July 2010

I was delighted this week to discover that ITOL have been promoting yet another service that is remarkably similar in concept, if not execution, to Trainers’ Library. This one is based in America and has a very similar pricing plan to ours, (which might of course be an extraordinary coincidence).

Delighted? That’s a bit odd isn’t it? Have I completely lost the plot?

Well no, not really. In my past life, I worked for one of the large banks, where I was often frustrated by the fact that we never seemed to be first to market with anything. First with internet banking? No. First with offset mortgages? No. First with free banking? Nope. In fact, I can’t think of a single time when this particular bank was first to market. Instead, it pursued a policy of following the leaders at a safe distance.

I’ve often talked about the importance of innovation to businesses – the need to constantly adapt to a world in a permanent state of flux, for example. But one aspect of innovation that I’ve sometimes overlooked is just how motivating it is to be at the front of the pack. I touched on the thrill of winning last month – well, winning wouldn’t be anything if we weren’t beating someone into second or third place. We rely on those chasing us to improve; it’s their improving performance that drives us to improve.

Apple recently launched the iPad. It’s success won’t ultimately be told by the number of units sold. It’ll be told by whether in five years time, laptops with traditional keyboards are largely obsolete, in the way that phones with keypads are rapidly becoming consigned to the technological dustbin. In other words, we’ll know the iPad has delivered all it promises, when Apple’s competitors follow.

Being innovative is exciting and motivational and nothing confirms success more than imitation. The competition snapping at your heels can deliver a boost to performance and drive like no other. You could almost feel the electricity buzzing off the development team this week as they worked on our next set of service enhancements, due to come online this year and next. It’s probably been our most productive week for ages.

What can you take away from this? Allowing teams to be innovative, to lead, even in a small way, delivers benefits beyond the possibility of a unique improvement in process or a new product. It allows your competitors, internal or external, to motivate your employees, and you, as they struggle to keep up.