When your business is struggling to simply get by in trying economic times, innovation might be the last thing on your mind. But just because big changes and ideas might not be feasible right now, there’s no reason to dismiss the power of short term innovation.
So what can you do in the short-term to improve your company?
- Clean up your portfolio and remove any “living dead” projects that have only just survived in recent times with far too many resources.
- Develop better processes and set sharper deadlines – this will make innovation more efficient in the long run.
- Build new and existing relationships to pave the way for support for future innovation.
However, there are some inevitable downsides of focusing solely on the short-term:
- You can lose out on the benefits of radical innovation projects that need more time to mature. Rather than completely abandoning these projects in hard times, think about putting them into hibernation to be activated again when the climate improves.
- You will inevitably force your employees to work harder and contribute out of fear of losing their job rather than out of the passion for the opportunities they see in the projects.
So while short-term innovation isn't a long-term solution, it will serve you well until your business is back on track.