Everyone is talking about disruptive innovation to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace and transform the way companies do business and the products and services they provide. This applies across all industries, including the insurance industry where organizations are looking to leverage technologies and business models to disrupt the way products have been delivered – and even the products themselves – to be more customer-centric. This takes an organizational culture that fosters creativity and encourages and rewards employees to think outside the box.
Here are some pointers, courtesy of an article in All Business, to adopt in your organization to help get the creative juices flowing among your employees:
- Bring your staff together and encourage fresh ideas. Depending on the size of your company, you can build in time at the office to work on innovative projects. The built-in time has to be something management is committed to on an ongoing basis to truly establish a creative culture.
- If there is specific challenge that needs addressing, be sure your employees understand all the parameters so they know what you’re looking to accomplish.
- Be all-inclusive. Creativity doesn’t begin and end with management. Everyone in the organization can tap into their imagination and come up with a unique approach or a new idea.
- Encourage employees to attend seminars, workshops and other outlets that may help the creative process and spark fresh ideas. These outlets don’t have to be within the insurance industry – in fact, it’s wise to look outside the industry to see what others are doing and to gain insight or inspiration.
- Promote diversity of thought to encourage innovation. No idea is a bad idea.
Keep in mind, innovative cultures tend to emerge when individuals feel a sense of ownership and control over the creative process. When hearts and minds are engaged and employees are helping to make change happen, new ideas and opportunities can emerge.
