Creativity x Innovation: what's the difference and can you have both?
Hi everyone!
With World Creativity and Innovation day coming up next month, it'll be awesome to get multiple perspectives on the difference between Creativity and Innovation!
Also - how do we achieve both in business?!
Feel free to share stories of success, failure and lessons learned!
Creativity and innovation are related and each is required for success I think. Creativity is subjective but hard to measure while innovation is measurable in the sense that an innovation is the creation of something new such as a new product, idea or method. Creativity doesn't lead to inventions and growth, innovation does but innovation doesn't happen without creative people. Creativity is about our ability to solve challenges or problems with novel solutions and ideas while innovation is the implementation or creation of something new that has real value to others. Ideally you have both!
Thank you for the exciting question @Eloah Paes Ramalho . I hope my personal story helps give you some creative ideas on how you can make innovation an integral part of any business.
What is the difference between creativity and innovation?
There is a big difference between creativity and innovation. Creativity is the process of creating something from nothing. It can be an original idea or the result of combining different ideas.
On the other hand, innovation turns an existing idea or product into a new and improved version. It can be a creative solution to a problem or the result of applying new technology to an old product.
Can you have both creativity and innovation?
There is a lot of debate around whether or not you can have both creativity and innovation. Some say that creativity is more about coming up with new ideas, while others believe that innovation is more about turning those new ideas into a reality. The truth likely lies somewhere in between these two extremes.
However, it's important to remember that creativity and innovation are not mutually exclusive. It can both be essential components of successful businesses and creative projects.
How can you achieve both creativity and innovation in business?
There is no one answer to this question, as it depends on the individual business and its specific needs. However, there are a few general tips that can help achieve both creativity and innovation in business as follow:
1. Encourage employees to be creative and innovative. It can be done through praise and recognition and providing opportunities for employees to experiment and try new things.
2. Create an environment that is conducive to creativity and innovation. It means providing ample space for employees to work in, promoting collaboration among team members, and encouraging a relaxed work ethic.
3. Make use of technology tools that support creativity and innovation. For example, you can use software that helps employees brainstorm new ideas or tools that help them develop prototypes of their ideas.
4. Experiment with new business models and strategies. It can help you find new ways to market your products or services and explore new ways to generate revenue.
My Success Story
I want to share my personal story to suggest how you can introduce an Innovation Award, which is an "All Employee Challenge" program in your business.
I participated in a company's Innovation Award Program, where the Managing Director asked us to submit an idea based on a specific business challenge topic.
The idea I submitted was shortlisted and made it to the Top 3 based on the number of employees who voted for my idea during the competition period.
The final winners were selected subject to the Executive Leadership Team's (ELT) decision. However, the Managing Director decided who won the Top 3 spots since he would be the one providing the budget to get the ideas implemented.
As my idea made it to the Top 3, I received the funding to implement the idea on how the company can get better value from their underutilised assets.
As a surprise gift for participating in the Innovation Challenge, I received a free book, "Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry" by David C. Robertson with Bill Breen.
They told me the book was "for a little further inspiration". It was a pleasant surprise to have a winning idea and receive a kind gesture as a token of appreciation. The senior leadership team told me that the ELT appreciated my "awesome idea" (this was a quote from what a person said to me, so they are not my words).
We had seven days to submit an idea, and all employees could vote on a staff's idea as soon as the idea got submitted through on online portal. Everyone was encouraged to get involved in the challenge and have some fun. It was a great initiative as the management team saw the collective power of over 1,000 employees.
I enjoyed developing the plan with my colleagues on how the company could turn my idea into reality. I had to collaborate with different people in the company to create the process and decide on the steps involved to progress with my idea based on the budget the Managing Director provided to implement it.
If you want to find out more information on how you can implement this type of Innovation Challenge program in your organisation, please feel free to contact me. I am happy to help by providing more information based on my personal experience.
I'm glad to know you found my story helpful @Eloah Paes Ramalho . Thank you for the lovely feedback and the interesting question.
How to implement an innovation challenge program in small to medium-sized businesses?
The key is to create an environment where challenging yourself and others are encouraged, and feedback gets given freely.
You also need to ensure that the challenges you choose are relevant to your business and have the resources to implement them.
To foster innovation in your business, you'll need to have a clear idea of what you're looking to achieve. You can start by defining your target market and what the potential customers want from your product or service.
Once you understand who your customers are and what they want, it's time to look for ways to improve on what you currently offer. The key is that it meets the needs of your target market.
Here are some tips on how to implement an innovation challenge program in your business:
1. Choose a challenge that is relevant to your business.
2. Make the challenge accessible for all staff members.
3. Encourage participation from all levels of the organisation.
4. Celebrate successes and learn from failures along the way.
I helped implement process and systems improvement initiatives in a not-for-profit organisation (Plumtree Children's Services). They support children with a disability from birth to 8 years and their families.
Systemising the business increased efficiencies that led to greater resource availability, allowing Plumtree to productise its services.
It subsequently led to having multiple revenue streams to reduce reliance on government grants and offset the income reduction from corporate sponsorships and public donations.
My main goal for the organisation was to generate other sources of revenue when I started helping them over ten years ago.
Fast forward to 2022, I'm proud of the Plumtree team as we managed to achieve having multiple sources of revenue with an overseas presence.
We achieved business growth through continuous process and systems improvements and ongoing creative contributions and innovative ideas from everyone in the organisation.
Plumtree's innovative flagship product developed in-house was a low-tech resource to help children with disabilities and developmental delays.
Refer to the link below to watch the video for more information about the low-tech resource I mentioned above.
Hopefully, the information below gives you some creative ideas on what you can achieve with minimal resources.
https://plumtree.org.au/plumtree-community/pictability/
The flagship product led to Plumtree becoming a finalist in the 2017 NSW Disability Industry Innovation Awards.
Refer to the link below for more information and inspirational ideas on how other companies in the disability sector are using creativity and innovation in their organisations.
https://www.nds.org.au/news/nsw-disability-industry-innovation-awards-presents-winners-for-2017
Developing the flagship product contributed to Plumtree becoming the winner of the Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) Excellence Awards for outstanding achievements in the ECI sector.
Refer to the link below for more information on developing solid partnerships with various stakeholders to help your business deliver services in creative and innovative ways that meet your target market's demand.
https://influencing.com/pr/70598/winners-announced-for-excellence-in-early-childhood-intervention-at-the-2017-excellence-awards
Plumtree is a testament that creativity and innovation can exist in any business regardless of the company's size if you develop the appropriate organisational culture.
It would help if you could get the most out of the resources you have access to within your business and the community you support.
You can also consider partnering with other organisations that align with your company's mission to help turn your innovative ideas into reality.
If you want more information on how you can implement creativity and innovation in your organisation, please feel free to contact me.
I'm happy to introduce you to Plumtree if you want to learn how they foster a creative and innovative culture in the organisation.
Eloah Paes Ramalho, Community Manager at SavvySME
Such "awesome" insights and story, @Melinda Stevenson ;) It is so helpful to get a practical example of how to make creativity and innovation a reality in business! How do you think this challenge would have been different in the context of a Small or Medium business, if at all?