Barriers, Enablers, Drivers and a Culture of Innovation
- May 25, 2017
- 8 min read
“A company’s culture is the foundation for future innovation. An entrepreneurs job is to build the foundation.”- Brian Chesky, Airbnb
As discussed in one of our previous blog posts, called culture of innovation (refer back to that for greater description and understanding of culture of innovation), innovation is the simple process of translating an idea or existing invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay.
When we look into an organisations innovation culture we understand that a leader will ultimately shape and create a culture of their company to drive innovation. Innovation is something that doesn’t just occur overnight, it needs to be developed and constantly nurtured. People have the tendency to rush processes and chase short-term targets and not have their future endeavours at the forefront.
Our recent trip to the Barrows office was one for the books, (Barrows is a progressive design and manufacturing company, who specialize in the design of 3D display stands for the point-of-sale market). Their open floor office workspace, quirky office furniture and relaxed working environment are a means for more interaction amongst employees and creative flow of information and ideas. Blu Betty’s office space is very much like the Barrows office in the sense that the “creative” employees of Blu Betty are together in one space, therefore there is a sense of camaraderie among them. All the finance employees, administration employees and Colleen have their own spaces, as their sections are more strategic and are independent to the creative side. Having an open floor office workspace and an easy leadership structure means that they can turn to each other for advice or assistance without having to knock on doors or schedule a formal meeting, interactions in an open-plan office space are generally more frequent and informal than in closed environments where everyone has a separate office space.
One could therefore say that Blu Betty does have an established culture of innovation.
We feel that an organisation culture needs to be constantly kept on track as slipping into a stricter and bland working environment will have an effect on the employees, which in turn will have an effect on the quality and the progress of creativity and ideation. Relationships need to constantly be nurtured and this can be done through team-building. Team-building ensures that the employees understand the organisations vision and mission and have a good, trustworthy relationship amongst them, therefore making for a better working environment. This is something we feel Blu Betty should implement every 3 months.
We are often posed with the simple, yet very complicated question of whether leadership cultivates a culture of innovation. At Sublime, we truly believe that the leader plays an important role in cultivating this innovative culture. The leader of a business sets the tone of the organisation and what the culture will embody. If as the leader, you are very autocratic and strict, a culture of innovation is very difficult to achieve. When a leader is more open to change and possibilities, and encourages innovation within their organisation, a culture of innovation can easily be established, thereby allowing employees to come up with ideas, share them, and effectively create change within the organisation; they will be creating a culture of innovation.
The aim of any organisation is to be at the forefront of all current trends and envision future trends as well. Staying ahead of competition is vital for business growth and success. This means that innovation needs to be happening on a continuous basis. According to O’Sullivan (2008), innovation drivers allow brands to constantly innovate, learn and adapt.
Current trends have a big influence on Blu Betty. Blu Betty use trends as a platform for their designs, however, they also understand the importance of being original and different. For this reason, they ensure that their styling and designs are always innovative and different. A lot of their inspiration is taken from past successes and how to constantly improve. For Blu Betty, the increasing competition is a driver of innovation that they as a small business focus on. They need to secure their niche market and do their best to not lose consumers to other brands. They need to focus on customer retention, customer loyalty and possibly attaining new consumers. This driver pushes Blu Betty to innovate and constantly come up with new ideas that will put their brand ahead of competitors and give them a competitive edge.
Technology is also a driver of innovation for Blu Betty as they put customers at the forefront of all actions, and have the main purpose of keeping customers happy and creating long-lasting relationships with consumers. These high expectations result in more effort being put towards production of products and delivery of the products to consumers. More effort goes into reaching customer expectations and keeping them satisfied.
In any organisation, innovation needs to be at the forefront of all decision making. Most organisations aim to be innovation, however there are factors; both internally and externally which may restrict innovation from taking place. Blu Betty need to focus on their barriers of innovation, and cultivate solutions that will drive their brand forward. They can find success through their enablers, but need to first eliminate their barriers to create long lasting attainment.
We found multiple barriers of innovation within Blu Betty’s organisation. The major barriers that were found, are expanded on below. As an organisation, we have come up with some solutions to Blu Betty’s key barriers.
We found that external communication was a barrier that hampered our progress in this task. The reason for this was because we found it difficult to get feedback from Colleen and Stephanie regarding various questions that were imperative to this task. Blu Betty could easily eliminate this barrier by focusing on faster, more efficient communication. This can be done by appointing a communications director and manager whose sole purpose within Blu Betty would be to deal with communication between Blu Betty and any stakeholders.
External Communications could also be made easier through more efficient use of Blu Betty’s social media sites and technological communication. We feel that the response rate on Instagram is very low for the number of followers that Blu Betty SA has. Although their reach may be high, their audience interaction and feedback is not. This can be improved via the use of more interactive posts and the more effective use of hashtags. We really love the ‘look and feel’ of Blu Betty’s Instagram page and we feel it represents their authentic and aesthetic style. We do, however, think that by using a more interactive approach, the response rate from consumers will increase. We also feel that Blu Betty’s facebook page needs more attention, as response rates are extremely low. The use of photoshoots and professional photography featuring Blu Betty shoes and handbags is a brilliant idea, and adds character to the brand, however, posting on Facebook needs to be done on a daily basis, and consumers should be able to interact more freely by sharing posts etc. It may be beneficial for Blu Betty to use their social media sites as a platform for competition between consumers. By using competitions where, for example, a consumer could win a free handbag of their choice under a certain price, Blu Betty are creating interaction between their brand and their consumers, and encouraging response and communication. Below is an example of a competition that they could run.
This barrier of external communication can easily be linked to the next barrier that we noticed, which is human resources. Blu Betty is made of a small team of individuals, and they all get along well and work well together. Although Colleen emphasized the fact that Blu Betty want to remain small, it may be beneficial to slightly increase the size of their team. It will help the brand if a communications manager is appointed to deal with all business communications. This will take a lot of pressure off Colleen and Stephanie who are currently struggling to keep up with demands.
Blu Betty operates in a very niche market and only offer a specific style of shoes and handbags. Colleen made it clear that Blu Betty do not want to expand or go into retail. We agree that this is the best option for their brand, however, we do feel that a greater variety of products could be beneficial. For example, Blu Betty do not have any long boots and do not have a men’s range. This limits their market and is the result of sales sometimes decreasing. The reason for this is that once a Blu Betty loyal consumer has bought multiple Blu Betty shoes, there will come a point where she will no longer purchase Blu Betty, but other brands that offer more variety. At Sublime, we feel that the female dominant market for Blu Betty is a major barrier. Blu Betty are missing out on a very large market as a result of this. We therefore used this barrier as inspiration to find a solution that would take the Blu Betty brand to greater heights.
We found that advertising was also a barrier of innovation for Blu Betty, as they do not communicate enough with their consumers. We feel that a more interactive approach to communication is necessary to keep consumers interested in the brand. We have therefore suggested some solutions that could become brand enablers. As mentioned above, Blu Betty could incorporate the use of competitions to create a buzz between consumers and increase consumer to brand interaction.
Blu Betty have still not launched their website. This is a massive barrier as most consumers will visit a brands website before any other platform of communication, and in this case, the website simply says that it is under construction. Blu Betty needs to create their website and use it as the main platforms through which to receive orders from consumers. Consumers worldwide should be able to browse through Blu Betty’s products, order and pay via the website.
We also saw social media as one of Blu Betty’s barriers. Although they have social media presence, we do not feel that their presence is strong enough to greatly benefit their brand. We suggest that Blu Betty start to utilise hashtags more effectively. Although they do already use hashtags, these hashtags are not popular, and therefore aren’t effective as they are not often searched by browsers. We also think that using competitions will be a very beneficial form of advertising, as it creates an exciting atmosphere and gets individuals directly involved.
Another idea is the use of Brand Ambassadors to do advertising for the brand. Of course, this means giving the ambassadors big discounts on Blu Betty products and possibly paying them a monthly fee for advertising Blu Betty, but this is one of the best ways to reach consumers across the country. By selecting brand ambassadors who already have a large following base, Blu Betty will effectively be reaching all of those subscribers or followers. An example is shown below:
Blu Betty’s enablers do currently outweigh their barriers. They have great product offerings, and have adopted a very quirky, hippy style with a classic edge. Another one of Blu Betty’s enablers is leadership. By using a democratic leadership style, all stakeholders and team members are able to present their opinions, visions and ideas freely. Their thoughts will be listened to and considered, which is a major enabler because it motivates the team members. Another enabler is the fact that Blu Betty have a small team, that only fluctuates by one or two members now and then. This allows more focus and allows them to give direct roles to individuals in the team so that confusion is avoided.
Social media, although a barrier, is also an enabler, because it allows Blu Betty the opportunity to showcase their latest designs and products. Via social media they are able to do observation and see what is trending. They can receive feedback from individuals concerning products, product designs, promotions and general feedback about their services and communication. From the feedback that they receive they can develop their brand and products to achieve customer satisfaction.
References:
Forbes.com. (2017). Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2014/04/07/5-ways-leaders-enable-innovation-in-their-teams/#4cc27bb18c4c [Accessed 26 Apr. 2017].
· Forbes.com. (2017). Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevincashman/2013/08/21/7-ways-leaders-can-foster-innovation/#5f01e59129a9 [Accessed 1 May 2017].
· Halogen Software Talent Management Blog. (2017). 5 Ways Leaders Can Cultivate a Culture of Innovation. [online] Available at: http://www.halogensoftware.com/blog/5-ways-leaders-can-cultivate-a-culture-of-innovation-to-shine-in-todays-market [Accessed 1 May 2017].
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