By Jean Santos, CMC®, President, Business Consulting Resources
Many successful companies hit this “plateau” after years of steady operation. The operational excellence that got you here doesn’t always leave room for the creative stretch that helps you break into something new. Innovation isn’t a lightning bolt—it’s a practice, and you can build it into your business.
1. Create Space for Innovation (Literally)
Innovative thinking rarely shows up when you’re stuck in day-to-day execution mode.
Action:
- Set aside “strategy sprints” or “innovation days” once a quarter with a cross-functional team.
- Consider hosting a diversification retreat—off-site or virtually—with the specific goal of generating and testing new ideas.
Tip: Frame this discussion as a “How might we…” question (e.g., How might we use our capabilities in a new market? How might we serve a new customer segment?)
2. Look Outside Your Industry
Some of the best ideas come from outside your lane. Explore how other industries are solving similar challenges—or using models you haven’t tried.
Try this:
- Invite guest speakers from unrelated industries to a Q&A session with your leadership team
- Do “innovation field trips” (virtual or real)
- Encourage leaders to join outside peer groups or roundtables
3. Build a Cross-Functional Idea Lab
You probably have amazing untapped creativity inside your team.
Action: Form a small internal Innovation Task Force—with people from different departments or functions, ages, and roles—and give them a specific challenge:
“Come up with 3 new business ideas that align with our values and could become a revenue source in the next 12–24 months.”
Give them time, budget, and a process (e.g., design thinking or a business model canvas) to explore and present back.
4. Tap Your Customers
Your customers often know what they wish you’d offer—even if they can’t say it directly.
Try this:
- Interview 5–10 customers using open-ended questions like:
“What’s a problem in your business/life that no one’s solving well?”
“If we could do one more thing for you, what would it be?”
Patterns here can lead to new offerings, partnerships, or pivots.
5. Test Before You Scale
Don’t overthink or overbuild. Try low-cost, low-risk experiments:
- Launch a “beta” version of a new service – do a small, controlled test
- Partner with another company to test something new
- Pilot a product or service with a small group of loyal customers
Innovation doesn’t need to be big to be real. Small experiments build momentum.
6. Ask Bigger Questions
If you’ve been in business for 20+ years, your accumulated wisdom is a huge asset. Sometimes you need a reframing question to unlock fresh thinking:
- What business are we really in?
- What assets do we have that others don’t?
- If we had to reinvent this business from scratch—what would we build?
- What are the emerging problems our future customers will face?
Bring in a Creative Facilitator
Ready to break past the creative plateau? Sometimes the best way to shift your thinking is to bring in someone who isn’t stuck in your patterns—an innovation consultant, futurist, or business model expert can help guide ideation sessions and open new doors.
At Business Consulting Resources, we bring a deep 44+ year history of helping businesses get out of their innovative rut – let’s talk innovation!