By Bonnie Robertson

Innovation is not a work of art. Innovation is not simply creativity.

Why is it important to distinguish this? Because I often hear people seeking “creativity.”

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“How do I get more creativity in my teams?”

My questions are always, “Why? What do you need creativity for? What is the business problem, the customer need or the customer problem you are trying to solve?”

We are all creative. Creativity is an evolutionary process for human survival. The basic creative process, much like art, is not innovation.

My daughter is an artist. She creates what she feels and sees in the world. Once in awhile, others can relate to it. Sometimes people “ooh and ahh” at her work; sometimes they just look puzzled and say, “Hmmm…interesting.” Some of my favorite work of hers is that which I have had to retrieve from the garbage. In short, the artist creates what the artist perceives as cool.

This technology industry has developed some wondrous creative products, but some of them should be considered art not innovation because they don’t necessarily solve anyone’s problem, except the creator’s need to create. Loaded with cool functionality that no one ever uses, they are great examples of art instead of innovation.

In short, artists create because they need to express themselves; innovators create because they need to solve a problem.

Entrepreneurial companies are creative but are they innovative?
Entrepreneurs are naturally creative. Often their businesses are creative expressions of themselves. They contain their beliefs and passions as well as their colorful spirits. But the creativity is not enough to survive and grow in a changing marketplace. Innovation keeps you ahead of the game. Innovations solve problems and break through market barriers creatively.

Here are a couple of products that never quite made it in the market but are good examples of misguided, entrepreneurial creativity:

• Pedal-powered wheelchair (someone didn’t understand the market).
• Solar-powered flashlight (someone didn’t understand how people use the product).
• AC adapter for a solar calculator (the point?).

The mark of innovation is practical relativity. Some of the best are the simplest:

• Dutch Boy Paint’s pourable paint container solved the customer problem of messy clean-up in do-it-yourself painting jobs.
• Netflix solved the problem of late fees in the video rental market.
• Domino’s Pizza’s free delivery solved the problem of customer’s busy life.

How to achieve innovation by design:

1. Create a higher purpose
   Know thy customer, I mean really know them. Put faces to names and numbers, customers are not just a means to revenue. They are the purpose of the business—continuous, relentless understanding and analysis of customers and potential customers.
   
2. Bare your soul
   Facilitate constant dialogue within your organization about what is working, what is not,  and what you can do about it. Don’t over analyze. We have all been in meetings where there are enough PowerPoint pages or Excel spreadsheets to sandbag a community during a flood alert, yet we still don’t solve the problem. If we and our teams are close to the customer, we probably already have a sense for what the problem is and how we might be able to solve it. Mounds and mounds of data, numbers or power point slides will not alter the truth.
   
3. Leverage those that “get it”
    Make solving customer or business problems the stuff that heroes are made of. Customer (whether internal or in the market) advocates on your teams should be rewarded and recognized, and certainly must have a place at the strategy table.
   
4. Know when to change and get good at it
    Don’t overdo democracy. Facilitate change, know how people change, know what holds them back, and communicate in ways that makes change possible and plausible.
   
5. No-excuses business processes
   Assess continually not only what your customers like but what they BUY. Regardless of all surveys and customer feedback you gather, the real proof that you have a service and a product that meets customer needs is whether or not they will BUY it.
   
6. Don’t let politics get in the way

Businesses sometimes fall prey to the career climbers who can make our business appear like a reality TV show—lots of drama and political intrigue, limited logic and problem solving. The focus of leadership becomes more about self-preservation than customer-preservation. Beware—internal political processes will be hazardous to your business health!

People who have high emotional intelligence and are adaptable to change have more true self-confidence and creative curiosity. True self-confidence, rather than egomania, is the key to “seeing” innovative needs and meeting them. It provides the willingness to be wrong on the way to the truth. It gives the confidence of soul to risk beyond yesterday’s ideas or ways of doing things for a potentially better way.

People enjoy work when it feels creative, when their brains provide a contribution, when they turn and look at their colleagues and can share success and struggle. When this occurs, with strategic focus and innovative problem solving, the results are a win-win for clients, employees, and the company.