If You Want to Grow Your Organization You Need to Innovate

It’s generally accepted that growth is the main goal of any organization. If your company isn’t adapting and expanding to meet changing market needs, pretty soon your customers will start to migrate from your business in large numbers. Your profits will dip, your product will lose relevancy and you may be forced to close your doors.

But how much growth is really sustainable? In an age where marketplace companies and fintech firms seem to explode onto the market overnight, reporting staggering growth statistics of 40-50 percent, is that kind of number really achievable? And if so, how do you go about obtaining it?

Innovation is Key to Growth

First of all, growth percentages so high are certainly not the norm and greatly depend on the type of business you have and the industry you’re in. Are you a hungry startup riding the wave of a new technology area? If so, your growth rates are bound to be higher than a company in an established arena with heavy competition and low room for innovation.

5-10 percent growth would be a pretty respectable number. Anything higher, would be darn right impressive, exceptional even. But to reach figures like that, regardless of your industry, you need to innovate continuously.

Innovation helps your organization grow, to challenge the status quo, stay appealing to your customers and one step ahead of the competition. Survival of the fittest is all about growth. And that growth is essential for the survival of your company.

Read also: Innovation in the 21st Century Workplace

But innovation isn’t something that just happens when you’re not expecting it, or descends upon you in a “Eureka” moment, while you’re busy doing something else. You need to actively cultivate innovation by challenging yourself and your team to look at daily functions, tasks and product offerings from a different angle.

Make a Commitment to Innovation

Making a commitment to innovation is a great way of ensuring that it happens and that it’s a priority for your company. So, make sure that your staff know that it’s essential to your culture. Add a promise to innovation to your company values and encourage your team to come up with fresh ideas.

Says Sean Hopwood, President of Day Translations, an online translation services provider that has grown from a one-man band in 2007 to an international company with over 50 full time employees today:

“We’re always focused on growing, never resting on our laurels. Our goal is to be the number one translation company in the industry, but we’re also growing in different directions and constantly innovating in different areas, from server management and SEO, to interpreting and translation apps. Always, always challenge yourself and commit to innovation.”

When you have more ideas than you know what to do with and you’re constantly reaching to be better, you’re on the right track to continued innovation and growth.

Think Different

Apple’s famous slogan, “Think Different,” is key to this company’s ongoing growth and innovation. Rather than looking at their products in a conventional way they always challenge their workers to think differently.

Simon Sinek gave an inspirational TED talk about how finding their “why” is the most important thing that companies can do. He explains that all companies know what they do. They sell car parts, provide marketing services, or export textiles, for example.

Some companies know how they do what they do–by offering lower prices, focusing on quality, or differentiating on customer service. But very few companies know why they do what they do.

Apple is a classic example of a company that has a strong understanding of their why, by always thinking differently. They don’t just sell smartphones; they sell an entire lifestyle and social movement.

So, start thinking differently, from the inside out. Understand what motivates you to get out of bed every day and translate that to your products. Once you have your whole team on board with a solid commitment to continued innovation and a deep understanding of your why, continued growth will follow.

Christina Comben is Content Manager at translation and localization providers, Day Translations. Qualified to MBA level and multilingual, Christina is passionate about writing, traveling and continued growth and innovation.