Innovations like Edison’s lightbulb or the internet that reshaped the course of the world can seem out of reach for many MSP business owners. But smaller, creative innovations can help you make incremental improvements and breakthroughs in your own business, according to Josh Linkner, author of Big Little Breakthroughs: How Small, Everyday Innovations Drive Oversized Results.
Don’t Underestimate The Small Idea
While small innovations may not be as glamourous as big, game-changing ideas that strike lightning once or twice a decade—or a generation—they can go a long way toward making lasting change for your MSP. “The way to achieve that is by empowering all our people to be creative, to become everyday innovators,” says Linkner, speaking to 500 MSPs at the N-able Empower conference this week. “Innovation shouldn’t be a once-a-decade thing. It’s something that we should make part of our daily groove,” he notes.
Linkner explains that creativity is a mindset. It’s a lifestyle that must be continually practiced, not a skill some people have, and others don’t. Here are five ways MSPs can become “everyday” innovators.
1. Start Before You’re Ready
Too often, leaders hesitate to jump on an opportunity until everything falls into place. They wait to create the perfect plan and to gather all the resources they need. However, delays risk losing the opportunity. Instead, Linkner recommends jumping in and figuring out the logistics as you go.
2. Break It To Fix It
Linkner hates the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Why? “It’s terrible advice,” he says. “It implies that the status quo is safe, and we know that’s not true.” Following the traditional method of doing something runs counter to innovation and creativity. Sometimes, you have to do something “wrong” to figure out a brand-new way of doing things.
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3. Use Every Drop Of Toothpaste
Oftentimes, businesses with fewer resources—less money, time, and staff—can come up with more creative solutions than those with fatter wallets. Creativity is a free resource, whereas the mainstream method of doing things can be pricey. If you don’t have the budget to spend, you’re forced to find another way of doing things. It’s the difference between a Super Bowl ad and a creative social media campaign.
4. Seek The Unexpected
Sometimes what you need is what Linkner calls a “judo flip.” “When you’re trying to solve a problem or seize an opportunity, you first start by saying, ‘How have we always done it before? What does every other MSP do?’ And then you ask a simple question: ‘What’s the opposite?’” That’s Linkner’s judo flip, and occasionally a radical leap in the opposite direction is just what you need for the next great idea.
5. Fall Seven Times, Stand Eight
Resilience is key in the face of failure. “The most innovative people don’t look at failure the same way [as the rest of us],” Linker says. “They recognize failure as part of the process, rather than something to be ashamed of. They also don’t try the same thing again and again. They’re always making little creative adjustments which ultimately allow them to find their way.”
Avoid Paralysis
So rather than become paralyzed by trying to come up with the NEXT BIG IDEA, try these five approaches to everyday innovation. They can help get you unstuck you from your creative rut to find brand-new solutions to advance your business success.
