Along with continuous change comes the need for innovation. We can’t resist change by sticking to our old ways of working. Instead, we must embrace the change by thinking of creative alternatives.
Innovation is a key attribute of the People Partner role. It can help in a variety of areas, including problem solving.
To ensure you’re solving problems in an innovative way, consider this process:
- Define the problem statement
- Understand the symptoms and determine the root cause
- Research the problem
- Synthesize from different perspectives
- Formulate creative challenges
- Simple questions framed to encourage suggestions or ideas
- For example, “How might I…”
- Generate ideas
- Combine and evaluate ideas
- Draw up an action plan
- Implement ideas
It’s important to note that steps 1 through 4 require collaboration by bringing key stakeholders into the conversations. By doing this, step 5 becomes a crucial part of the process as you sift through the ideas provided by those stakeholders.