Innovation, according to Deloitte, is defined as "the development of new or improvement of existing products, services or processes." As the business world evolves, you should be innovating your own business to make improvements.
Of course, the average small business owner is often too busy to be thinking about innovation strategically and probably doesn’t have a large innovation budget to speak of. So how do they innovate?
According to a report by Boston Consulting Group, the most innovative companies in 2019 "use AI, platforms and ecosystems to enable themselves and others to pursue new products, services, and ways of working," but for the small business owner, innovation does not take large budgets or the latest technology. Successful innovation for the small business owner takes the ability to focus, critically evaluate your own company and the aptitude to work at grassroots. Oh, and to improve, it takes grit, a never-ending passion.
Here’s a foolproof method to quickly improve your business today.
PAM: Processes, Accountability And Motivation
There are three elements that must work in harmony to make improvements: processes, accountability and motivation. Or, as I like to call her: "PAM," the self-appointed queen of innovation.
First, you need processes for your business to run on. In short, what is needed to carry out a task? In most instances, you need to:
• Clearly define what the scope or desired end-result is.
• Ensure that what you want done is documented (the how).
• Provide tools to help your team actually do the work (machinery, computers, software, phones, coffee, etc.).
Next, you need to instill accountability. Make sure that you are accountable to a third party. Your team will need to be accountable to you, and ideally, you, as a business owner, will be accountable to your mentor/coach or advisory board. For accountability to work, you must:
• Create trust between you and your team, and each member of your team.
• Train each team member so they can effectively carry out the task.
• Follow up to ensure the task is completed on time and on-budget, as expected.
Lastly, there has to be motivation in every corner of the business. Motivation comes from within each individual, and it’s the business owner’s responsibility to connect a task to the person carrying it out. There are three things that must be clear and communicated to all:
• The business vision.
• The company’s values, e.g., integrity, ethics, etc.
• The cause of the business — this is greater than money; it's why you're in business and why you go to work.
To improve your business, all three — processes, accountability and motivation — need to be strong.
What Is Your Business Missing?
To know what your business should improve, look at the symptoms in your business. If your business is becoming compliant, then you have good processes and accountability, but you need to work on poor motivation. If you are seeing erratic performance, chances are you have good accountability and motivation, but you need to work on sub-par processes. If performance degrades over time, your business has good processes and motivation, but it’s the business owner’s responsibility to work on poor accountability.
PAM is a great model for identifying and solving any problem in business. Once you, as the business owner, understand the importance of processes, accountability and motivation, they can literally solve any problem in your workplace with these simple steps:
1. Identify the frustration or what needs to be improved.
2. Has it happened more than once? If not, then you’ll have to solve differently.
3. Write down the result you want. For example, "Instead of X, I want Y."
4. Get to the root of the problem by asking questions to identify if, in turn, processes, accountability and motivation are all as high as they should be.
5. Based on the PAM model, identify what the next action is by defining the what, where, when and how.
