{"id":1371,"date":"2017-03-07T14:49:16","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T19:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovators.org\/?p=1371"},"modified":"2018-10-05T05:32:09","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T09:32:09","slug":"5-strategy-questions-ask-discover-need-innovate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovators.org\/stage\/blog\/5-strategy-questions-ask-discover-need-innovate\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Strategy Questions to Ask to Discover WHERE You Need to Innovate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Innovation is all about finding new ways to do things, whether you are implementing a new process, building a culture of innovation, creating innovative products and services, changing your business model, or applying new technologies.<\/p>\n<p>In today\u2019s marketplace, innovation isn\u2019t a \u201cnice to have\u201d \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.innovators.org\/why-innovate\/\">companies that want to remain competitive and outlast their rivals <em>must<\/em> innovate.<\/a> Ultimately, innovation allows you to achieve sustainable long-term success.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here\u2019s how innovation helps your business succeed:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Encourages growth<\/li>\n<li>Enables productivity<\/li>\n<li>Introduces efficiencies<\/li>\n<li>Enhances performance<\/li>\n<li>Reduces costs<\/li>\n<li>Builds new partnerships and relationships<\/li>\n<li>Promotes customer satisfaction and loyalty<\/li>\n<li>Improves employee relations (possibly also reducing turnover and helping you retain key employees!)<\/li>\n<li>Provides flexibility to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.innovators.org\/blog\/top-3-reasons-business-must-innovate-yes\/\">adapt to rapidly changing global marketplaces<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Taken together, these elements improve your profitability and competitiveness.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Innovating may seem daunting, but it doesn\u2019t have to be!<\/strong> Innovative ideas can come from many different sources, like your front-line employees, R&amp;D, your external partners, newly available technologies, your customers, and the list goes on. It\u2019s also not necessary for innovation to be a huge paradigm-shifting change in your company, industry, or the way you do business. It can be small, incremental improvements that add up to great effect.<\/p>\n<p>It starts with asking the right questions to understand which areas your organization should focus on.<\/p>\n<h2>Ask These 5 Strategic Questions<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hbr.org\/2010\/05\/the-five-questions-of-strategy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">An article in Harvard Business Review<\/a> outlines which five questions are key:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>What<\/strong> <strong>are our<\/strong> <strong>broad aspirations<\/strong> for our organization and the <strong>concrete goals<\/strong> against which we can measure our progress?<\/li>\n<li>Across the potential field available to us, <strong>where will we choose to play<\/strong> and not play?<\/li>\n<li>In our chosen place to play, <strong>how will we choose to win<\/strong> against the competitors there?<\/li>\n<li><strong>What capabilities must be built and maintained <\/strong>in order to win in our chosen manner?<\/li>\n<li><strong>What management systems are necessary<\/strong> to operate these key capabilities?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Innovation isn\u2019t something you do once and then stop; it\u2019s an ongoing process of improvement and refinement to help your company reach its goals. To reap the benefits, innovation and creative thinking should be formalized in your business strategy (if they aren\u2019t already)!<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Innovators Alliance is a business-to-business networking group of CEOs committed to driving growth through innovation. <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.innovators.org\/attend-exclusive-business-networking-event\/\"><strong>Be our guest at one of our upcoming events!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Is your company innovative? <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.innovators.org\/innovation-self-test\/\"><strong><em>Try our Innovator Self-Test.<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em> It has only 10 questions and takes less than 2 minutes!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Like this? You might also like:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.innovators.org\/blog\/blognew-video-innovation-innovators-alliance\/\">New Video! What Is Innovation and What Does Innovators Alliance Do?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.innovators.org\/blog\/developing-culture-innovation\/\">Developing a Culture of Innovation<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.innovators.org\/blog\/digital-disruption-demands-innovative-business-models\/\">Digital Disruption Demands Innovative Business Models<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><span class=\"et_bloom_bottom_trigger\"><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Innovation is all about finding new ways to do things, whether you are implementing a new process, building a culture of innovation, creating innovative products and services, changing your business model, or applying new technologies. In today\u2019s marketplace, innovation isn\u2019t a \u201cnice to have\u201d \u2013 companies that want to remain competitive and outlast their rivals [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-innovate"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>5 Strategy Questions to Ask to Discover WHERE You Need to Innovate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" 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