The infrastructure of a company determines its success. It has the potential to make or break company innovation. An innovation manager is responsible for creating a culture in which all individuals can interact and cooperate to get an inventive result.
Innovation is a continuous process that requires extensive cooperation across all departments. If you can introduce new ideas to your team, you must treat the entire team as a single entity. When it comes to integrating innovation into an organization or starting an innovative project, companies frequently confront challenges.
You may utilize the skills and approaches as an innovation manager to overcome such challenges. I’ve put together a list of 5 tools that every innovation manager should have. These tools have helped me in building a successful team to get the most out of them in terms of innovation. Let’s take a look at each of these important innovation tools individually.
1. Communicate
Communication is essential for the effective execution of a project and engaging the participation of all team members. You can’t just take a step forward on your own when it comes to delivering innovation. Transparent team communication is required to get the desired result.
When you’re forming a new team, you’ll need to connect with people outside of your department. You’ll need to communicate frequently, make phone calls, and send emails to do this. If you want to reach a bigger audience with a single message, you might consider using corporate communication tools.
Consider using communication apps like Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Flow Dock. You may use all of these communication options to have a quick chat, video conference, media, and share files. Because of their ease, these tools are preferred. You are not obligated to respond to all emails. This one-on-one contact keeps all of the team members updated on what’s going on.
2. Team Building
New teams and team-building activities are formed as a result of innovation. Employees who have never worked together before will need to collaborate to bring an innovative idea to completion. When a diverse team of people collaborates on a project or assignment, there is a potential that a conflict may arise. Aside from that, team activities must be as collaborative as possible.
To foster successful team-building with shared ideas, use the team-building tools to brainstorm together. Miro is an excellent tool for brainstorming. It encourages team brainstorming and problem-solving simply and efficiently. Besides that for team activities, use Team Canvas to help your team collaborate more effectively on ideas and their viability.
3. Task management
All of the information, ideas, and actions are used to evaluate employee and project performance. You can comprehend everyone’s talents, strengths, and weaknesses by managing and tracking tasks. It also aids in the regular monitoring of performance.
I prefer to use monday.com for tracking and assigning tasks, as well as viewing ongoing performance and project progress. This tool allows you quick messages, time tracking, graphs, and insight into projects and due date reminders.
4. File records
Keeping track of data is crucial when working on a project. When you have well-organized data, you can quickly look through any piece of information whenever you need it. For innovation, collaboration through different locations requires file management that can be easily accessible by every team member.
Aside from that, every data update or modification can be conveniently accessed. It efficiently completes the work. I recommend using Google Drive to manage an innovative team. It has a user-friendly interface that makes it simple to operate. It contains a function that allows you to integrate Google Docs and Sheets. It allows you to exchange info, links, and files.
5. Idea generation
When you’re working on a creative project, you know your team will come up with some brilliant ideas. While new business concepts are being developed. Every concept must be realistic to be pursued further.
It is not an easy task to evaluate a concept and determine its feasibility. It’s a step-by-step method. Every team member should do their feasibility tests. For this purpose High Alpha Innovation is recommended. It enables several teams to work on a single platform.
It brings the entire team together in one place. The manager may also see how the project is progressing and what fresh ideas the team is sharing on the site.
