Organizations that find ways to stimulate creativity and innovation among their employees have a distinct advantage over their competition for the development of new products and services. Ideas for new products and services can come from anywhere. The traditional sources of research and development groups and customer focus groups should be modified to include opportunities for employees to engage in creative thinking and planning for new products and services. This is not a variation on the suggestion system, but a focus on bringing people together to brainstorm ideas and to develop innovative ways to bring new products and services to market ahead of the competition.
Creativity is the ability to generate many ideas to meet customer requirements. It’s the ability to think outside the box. Innovation is the ability to translate these ideas into applications and to commercialize them into specific products and services that add value to the customer or solve customer problems. The skills required to engage in creative and innovative thinking are different and complementary. For example, creative thinkers are right-brain-oriented and have the ability to be imaginative and to see things in many different ways. They are not constrained by the past. The innovative thinkers are leftbrain- oriented and have the ability to focus and select the best ideas. They have an implementation mentality and the ability to envision how a product or service will play in the marketplace. Bringing both types of thinkers together periodically can provide a wealth of new ideas and innovative suggestions on how to use them.
