What if? Breaking Barriers to Innovation

Forget the “What If?”:

For a long time now, we have been advised to rise above the “ifs” and “buts”. This holds true with regard to acknowledging and accepting innovation in the field of HR as well. Innovation refers to one such new discovery, invention, idea, or breakthrough, which brings about a drastic change in the way things are perceived and interpreted. Every little change is followed by resistance. The case is the same with regard to HR innovation as well. The catch here is to simply break barriers and make way for innovation.

Make a Collective Effort:

In order to initiate organizational innovations, it is crucial for all the stakeholders to come forward and be a part of the innovation process. Even if one of the stakeholders is unhappy and reluctant to proceed with innovation, the result is likely to be less satisfactory. Hence, convincing each and every stakeholder and getting them on board becomes a challenge in itself.

Clear Communication is Vital:

Innovation can become a grand success only when all the parties involved clearly understand their role in the process of innovation. Many times, stakeholders fail to understand their respective roles and end up committing mistakes. This is primarily due to a lack of clear communication spread across different channels. In order to counter this hurdle, information should be precisely passed on to all the involved parties and queries attended to in time.

Stubborn Top Management:

People at the lower levels conduct the necessary studies and come to the conclusion that Innovation is undoable. However, the top management remains stubborn and refuses to accept the proposal for innovation. This is because; the head honchos feel safe in their present sale and profit positions. This obstacle can be done away with by explaining all the pros associated with innovation and the cons of not adopting the same to the management right in time.

Lack of Funds:

At times, a lack of finance is also seen as a barrier to innovation. Due to liquid funds being not readily available the process of innovation keeps getting postponed repeatedly. If such innovation is not initiated on an immediate basis, the firm may end up attracting heavy losses. In such situations, approaching a financial institution for a loan would be a wise decision to make.

Even though breaking barriers to innovation is a difficult task, it is not really impossible.