Inside Newicon: Our Approach to Innovation

If you’ve been following our Newicon Linkedin page lately, you may have noticed that we recently got together with our sister company, Flex, for another action-packed vision day. 

Between all the fun and frolicking, we got the opportunity to put our heads together and come up with some innovative product ideas as part of our product innovation challenge. 

What we did… 

Our teams were given a sector-specific brief relating to aerospace, healthcare, finance or energy, and tasked with creating an imaginative product that would help to solve an industry-related problem. 

Split into our four teams, we sat down to define our target markets, discuss challenges and develop ideas. 

Some teams took a more conventional approach, getting stuck into competitor analysis and user personas, whilst others got straight into mind-mapping some of the most prevalent issues faced by individuals and businesses within their assigned industries.

After just 45 minutes, we came together for the pitch and heard all about a range of forward-thinking innovations, from a smart airport security system for extra-speedy boarding to a self-service health scanner for faster medical diagnosis. Some really intriguing ideas were brought forward!  

Following the presentations, we opened up the floor for discussion and spoke about how these products would work in the real world, what their implications might be and how we could build on the technology that we already have. 

This was a chance to get into the nitty-gritty of each product and dissect its strengths and weaknesses. 

Putting ourselves in our clients’ shoes

As well as providing an opportunity to connect and have fun, this challenge allowed us to jump into our clients’ shoes and follow the same process that they would during our innovation workshops. 

Experiencing this process first-hand is vital for all of our staff because it enables us to enhance our innovation kit and offer the most useful training and resources to the businesses that use them.

Why innovation matters

Diverse collaboration enhances creative perspective

When we carry out innovation tasks, we bring together people with different skill sets from all different walks of life. This allows us to combine fresh perspectives and support one another to make things happen.

These activities also serve as a reminder that the best ideas don’t always come from industry experts. 

When innovating together, we’ve had digital marketers coming up with clever software solutions and UX designers sharing inventive advertising ideas. By joining forces, we’re able to carefully weigh up the pros and cons of each and every idea and use our fellow team members’ knowledge and experience to turn them into a reality. 

In fact, in one of our recent board meetings, we invited Mark’s daughter, Ruby, along to share her thoughts on our future plans. Ruby’s presence and contributions forced us to take a long, hard look at our company goals and helped us to consider perspectives that we might otherwise have missed. It was a wonderful experience and reminded us that inspiration can come from anywhere!

Ruby bringing fresh ideas to the table at our Monday morning board meet!

Thriving under pressure

Another valuable takeaway from our vision day innovation task was that, sometimes, being pushed for time can help to spark ideas!

On the day, we only had 45 minutes in total to come up with our ideas and have them ready to present. This meant that we had to think on our feet and be quite selective about the concepts that were worth investing in. 

Working within a narrow time frame prevented us from getting overly attached to a single idea and helped us to become more dynamic, propelling our concepts forward. 

Although forcing time constraints isn’t always the best approach for every project, at the initial idea stage it can be great for unexpected bursts of inspiration. Having a sense of urgency forces us to tap into our creative reserves. It helps us develop the ability to pivot quickly when a concept doesn't gain traction, ensuring that we don't become too rigid in our thinking.

Encouraging curiosity and critical thinking

Lastly, we were able to openly share our reservations and query the bits that didn’t make sense!

Asking questions and sharing feedback in a safe, supportive environment is crucial for any team or business because it helps us to encourage open dialogue and honest communication. 

When we know that we can challenge ideas in order to enhance our innovations, we can foster a culture of continuous improvement and create products or services that provide the most value. 

Embrace the power of innovation

Want to start innovating?

Our comprehensive innovation kits contain everything you need to run your very own innovation workshop either in person or online.

Developed with 14 years of experience working with teams and businesses, we’ve come up with a tried and tested resource that has been used by some of the biggest companies in the world.

Grab your innovation kit today and start bringing your ideas to life!