I often hear...
You don’t know anything about my industry (or business/team/company/organisation), how could you possibly help us grow?
You want to know a secret?
That’s exactly the reason why you need that person to work with your company.
Albert Einstein said it best with the quote
“You can’t solve a problem with the same thinking that created it”.
Creative ideas come from collaboration.
Ever try sitting a room by yourself hoping that ideas and solutions will simply pop into your head?
If you said yes, don’t worry, we all have.
It’s often the thing that keep us awake at night, going round and round and round.
The reason 'as an outsider' we don’t need to know all of the ins and outs of your business?
Because you do.
You are already invested in it.
Your business is unique, you are the most qualified person to know those details.
As a general rule we are interested in the ins and outs of Habeas Corpus, the capacity of a milk tanker, the weight of concrete per m3 and the average air speed velocity of a laden swallow…. However, in all honesty, we don’t need to know the specifics (that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested to learn!)
There are a couple of key reasons why looking for support to foster business ideas from companies outside your industry is important:
Creativity
By connecting two industries, you are in the position to come up with genuinely creative ideas and intrinsic motivation to help change and develop your company.
These are not things tried and true already, these are ground breaking.
By inviting you to reflect on your own insights, what has worked and what has not, you will start to develop a deeper understanding of ideas from other sectors that might intertwine or overlap.
No one knows where the next big idea will come from, but it won’t come from: the land of “we’ve always done it this way.”
Creativity enables people to connect dissimilar and unrelated subjects and make successful ideas. Most people are afraid of bringing different disciplines together, but most interesting ideas come from colliding different fields.
Diversity
Generally, people hire people who are like themselves, or float their boat. Anecdotally, it makes for smooth sailing and less conflict in the workplace.
However, an entire office of Jacks and Janes tend to think the same.
People with different backgrounds tend to have different experiences and thus different perspectives.
Aside from it being a moral imperative, exposure to a diverse workplace in which different voices are heard and accepted encourages employees to actively engage in their work environment, resulting in increased retention, higher levels of productivity, and overall business success.
Even if you are happy with your business, keep your eyes and ears open for new ideas on how you can improve your process, new ways to run things.
You never know what amazing ideas might emerge.
At Blue Mercury Leadership, we have experience in HR, Sales, Travel, Finance, Logistics, Youth Development, Tourism, Military, Education, Recruitment, so we can bring the diversity to your team!
If this is something that you, or your team would like to understand more, please get in touch at our website www.bluemercury.co.nz we would love to help.