We know a few things are opposite in nature, but when we need it, we become unreasonable; and demand these opposite things in one go. One such scenario that dominantly occurs is in bringing Innovation. A common practice in the corporate world is the demand for bringing in creativity at shoe-string budgets, timelines without having any risks.
So, how reasonable is it?
It is subjective, it is imaginative, it is rare- creativity is a talent, a skill, an adventure. Not everyone can be creative, and everyone's extent is different too. In fact, a lot of other personality attributes, the overall result of our thinking is not always creativity. It comes from keen observation, deep thinking, and thorough analysis. Sometimes, it is inherent too.
Creativity, as we all know, requires us to come up with such things that not everyone can think of. While creativity in our usual work takes more effort, creativity in a new product or design altogether requires input at another level and could be a daunting task.
There are many factors to come up with creative ideas and implement them. Let us see a few
a) First of all, not everyone can think creatively. It requires a person to take an unusual route, which sometimes looks weird to normal people. Even though these creative thoughts can strike in a moment, a lot of thought goes on in one’s mind before that happens.
b) These creative thoughts initially are raw and require a lot of time and effort to fine-tune them and match the client’s requirements.
c) As these are not proven prior to implementation, a substantial amount of time may also go in convincing the ideas to your seniors.
d) Even though the client asks for creative ideas, these ideas seem risky to implement at their end. As a result, it takes a lot of time to convince them
Overall, creative ideas require more time and a risk-taking attitude. Moreover, many ideas may fail or will be suspended temporarily for various influential factors.
As an individual or a company, it is your decision to maintain yourself as a unique one or just like any other. Companies or individuals that are very clear about achieving innovation will not compromise on it. It may take time but eventually rise above others and remain unique. For others, they just hallucinate about innovation, market their work as true innovations.