Where to Start?

All innovation teams face the same 10 problems, so I’m starting a series of short articles addressing each one.

‍Where to start?

Everyone wants to be on an innovative team. A team where you are encouraged to try different things, to learn, to grow professionally, and to prove you’re ready for more responsibility. There are tons of books, articles, and posts (like this one huh? 😉) on the value of “being innovative”. But where do you start? What is a good first step? 

Don’t overthink it

You’re not alone. I’ve been there and have struggled, not just with me taking the first step, but also with helping our team know what their first step should be. The thing I learned sounds trite, but it’s true. Pick something small (like something that would take you less than 30 minutes), and just experiment.

Experiment

Try “something”. Starting seems like the hardest part, but it doesn’t have to be. When you find one of those books, articles, or posts, find the simplest thing it recommends, and then do it.

Evaluate

After you have completed the recommended experiment, be sure and spend some time evaluating how it went.

Ask yourself:

• What went well?
• What went wrong?
• What would you do differently next time?
• What did you learn?
  BTW - I find it helpful to share those answers with someone else on your team.

Everything gets easier with repetition

As with most things, the more you practice something, the easier it gets. So be ready to repeat the process by using what you learned to try the same small experiment again, or find a different experiment to try.

PS - Ready to start?

Here's two things you could do to get started

1. ‍This experiment on How Might We’s is part of a video series we created to help our team, clients, and really anyone be more innovative. So give it a try and let us know how it goes.
2. Or you could check out our step-by-step framework for developing innovative product ideas. Get our free mini-course

‍PPS - This is the 1st post in a series of the 10 problems all innovation teams face.