Written by Clare Schaeffer, Head of Managed Services,
Jan 13, 2025
One morning, while practising my morning mindfulness using Headspace, my wandering mind started to think about conversations I had recently. The meditation was called Feel 1% Better. This struck a chord with me because people often struggle to achieve success of 100% or view anything less as a failure. We all strive to feel good, but do we ever try to achieve it in small increments?
Similarly, small wins - the '1% better' moments - are often overlooked in organisations as management teams focus on the big wins like driving large-scale strategies, managing budgets and chasing significant KPIs. Innovation is often perceived as flashy technical breakthroughs, brainstorming sessions filled with out-of-the-box thinking and creativity bouncing off the walls - all requiring significant investments of money, tech and expertise.
For organisations without the luxury of those resources, innovation can seem like a daunting or even unattainable goal, something reserved for industry giants like Elon Musk or other tech trailblazers. Trying to innovate in such contexts feels forced, unnatural, and insurmountable.
But here's the key question: Is innovation possible for everyone?
Innovation doesn't have to be grandiose, disruptive or even noticeable; it can be simple, grassroots and driven by the people who know the business best. Organisations with traditional processes and hierarchical structures often have 'underground' conversations among frontline employees - those chats over coffee. These employees see firsthand the inefficiencies and bottlenecks that disrupt their workflows. They know which rigid, outdated processes are "driving them round the bend" and can point to small, practical changes that would make a big difference in their daily operations.
These insights are gold. They're the foundation for real, meaningful innovation. Empowering these frontline experts to identify and act on opportunities to improve processes, eliminate inefficiencies and remove blockers can unlock significant gains. These are your '1% better' moments, and when multiplied across teams and departments, they add up to substantial improvements in time, effort and resources saved.
Of course, for this to happen, there needs to be a cultural shift - a deliberate effort by leaders to value and enable bottom-up innovation. This is where we move from optimisation to innovation. Instead of improving the current state, we change it.
Frontline employees need to feel empowered and trusted to suggest and implement changes. Leaders must foster an environment where small wins are celebrated, and continuous improvements are part of the organisation's DNA. When innovation is perceived as accessible, incremental, and closely related to the expertise of those nearest to the work, it becomes evident that it is not a distant dream. Innovation is a mindset, a culture and an everyday practice and it is something that every organisation, regardless of size or resources, can afford and achieve.
Is innovation possible for everyone? The short answer is Yes.
