The Creativity Suite. Episode 161: Focused Innovation.
Interview with Thomas Shilvock, Director of Strategic Development at Specsavers.
Some people, sloppily, think of innovation as just “imagining the unknown”, but innovation, for companies, is the balance between three aspects:
– The Art of the Possible – i.e. what can be created
– The Art of the Practical – i.e. what will be realistic to push through
– The Art of the Meaningful – i.e. what people actually want as well as what is in-line with your company’s mission and purpose
Balance the Possible with the Practical and the Meaningful and you have the sweet spot of innovation – the point of convergence between imagination, practicality and meaning.
The word for “a point of convergence” is: “focus”.
And here is an interesting insight: Many people think of the wrong thing when they hear: “focus”!
They think that you should concentrate and pay attention to one specific point. Like to just stare at a specific place.
They think of focus as static.
But the true meaning of focus as a “point of convergence” is that this space is constantly changing.
To focus is not static. It’s dynamic.
You should focus on that one point, but the key is to be aware that that point might soon change.
Some aspects might not change, some might change slowly, while others might change quickly and to focus is to constantly pay attention to what is changing and what is not.
And to then have the ability to change your behaviour accordingly.
To innovate, a lot of people will suggest the creativity trigger “What if…?” to help imagine what is possible.
And that can work great.
But an even better creativity trigger is “How can we…?” because this focuses both on the potential of the unthought as well as the current circumstances of a company, a situation, a team or a market. And it focuses on the current team coming up with ways of changing.
It incorporates both the art of the possible (“how”), the art of the practical (“can”) and the art of the meaningful (“we”).
How are you using the focus to innovate and if you think “How can we..?” what will you create?
This text was inspired by a conversation around creativity and innovation with Thomas Shilvock , Director of Strategic Development at Specsavers, a company dedicated to developing and innovating around their purpose to “change lives through better sight and hearing.”
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