The Importance of Innovation in Business

Many business organizations are concerned about achieving prosperity in their operations. While seeking this target, they experience challenges that should be solved in time. For instance, traditional ways of doing things make it impossible for companies to use new styles in their internal environment. It is essential to get rid of all factors that resist change as depicted by Home Depot. There is also the need to impart both employees and leaders to change-related knowledge. The efficient use of this routine enabled GE to enhance its productivity and competitiveness in the market. Taking these measures helps companies to benefit from innovation. It is a reliable system that can revolutionize companies to increase their scope of operations. For innovative interventions to succeed, every action plan should be put into practice beforehand. This facet helps in excluding all issues that are likely to attract failure in the course of innovation and cultural change.

Innovation and Culture Sources

            Modern businesses are facing numerous problems in accomplishing their economic ambitions. Managers are supposed to conduct proper planning. By following this objective, the management team at GE developed a growth culture. At Home Depot, the leaders set clear procedures that dealt with barriers to change. The bottom line is that for innovative growth to be realized, companies should concentrate on experimentation due to its ability to streamline all functions.  

How GE established a growth

            GE created Growth Culture by bringing together all leaders and equipping them with significant cultural change knowledge. The training involved enabled the leadership team to gain insights into eliminating factors that resist change. The focus was on identifying both big and small barriers to change for easy development of suitable solutions. In this case, GE capitalized on eliminating and replacing its status quo with new concepts that could expose it to both internal and external economies of scale. Clear thinking is one key aspect that builds innovative firms. It entails tackling complex problems using simple action plans, as well as appropriate decision-making (Prokesch, 2009). Inclusivity is also essential because it facilitates teamwork, thereby enabling all leaders to work towards accomplishing a common goal. Another critical aspect is imagination, due to its ability to create creative ideas suitable for business growth.

How Home Depot Addressed Challenges

            Home Depot approached cultural change challenges by implementing numerous strategies. Nardelli started by improving personal leadership. He set a sense of direction and encouraged other leaders to follow it in pursuit of operational success. This task encompassed encouragements and setting of ultimatums that enabled the leadership team to act accordingly and promptly. The other technique that Home Depot relied on was introducing performance measurements that guided the entire change process. Institutionalizing the new culture required a complete overhaul of all operations in the company. With weekly meetings in place, the CEO identified all weaknesses and replaced them with new procedures that were compatible with the desired outcomes (Charan, 2006). To avoid failure, the company introduced follow-up procedures that supported the change process. This idea was embraced because change-related opposition is usually high during transformation. Thus, watching and sustaining the new culture barred Home Depot from falling back to its old way of operating. The strategies applied by Home Depot can also be utilized by other organizations. The reason for this aspect is because every firm aspires to counter resistance to change to achieve growth and profitability.

Importance of Experimentation

            In the business environment, experimentation is a significant practice which involves trying out new ideas and procedures to observe the outcome. This action plan provides insights into the consequences that are likely to occur after a specific task is completed. Since experimentation happens before the official launch of a program, it helps managers in identifying loopholes, hence easing their elimination. It promotes growth through innovation by eliminating all uncertainties in time. When errors are noted during experimentation, managers solve them appropriately to create a flawless change (Thomke, 2006). The aspect creates a conducive environment where creative actions are carried out without any fear of failure.

Conclusion

            The success of GE can be attributed to the management’s attention to implementing a new culture. The same case applies to Home Depot since it dropped all setbacks that hindered the adoption of a new culture. It is indisputable that new objectives cannot be arrived at using old techniques. This argument explains why companies need to test their innovative initiatives. Such a move can evade negative results.

References

Charan, R. (2006). Home Depot's blueprint for culture change. Harvard business review, 84(4), 60.

Prokesch, S. (2009). How GE teaches teams to lead change. Harvard business review, 87(1), 99-106.

Thomke, S. (2006). Experimentation matters: New opportunities for innovation. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing Class Lecture.