4 Steps to Sharpening Your Innovative Skills

 Man is created with the ability to set goals and achieve them without fail. It is however appalling that he fails to utilize the potentials. Research shows that 90% of humans, who lived, underutilized their abilities. It is said that the graveyard is the richest place on earth. Many people die and are buried with their potentials unharnessed. For me, the question is, “how do I harness and maximize what I have within?” Here, we shall find answers to this question, and the steps to take to make it happen.

Before the 18^th century, farming was not fashionable. There were no good ways of preserving agricultural produce. Farmers only engaged in subsistence farming. Perishable items like tomatoes wasted. People identified this as a problem and sought for a solution. The introduction of food canning brought a revolution in the industry - reducing wastage, increasing productivity, and creating more value. That was the reinvention of agriculture.

The human mind is like a sleeping and unsuspecting giant. If the giant wakes up, he is a terror. However, in deep sleep, he could be destroyed. Innovation is a lifeline and a function of creativity. When a man does not take the right steps, the mind remains dormant and wastes. However, right measures unlock the intriguing powers of man.

Let us have a look at this instance: according to the report from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 1:25 of patients in the hospitals get infections during their stay in the hospitals. Experts say that proper sanitizing of the hands could mitigate this. Although hand sanitizers are provided at various points, hospital staff and visitors do not use them. Not because they do not want to, but because the sanitizers are not always conveniently placed. A group of people thought and came up with the idea that since everyone entering the hospital wards opened the door, then, the door handle would be a convenient place to keep the sanitizers. They made door handles with sanitizers fitted. This solves the problem of convenience.

Every problem is an opportunity for mind-blowing innovations. Problems bothering the society are goldmines. To mine the gold, you need to learn how to identify the opportunities. There are 4 basic steps discussed here that are needed to sharpen your innovation ability. They are hinged on critically analyzing problems and finding the best solutions to them.

1.   Learn to identify problems. The first step is to identify the opportunity. To be innovative, you need to learn to identify those things around that cause discomfort and are difficult for people to handle. Everything around that causes discomfort is a problem seeking a solution. Being able to identify these is the key to developing an innovative ability. There is a saying that a problem identified is already half solved.

2.   Study previous attempts. When you have identified a problem, the next step is to check for previous attempts to tackle the problem, if any. Sometimes, there might already be some attempts to solve a problem. In that case, you need to leverage on the attempt as a launching site.

3.   Challenge status quo. Since people still feel some level of discomfort, it means that the available solutions, if any, are not well sufficient. Then you have to challenge the status quo. Critical analysis and criticism of the existing solutions is necessary if you intend to make a difference. Find the reasons why the legacy solutions should be changed.  

4.   Mark out improvement strategies. When you finish with criticisms and analysis, then it’s time to start drawing out plans for ways of improving on the solutions bases of the flaws noted, or finding entirely new methods of addressing them. There is always a way out. It is imperative to note also that in some cases, the methods, goods, or services are efficient but expensive. With little improvement on material or technology however, they could be made more affordable without losing efficiency. This is for issues bothering on cost.

In conclusion, to develop an innovative mind, you need to think out of the box and not just stick to stereotypes. Meaningful innovations are mostly geared towards either increasing efficiency (quality) or reducing cost. There is no end to innovations yet. The more we understand, the more we seek to know. One important thing to keep at the back of the mind is this: “no matter how ideal a method may appear, there is always room for improvements”… See you at the top.