THE BIG BANG PARTNERSHIP
LEARNING HOW TO LEAD INNOVATION IN THE WATER INDUSTRY An idea happens when different thoughts connect for the very first time. [Water efficiency innovation with Waterwise at Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival]
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by Dr. Jo North
Managing Director The Big Bang Partnership Limited The ideas that we have are what make each one of us, our teams and our businesses different and special. Our level of success depends on the quality and effectiveness of our ideas. A deep understanding of how to have more and better ideas, and how to make those ideas happen, is what leading effective, positively impactful innovation is all about. Fortunately creativity is not an exclusive, fixed ability that only some people have. Of course your environment, your own unique perceptions and how your individual brain is structured do impact your personal levels of creativity, but you have much more flexibility to improve and grow your innovation capability than you might think. Innovation skills can be learned and developed. Like other aspects of how we are made, our brains are inclined to take the path of least resistance, and do what comes easiest and most naturally to us. So we literally can get into a rut with regard to how we think. It’s also very easy to be influenced by what is common practice in our industry and environment, so that seeing things differently in the future from how they are today can be a challenge. Knowing that means that we can develop strategies and use techniques to think more creatively. To be purposefully creative, it often helps us to deliberately disrupt how we normally approach
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things, to challenge our brains to take on new information and work from different perspectives. This can sometimes feel uncomfortable and awkward at first, but that’s good news because it means that we are waking up different parts of our minds! The more we challenge ourselves, and the more we disrupt our thinking, the better and more fluid our thought processes become, because healthy brains have the characteristic of plasticity, meaning that we can always grow and improve. It’s never too late. In the UK water and wastewater sector, with its focus on innovation, customer experience, efficiency, resilience and affordability, industry professionals need to continuously develop and enhance their creative thinking skills and competencies more than ever. Customer demands are changing at speed, environmental and political change is ongoing, and new technology solutions are coming thick and fast – especially with regard to 4IR, or the ‘fourth industrial revolution’, created by digital opportunities. We need to do more than just follow and keep up with the trends. We have a genuine opportunity to continue to create world-class water and wastewater solutions, lead the way in creating much bigger opportunities, and solving really significant challenges. Northumbrian Water Group’s Innovation Festival in July 2018 was a brilliant example of how the industry is coming together with stakeholders, supplier partners and customers to generate new solutions, create opportunities and innovate.
To make the most of the potential from innovation in today’s fast-changing world, knowing how to participate in and lead innovation are essential items in the toolkit of water industry professionals. ■■
From an individual perspective, understanding your own innovation style preferences can be of significant benefit to not only optimising your own thinking, but also understanding your impact on others in your innovation or problem-solving teams, and how you can improve it.
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For teams, understanding collaborative innovation processes, co-creation and collective, interactive innovation techniques and approaches can measurably improve performance and delivery outcomes. Also knowing how to work together with customers, supplier partners and stakeholders in new ways to find better solutions together is an absolute necessity.
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At the business level, opportunity recognition and creation, open innovation and developing a more entrepreneurial approach to future strategy are also key success factors.
The Big Bang Partnership Limited has a range of programmes designed to grow professional innovation skills. These can be found at www.ideatime.co.uk, or you can contact us direct at hello@bigbangpartnership.co.uk.
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