They say never waste a good crisis… and, that if there is a better way to do something (think stale processes), find it now, when the fan is already covered in proverbial. Don’t just struggle along with your pre-Covid product plans, they’re likely irrelevant and could hinder your recovery. Now is the time to let your entrepreneurial spirit burn bright!

It’s widely celebrated in the world of architecture that beautiful design is born from constraint, imagine a featherlight building clinging to a sheer cliff… without the cliff, it would neither cling nor be featherlight. Constraint invokes creativity.

Around the world, businesses became unviable overnight; from the aviation industry to the world of influencers. No doubt it’s easier to pivot a yoga pose than a Dreamliner, but here are six considerations for post-crisis innovation, no matter your industry:

1. Change your environment. Just because we’re out of lockdown doesn’t mean we should return to our usual environment 100% of the time. Get a fresh perspective and allow new ideas to evolve.
2. Challenge your assumptions. Consumers have new behaviours and needs we can cater for. Find out what people want and need post-Covid.
3. Empower your team to innovate. Times are not ‘Business as Usual’. Encourage your team to prioritise time to look at new ways of doing things and new things to do.
4. Collaborate with others. You don’t have to do it alone. Could you leverage your resources by partnering with someone who can add to a new offering?
5. Communicate what’s coming. One study claims that product adoption is 82% marketing and 18% how good a product is. Don’t underestimate the importance of communicating the problems you’re solving with innovation.
6. Shrink the process; progress over perfection. You can perfect it later. The ideals around ‘market ready’ solutions will be flexible for some time. If you’re not slightly embarrassed by your first product release, then it’s likely you hit go too late.

Fierce disruption makes us levitate in a state of change acceptance, where we can transform limitations into advantages. It’s amazing what you can create in a short timeframe, but balance your speed with safety as you innovate to build business resilience.

Be the architect of your business’s future; build beautiful meaningful products and services with the opportunities that have presented themselves during this crisis. What innovation lessons can you take beyond the crisis to help the continuous fight against disruption?

We can help you develop your post-Covid Product Development plans and ensure they fit in with your overall Business Recovery Plan. Simply give us a call on 07 3863 9444.

“Innovation is born from the interaction between constraint and vision.” – Marissa Meyer