5 Steps to create an innovation mindset

5 Steps to create an innovation mindset

Behavioural Forward-thinking, creativity, willingness to take risks…  Those characteristics all belong to people with an innovation mindset. They are aware of the need of making mistakes and trying over and over again to grow or innovate. They know new things are always lurking around the corner and they are always open to testing them! Innovation itself is all about building new things that have an impact on the market and that can add value for potential customers. It is key for success and growth, but on one condition; Organisations should develop an innovative mindset to make innovation strategies work. 

An innovation mindset in 5 steps 

The mindset of people is often a pitfall when it comes to innovation strategies. You need both a perfect mindset and a strategy to make things work. For the strategy, Cosmos Collective can help you out for sure (talk to one of our strategists), but also for mindset we got your back; Are you ready for a major mindset shift? Our Cosmos Collective Training menu might have the perfect fit for you, but for now we have 5 great tips bundled in this blog. You’re welcome!

1. Be open to change

Change is a ‘scary’ thing. Although the world is transforming all the time, many people are not comfortable with change. All areas of society are challenged by this constant transformation. It is important to be curious all the time, to see ‘change’ as a good thing and to keep track of it to be the first to embrace changes. It is also key to analyse the possible impact of change on yourself and especially on your business. Accepting the fact that transformation will have a huge impact is hard but necessary for corporates.

If you want to create an innovation mindset, you should always be open to change and look for opportunities in every transformation. Usually, people are not like that, instead, we can even show the different phases everyone without an innovation mindset goes through when experiencing a transformation.

These are the 4 different phases: The first phase is ‘denial’; it is refusing to accept that a transformation is occurring.

People will avoid the topic and continue their jobs like they always did. They will probably just refuse that the change has an impact on them as well. It’s all about an emotional response. As time goes by, people will realise the change is permanent, which could be a real demotivation for them. They will feel overwhelmed and question everything that comes with the change. Afterwards, the defence phase will occur, which will bring people slightly closer to acceptance, but just not yet. They might feel some kind of anger and the urge to defend the existing business model. Once the defence phase is over, change will be accepted by more and more people every single day and eventually they will get committed to making things work in the best possible way.

One more thing we need to mention; all those phases take time. In today’s fast-moving markets, there is no room for this and innovators must push themselves to skip all these phases and go to acceptance and commitment right away. Don’t lose time on negativity and look for all the opportunities change will bring for your business. Getting an innovative mindset means shortcutting this curve and embracing change as quick as possible.

2. Embrace failure 

Failing feels uncomfortable for many people. It is seen as something bad and unnecessary, and that’s why risks are not always taken. If you’re looking to create an innovative mindset, it is key to get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

You should always keep in mind that the more you fail, the more you learn and the fastest you grow.
Failing forward really is a thing. Getting comfortable with failure means you’ll get comfortable with taking risks and trying new things all the time. Innovation is not happening unless you can learn to think like this.

Courage is another thing innovation asks for. It only happens when organisations and their innovators find the courage to constantly try new things and rethink how things can be done more efficiently. It takes courage to challenge existing strategies and ways of working. Okay, it could involve failure, but if it doesn’t, big things could happen as well. And that’s a risk every innovator should be willing to take.

Once you get that innovative mindset, you’ll be the one in charge to push innovation forward and to help create an innovative climate in your organisation. There always has to be someone daring to take the first step into uncertainty. It’s like the first man on the dance floor at a party. Eventually, the others will follow.

During one of our trainings, our experts will help you to embrace failure.

3. Think big, or don’t 

An innovative mindset is all about believing big changes could happen every single day. Therefore, you’ll need a mindset that helps you think bigger and beyond the current truths in the market or in your business. Stretching your thoughts out of ordinary thinking is what pushes innovations. 

In reality, it’s not only about big innovations. As an innovator, it is important to not only look for that big breakthrough. Also incremental innovations could lead to ideas with a huge impact eventually. Innovation is not only launching a brand new technologic feature, unlike what many people think. It also involves smaller changes like automation in your marketing strategy or a way to improve customer relationships. If it’s a step forward, it could be considered as an innovation, since the smallest transformation can add value to your business. Encourage yourself to think of things that can improve your business and bear in mind that innovation comes in all shapes and sizes.