gupta, argues that innovation thrives in a culture of diversity where people do not feel the compulsion to fit in and where those with strong backbones are likely to be viewed as heroes.
I support this view because for us to reach higher levels of innovation in our firms, it starts with our educational system.
Are our children being taught to think outside the box, are those Science subjects effective in the professional realm?
It is believed that the Chinese Communist Party’s central committee has clearly indicated its willingness to encourage innovation.
Innovation is one of the eight key reform priorities in the “383” plan being circulated by the China.
If you really want to be competitive in your industry, it cannot be business as usual, you need to be creative and provide solutions to your customers.
Till next week, may God richly bless you.
Shelter Chieza is an advisor in management issues. She can be contacted at [email protected]
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