I know it to be true that any business that doesn’t keep innovation as a top value, fails. You must continually talk about, look for it, implement it, and then hit reset to do it all over again – even if it is the exact item you just innovated the week prior.
I’ve been frequently reminded during my working career that innovation doesn’t always come from top management. In place, it’s managements job to encourage it, and find employees that have it in them to create it. This past week, an innovative act came from our youngest employee. I had shown him a picture of new way to mount a spare tire on our trailers that I’ve been thinking about, and asked him to put it together. Rather than doing what I asked, he conceptualized a better way to do it. Then with passion and courage, came to my office to present me his concept that I immediately approved, and let him move forward with. It doesn’t matter if I planted the seed, he get’s full credit.
One of the many joys of managing a small business is the ability to make instant innovative changes. No committee, no red tape, no complex proposals. In place, we get to “Just do it”. I’m proud to share that we have more employees like Josh here, looking for innovative features, and build processes to add to our restroom trailers. And I will never stop encouraging them.
Aaron Ward, Comforts of Home Services, Inc.
