Towards (the Ultimate) Innovation

COVID-19 has changed things.

For certain COVID-19 has changed:

… how we work and how we accomplish what we do

… where we work and where we deliver for our customers

… when we do what we do and the timeframes necessary to achieve them

In many cases, COVID-19 has also changed:

… what our customers value and articulate as their desired outcomes

… who our customers are and who it is that actually values what we do

In some cases, COVID-19 is also asking us to take a hard look at:

… why our organization exists (in the first place.)

(Click on the above image to watch a short video on Towards Innovation)

Asking WHY is huge and can be extremely challenging to consider.

If COVID-19 has forced you to innovate your How? When? Where? What? And your Who? By definition you must also look at your WHY.

An organization’s WHY according to Peter Drucker, must answer ‘Why do you exist?’ Answer, ‘For what at the end of the day do you want to be remembered for?’ Or as Simon Sinek quipped answer, ‘Why should anyone care?’

This is why asking WHY is so difficult. It is extremely hard to answer. Often our mission, our core underlying purpose is the thing we don’t expect to make all the difference in the world. But it does.

We tend to think it is how we work with customers that makes all the difference. Wrong! We also tend to think that it is what we do for our customers that makes all the difference. Again, Wrong! Each of these things matter but they are not the most important…it is WHY we do them that must come first and matters more than anything else.

COVID-19 has accelerated the decline or the rise of an organization based on the answers to these six fundamental questions. As leaders, we must be willing to ask these questions of the organizations we lead. We are also called to:

… listen to those who bravely respond

… help in creating the change necessary to achieve the answers

… learn from what emerges

These six questions are at the very center of process consulting. Their answers frame the work we do as process consultants. Co-creating the answers with clients allows us to walk alongside them as they innovate, change, and transform.

No matter how COVID-19 has impacted your organization, asking and answering these six questions can help uncover your true organizational purpose and lasting value. If you want to talk more, please feel free to call me at 616.516.9870 or e-mail me at lons@designgroupintl.com

Click here to watch a short video on Towards Innovation.