Innovation, Innovate or die, Innovate, Innovate! We hear it all the time! But there's something missing...
Mindful Innovation is the key. But what does it mean for the Retail Leader?
Leading a Team Effectively: Five Simple Tips
Keep Your Cool: Stay in control of your actions and emotions to be a positive influence on yourself and your team.
Define Success: Clearly explain what success looks like for your team and discuss any challenges together.
Safety First: Create a supportive atmosphere where mistakes are seen as opportunities to learn and grow.
Check Progress: Regularly review your team's tasks to focus on what really matters and keep everyone on track.
Set Expectations: Make sure everyone knows what's expected of them by setting clear performance standards. This helps everyone perform consistently and effectively.
The Importance of Being Mindful with Your Retail Innovation Initiatives -
Imagine a locomotive leaving the station. The wheels slowly begin to roll on the steel track beneath. The speed at which these wheels move is slow, making it difficult to chug forward.
As the oil on the metal components begins to warm, the train gains momentum and moves effortlessly. Not long out of the station, the train travels at blazing speeds, making stopping difficult.
It reminds me of the retail industry. In the mid-1900s, innovation was sprinkled about. Great examples are air-conditioned stores and automatic sliding doors introduced to retail by Pubix Supermarkets. These innovations were milestones that just popped up every once in a while to create a better shopping experience.
It feels like retail experiences advance daily, from POS systems to inventory management to employee training, eCommerce solutions, and much more. Retail innovation is happening at such quick rates it’s hard to stop and think about how to apply new technology and innovations to our business before our competition disrupts us.
We may want to pull the emergency brake and gain a moment to think, but we feel we cannot without the severe consequences of derailing our whole organization.
The keyword in that last sentence is “feel.” What if we were to pump the brakes? What would happen? Yes, Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT are marvels that can do amazing things for productivity, supply chain, and retail experiences, and we should consider them.
But if we take a mindful pause to consider how they fit into our business before they are applied, we can create retail experiences that better fit the brand and strategy.
Otherwise, these advancements become noise that detracts from our overall goals and creates disjointed in-store experiences.
“Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing.”
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Defining Retail Innovation
Innovation can be an ambiguous term that is all-encompassing, and every person has their perspective of what innovation means. So, let’s level set the foundation.
When I first started innovating in the retail industry, my mind quickly went to robots, lasers, and Augmented Reality (AR). I wanted to create the Disney of our industry. I imagined and designed fun experiences that I thought customers would appreciate, but time and time again, each one would fail.
Sometimes, customers would fail to see the value, and other times, employees would fail to execute the experience.
After several years of failing retail innovation concepts, I realized my approach was wrong. It wasn’t about incorporating the newest technology and following the hype of growing trends.
I started to use mindfulness to slow down my thinking and thought about what innovation was like before a book or a process.
I researched innovation as far back as 4000 BC to discover that all innovations have three key variables, which I cover in full detail in my book, The Mindful Innovator.
[Solve Real Problems + Change that Improves + Acceptance = Innovation]
Solve Real Problems - Think unbiasedly about the problems you must solve.
Change that Improves - Find a creative solution to solve the problem.
Acceptance - Get others to accept that your creative solution solves the real problem.
If you were to simplify your innovation efforts and think of these three key variables, you are off to the races. But there is one other factor you need to consider—all three key retail stakeholders.
Defining Key Stakeholders for Innovation
In every retail experience, three key stakeholders need to be considered when identifying real problems, creating a change that improves, and gaining acceptance. Those three key stakeholders are:
Customers
Employees
The Company
I worked on a concept to help a company sell more cheese at the deli service case. We concluded that we could sell more cheese if we did more than just slice it. We thought a full-service custom shredded cheese program at the deli counter would solve our problem.
We launched this concept in stores across the country. This was a real problem for the company, and we devised a creative change that improved it. We also had the acceptance of leadership. However, when the program began, there was resistance on multiple fronts.
Customers were unaware of the program, and even with lots of in-store marketing and support, we could not get customers' behavior to change from purchasing our full-service custom shredded cheese from the pre-packaged bags of Kraft shredded cheese.
“Usually when we hear or read something new, we just compare it to our own ideas. If it is the same, we accept it and say that it is correct. If it is not, we say it is incorrect. In either case, we learn nothing.”
Thich Nhat Hanh
Employees grew frustrated with the program and would not ask customers who came to the Deli counter if they wanted shredded cheese to accompany their order, as they were trained.
The employees were already handling so many things behind the counter; they were always short-staffed, and their hours were continually reduced.
The program did not support them and only added more work.
Reflecting on this program, I noticed we were looking only from one viewpoint—The Company. We completely ignored the real problems of customers that we could have tied this to and how we could have done this in a way that supported the employees to gain their acceptance.
Our retail innovation flourished when we combined all three viewpoints with the three key variables.
We started to look at this problem from all three perspectives. The company needed to sell more cheese, but for customers, the problem was that they wanted cheese without starch and wood pulp coatings, and for employees, they just needed NOT to have another program that gave them more work.
A shredded cheese program was still a great solution. However, how it was delivered was changed to support all three problems. We developed a shredded cheese program that would be a self-service grab-and-go.
This way, we could sell more cheese, while customers could conveniently pick it up on the sales floor (as they have always done), and the vendor would shred the cheese ahead of time so employees would not have to.
We found the win-win-win by mindfully addressing the three key variables from all three key stakeholders' points of view. Represented in the chart below.
Mindful Retail Innovation Challenge
I challenge you to evaluate the innovation initiative that you are deploying now. Pump the brakes of your locomotive going full steam—it’s OK, your competitor won’t disrupt you.
First, I want you to take 5 minutes and just meditate. Relax, just focus on the breath, and just be. Now, think mindfully about the initiative you are working on and how it fits the three key variables from all three key stakeholders.
Once you have internalized this and have your answers, get other people's thoughts, especially key stakeholders from all three groups—the company, consumers, and employees.
I believe that we overcomplicate innovation. I know I did.
But if we just bring a level of awareness to each conversation, each observation, and each moment, we can create extraordinary change that not only helps the retail industry survive but will allow it to thrive.
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Btw I'm Steve Worthy, author of the upcoming book - "The Approachable Retail Leader"
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