H
ave big plans for 2013? ‘Tis the season for resolving to make our lives a little healthier, more profitable, more adventurous–pretty much better than what they were the year before. Some of us make promises to lose a few pounds and so we hit the gym. Most regular gym goers know to avoid the gym’s peak hours during the month of January, while swells of good-intentioned resolvers hit the treadmills only to taper off by February and forget their resolutions altogether by March.
Some of us may resolve to tackle some at-home projects or travel more. Some of us declare we’ll finally play that instrument collecting dust in the corner of our bedrooms or learn the language we’ve always wanted to speak. Some of us make resolutions for our career: We’ll find a better job, we’ll make more money, we’ll work harder for that promotion that has been eluding us, and we’ll take some extra courses to improve our performance. Whatever we resolve, it’s always in the hopes that we will be made new. We want, like Oprah so famously says, to be the “best version of ourselves.” Every January we’re reminded: Be better. Do better. Live better. We all want to push ourselves and make the best of our everyday lives, not to mention our family members’ lives, and even the lives of our businesses, our partners, and for the loftiest among us—our world. Most of us are great at making resolutions. It’s keeping them that takes work, more aptly, it takes strategy.
Whenever making something new–whether it’s yourself, a process, or a product—forging without a plan of attack will leave you, proverbially, like most good-intentioned gym goers, retiring your running shoes by March. So did your company or business resolve to do something better in 2013? What are your organization’s New Year goals? Better yet, what’s your strategy?
The Importance of Strategy and Innovation
According to the largest global survey of senior business executives actively engaged in the management of their business strategy, the GE Global Innovation Barometer, 91 percent of respondents say that innovation is a strategic priority. However, the report also states that it’s not product innovation that is the priority. Rather it concludes that innovation is defined not so much as new products, but as a new way of looking at their business model. The report states, “While incremental and product innovation have historically been the main drivers of growth for companies, business model innovation is gaining momentum within the context of today’s low-growth, resource-constrained world. Strong understanding of customer needs and markets, combined with better access to talent and technologies seen as critical to successfully innovate and unlock growth.” It goes on to list a number of business priorities, of which the top 5 are:
So are your resolutions similar to these top 5 priorities of global businesses? Do you too hope to work better with partners? Create a collaborative culture? Develop and work with new technologies to drive your business? Attract and retain innovative talent? Understand customers and anticipate market changes? Is your company equipped to handle these specific challenges that face most global businesses? Do you have a game plan? A strategy to make it happen?
According to the report, the best strategy to tackle these issues is for organizations to develop and train their people. It states, “Education, development and access to talent are a critical concern for innovation leaders. The creativity and technical prowess of the global workforce are seen as key to unlocking innovation potential across companies and countries. But concerns around the preparedness of the workforce to innovate for tomorrow’s economy abound. And cross-border talent mobility is a high priority for companies seeking to match the right job with the right people.”
Do you need help with strategy? Or training your people to tackle today’s unique business challenges?
If so, we at the Xavier Leadership Center can help. We offer custom programs that are designed for you and your organization’s unique needs. We also offer open enrollment programs that will help your talented people grow and improve their own skills.
Want a sustainable strategy that works? Looking at ways to stay innovative and relevant? Here are some upcoming open enrollment programs in the Spring 2013 that will help you, your employees and your organization in the year ahead:
Change Leaders Toolkit Develop the skills and learn the tools you need to successfully lead your next
change initiative.
Communication Skills Create productive day to day interactions and alignment so that everyone achieves their maximum potential …and your desired outcome.
Implementing Innovation Develop innovation capabilities in yourself and others — create better ideas, solve problems and help your organization become more successful.
Leading Innovation: Creating an Innovation Culture Develop strategies to create and maintain organizational “space” for innovation across four key dimensions: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Learn specific leadership behaviors that hinder or promote breakthrough thinking.
The Innovator’s Toolbox: Innovation Best Practices This workshop integrates best practices from Design Thinking, the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ), and Strategic Visioning into the Creative Problem Solving framework.
Leadership Foundations Certificate Learn how you can become the kind of leader who can inspire, engage and empower others to achieve results and unleash individual and organizational potential.
Personal Branding for Organizational Success Learn how to effectively develop and present your personal brand for maximum impact.
Train-the-Trainer: How Adults Learn Develop a deeper understanding of adult learning to make your own training programs more engaging and effective . Bundle all three Train-the-Trainers for $2,195.
All Spring 2013 Xavier Leadership Center Open Enrollment Programs Learn more about all of our 2013 programs!
