The year is coming to an end, and as Mecano’s famous song says: it’s time to balance the good and the bad. As business managers, have you applied transformation and innovation initiatives in your organizations? If they were already taking place, it’s time to evaluate their effectiveness and measure their impact. Otherwise, it’s difficult to make progress and the results will most likely fail to meet your expectations.
The paradigm of having “high initiative and low ‘terminative,’” as is colloquially said in Mexico, is common in many organizations. How many initiatives have been launched, and how many have come to fruition? This question leads us to evaluate how much progress has been made, its quality, how these processes have been carried out, and if a clear methodology exists.
The complexity of the current situation, influenced by global events including nearshoring and geopolitical conflicts, highlights the need for constant adaptation and adjustments from those who make decisions in their organizations.
However, high levels of responsibilities and daily tasks can often make it difficult to create spaces that encourage the necessary analysis and divergence between teams to align and reach different results.
This is why it’s crucial for businesses to become used to coexisting with challenges, methodically prioritizing the ones that require a different approach in order to channel the efforts together with the solutions that generate the desired impact.
In order to achieve this clarity and be able to evaluate and measure the initiatives, the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) methodology, together with data analytics (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning), serves as a guide for accelerating the process. Throughout its seven steps, CPS is supported by a dynamic balance between divergent and convergent thinking, which transforms ideas into solutions and solutions into measurable results.
Any organization can apply this way of work with their managers and teams. All they need is to keep the “4 P’s of Creativity” in mind: Person, Press, Process, and Product.
-The person plays a fundamental role, facilitating innovation and making up the multidisciplinary teams with an open mind when facing challenges.
-Press is essential. It offers an environment of trust which favors the open communication that leads to new perspectives and connections for new possibilities.
-A clearly defined methodology serves as a crucial guide from identifying the problem to the ideation and implementation.
-Finally, the product. The attributes that achieve and make something creative.
It’s crucial for business leaders to understand the importance of adopting an ambidextrous approach. Though continuing with daily operations is necessary, they should also invest in the development of their teams’ potential, empowering each individual, and leveraging the value that comes from their experience and ideas. This involvement results in increased commitment and decreased rotation in teams.
When reflecting on this year, let’s keep in mind that creativity is an innate ability. During workshops, I ask participants who consider themselves creative to raise their hands. It’s interesting to see that very few of them do, even the younger ones. The most common response is that it “depends on the area.”
But we need to boost creativity for it to be applied to each part of life in every moment. The more we put it into practice, as with our body’s muscles, the more effective we will be when finding solutions that accelerate transformation.
Our end of year balance shouldn’t only be about evaluating achievements. It needs to be a platform for analyzing the path towards a more innovative and transformative future. By adopting methodologies, organizations can measure results with the help of their teams following up the initiatives and achieving “terminatives,” guaranteeing a positive balance that will allow us to celebrate another year.
By Irene Marqués, partner at OLIVIA Mexico