You know that energy that invades us when we encourage ourselves to do something new in our lives?
Do you remember the energy you felt when you first learned to ride a bike, roller or skateboard, when you took your first safe swims in a swimming pool? When you were finally driving and had the courage to put your foot on the gas and take on the highway? Who doesn’t remember that feeling of taking a risk and approaching the person you were so attracted to and telling them what you were feeling, so that you could have the chance to start a worthwhile relationship right then and there?
Just like the excitement of starting our own business, with all the challenges that lie ahead and that seduce us more than scare us, or the joy of being selected to work for the company we’ve been dreaming of… All of these experiences involve emotions that are related to moments of innovation in our lives. Moments when we challenge ourselves to go further.
Many people have the idea that innovation is only related to technology, just as many still believe that being creative is the privilege of artists. In fact, all of us human beings are essentially creative and innovative. Or have you never had a problem and had to go outside the obvious to solve it?
Last week I had two experiences that motivated me to write this article.
One of them was reading the book Think Simple by Gustavo Caetano. If you’re interested in innovation, this is a really inspiring read. The other experience was taking part in AeX – Agile Experience 2018, the biggest Trade Marketing event in Latin America, which took place here in Florianópolis last week, promoted by Involves and which I had the honor of being invited to attend.
These two experiences helped me to get out of my routine, to look at the scenario we are experiencing from the outside and to become aware of this moment of exponential evolution in which we are inserted here and now in so many simultaneous areas.
And I loved hearing that the companies that will survive this scenario of so many changes will be those that are able to innovate without giving up the human bond.
We will be living in a world in which, regardless of whether a business is virtual or physical, businesspeople and entrepreneurs need to be aware that we won’t create lasting relationships with our customers at Points of Sale; anyone who wants their business to thrive needs to think about Points of Experience.
Yesterday, having lunch with my son and some of his friends, a young woman of about 20 who builds websites said that, when she is hired, she always asks the person who hires her what kind of experience they want their user to have when they visit their site? What kind of smells do they want to remember when they see the images? What emotions do they want to convey with the colors they choose? In other words, the virtual world tries to meet this need for connection through images. What about a physical business? How can an entrepreneur win over and keep customers by innovating in presentation, smell, lighting and the way he greets his customers?
We often get confused thinking that innovation depends on technology, but it’s actually people who bring about change. It’s people who will continue to consume your products and services and it’s people who will continue to make the difference to a company’s success or failure.
If technology is increasingly capable of storing data and information on a proportional scale, we will increasingly need people capable of analyzing this data with critical thinking and creativity to solve the problems that this information points out to us. We will not be replaced by machines, what the future expects of us is that we will increasingly be able to use our human differential, which is our cognitive abilities, our creativity and our emotional intelligence, to create ever richer experiences in our personal and professional relationships.
And in this respect, what have you done as a leader to stimulate the development of your team?
Having an engaged and creative team depends a lot on the opportunities the company offers for this team to grow and develop. Be aware of the talents you have so that they are not wasted. Paying attention to the individual needs of each member so that each person feels that the company really cares about them. Giving your team members the opportunity to contribute so that they feel that their opinions really count. All of this is part of some of the essential elements for generating engagement, and they don’t actually cost the company anything.
When it comes to People Management, we need to understand people, understand the day-to-day life of each professional, their difficulties and align their expectations with those of the company in order to promote engagement.
Many innovative leaders and entrepreneurs are already aware of their customers’ need for an experience when they visit their company. To generate engagement, we need the people who work with us to also have positive experiences in the corporate environment.
And this isn’t just about putting in a pool or a snooker table, it’s about making sure that this pool or snooker table is actually used to create bonds between people who spend a large part of their lives working together, often hanging out more with their work colleagues than with their own families.
And as leaders we need to be aware of an alarming fact from the World Health Organization: Brazil is the record holder in cases of anxiety disorders, with 11 and a half million people suffering from anxiety or depression.
Now, given this information, stop and think:
As a leader, are you creating a work environment that contributes to increasing this reality of stress, anxiety and demotivation, in which so many people suffer because they can’t find meaning in their busy lives?
Or are you a leader who is attentive to the human being behind the goal? So that they can perform and achieve results because they feel an important part of the whole process and are genuinely motivated to engage and contribute to the company’s success, because the company is also committed to them as a person?
How can you take advantage of a time of so much innovation to keep your team engaged?
Remember those groundbreaking experiences in our lives that I described at the beginning of this article? Do you remember what you first wanted when you discovered or achieved something new in your life? You probably wanted to share the experience with others! That’s our first impulse when we innovate. As psychologist Martin Seligman says in his book Blossom, research shows that the happiest moments in our lives are those when we have the opportunity to share, when we can share our experience with other people.
So the formula forInnovation and Engagement is really simple! Bring people together to help you solve a problem, show them that you care about them, give them the opportunity to participate in the solution by doing what they do best, listen to the ideas that each of them will bring you, and keep them united in a purpose that goes beyond themselves. Do this, and you’ll be amazed at the engagement and innovative ideas that will come!
Of course, there are methodologies for engagement, and specialized professionals who can contribute and accelerate the integration of your team. The important thing here is that if you lead a team, you know that people are increasingly motivated when they have the opportunity to connect their work with what they believe in. Or are you going to say that you don’t work better when you believe in what you’re doing?
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