How Can You Find Time And Money To Innovate In GBS When Operations And Cost-Cutting Are The Major Priorities?

Within the dynamic landscape of Global Business Services (GBS), leaders can find themselves caught up in the seemingly endless demands of day-to-day operations. In the midst of trying to efficiently manage all of these operations, leaders also must prioritize innovation and cost cutting. It is no question that running GBS Operations is a full time job, and there is often little time left for leaders to think about how to navigate the future as operational challenges continue to come up. A big question that arises is how can one create innovation in GBS while also managing operations and cost cutting as the major priorities? In the following, I will offer insights on how GBS organizations can continue to innovate while also prioritizing operational excellence and cost cutting.

What is the Solution?

If you as a business leader want to tackle this problem in a thorough and sustainable manner, you must allocate both time and resources to continuous improvement as part of your regular work processes. An annual innovation strategy and review process is a simple way to do this.

Additionally as a leader, your ability to role model the innovation mindset and build a culture that rewards risk-taking is critical. A watchout many companies attempt is to rely on certain departments to put a focus on creating new ideas and improving operations. Relying solely on this approach can lead to disappointing results. Some of the most innovative improvement ideas will come from the people responsible for day-to-day operations when given the time, resources, and rewarding culture to bring new ideas forward. Therefore, it is important to give these individuals the time, resources, and forum they need to continually suggest and implement improvements throughout the entire organization. Furthermore, encouraging innovation as a collaborative effort across organizational boundaries promotes diversity of thought and strengthens the discovery process.

Lastly, ideas should be publicly rewarded (both successful and unsuccessful innovation projects) to underscore the culture of risk-taking, failing fast/cheap, and constantly challenging the status quo at all levels in the organization.

Implementation

It is no question that dedicating time, resources, and funding to the organization specifically for innovation to yield continuous improvement can increase costs. However, because your entire organization is bringing forward innovative ideas for continuous improvement, your total portfolio could actually reduce overall costs. Additionally it is possible to self-generate minor funding by agreeing with the business up front that you will reinvest a fraction of savings into ongoing improvements. This is no different than profit margin being reinvested in R&D. Consequently, keeping innovation and continuous improvement as a top priority throughout the organization as a whole should lead to overall operational improvements and new service growth. Additionally it’s a motivating culture for people at all levels to have the freedom, time, and resources to create new approaches to their day-to-day work and be a full participant in the innovation lifecycle.

Methodologies like Six-sigma or Work-out do a great job of increasing efficiency and boosting customer satisfaction. While simultaneously decreasing costs, Six-sigma acts as more than just a methodology. It helps create a transformative cultural shift, promoting a mindset of continuous improvement. Concurrently, workout can help by promoting communication, collaboration, and fast and adaptive decision making. This, in turn, engages employees to foster a culture that yields continuous improvement, trickling throughout the entire organization. That being said, there are many other ways to help you create a continuous improvement culture within the entire organization.

Conclusion

As an operational leader looking to innovate while also prioritizing operations and cost cutting, take note of the following 3 things you can do:

1) First, create an annual drumbeat of innovation strategy and portfolio to review. This will help the entire organization to understand that innovation is a natural and recurring objective. By doing this, everyone within the organization will constantly be thinking of ways to help innovate and have a place to communicate these ideas.

2) Second, save to reinvest. Rather than asking the business for money for innovation, self generate money that is dedicated to improving the overall business.

3) Establish a culture where everyone innovates and is rewarded for ideas. By doing this, you will establish a DNA in your organization of constant evolution.

In summary, by implementing these three actions—creating an annual drumbeat of innovation strategy and portfolio review, saving extra funds for reinvestment, and establishing a culture where everyone innovates—you, as an operational leader, not only will navigate the delicate balance between innovation, operational priorities, and cost-cutting while creating a transformative DNA of constant evolution within your organization.