Four ways to ensure innovation continues after the crisis
Tools for innovating better and faster, even after the recovery
By Lindsey Lyman – The COVID-19 crisis has prompted inspiring acts of innovation. Companies, governments, entrepreneurs, and citizens have proved how capable humans are of innovating during times of crisis. Responding to the acute public-health pandemic has forced rapid changes in health-care-delivery models. The social-distancing mandates have prompted complete workforces to adopt a virtual work model as well as K–12 school districts and university systems nationwide to figure out how to educate students through distance learning. The slowdown of commerce has pushed small-business owners to transform their business models overnight in an attempt to stay afloat amid economic collapse.
Necessity forces companies to innovate. However, waiting for a crisis is not a sustainable innovation strategy, and certainly no one wants a crisis for the sake of innovation. The COVID-19 pandemic provides a natural experiment that allows us to examine conditions that have prompted innovation and to observe and learn how organizations have responded. The circumstances are dire and the effectiveness of many of these innovations remains unknown. Despite this, it is worth observing what is happening and learning from it. Companies should take note of these lessons and apply them to remain innovative, whether in the midst of a crisis or in a position of strength.
Extreme examples of innovation have surfaced from the COVID-19 crisis. In one well-documented example, Wuhan’s Huoshenshan Hospital, a specialty field hospital, was built in just over a week to treat the outbreak. Although this is a great testament to human ability, it does not provide a blueprint for sustainable innovation. The financial burden and other costs—among them, structural and safety concerns and suspect labor practices—do not justify building a hospital at this speed under normal circumstances.
However, other tools used to fight the COVID-19 outbreak can and should become a replicable part of corporate innovation practices. Here are four of them. more>
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