Listen to my latest podcast where I discuss how to effectively manage contracts and how to maximize the value you achieve from those contracts.

As a consultant who helps many companies in the healthcare industry I believe that there are many of the solutions that are being developed that can apply to other industries. Here is my little secret on how.

Overall, I help companies improve profitability and performance and help them become more operationally efficient. This happens to be in high demand in the healthcare industry right now as organizations fight to do more with less. So we need to look at ideas and solutions that increase innovation and provide for better results while not working any harder. Resources are stretched and being asked to take on more work, budgets are being frozen or reduced, there is a shortage of skilled resources and organizations are trying to maximize return on investments and minimize costs and government involvement is increasing. Does this sound familiar? Of course it does because these challenges can apply to almost every other industry.

The healthcare industry has no choice but to innovate and no choice but to make improvements because of all of the funding constraints. But that means that there are some remarkable ideas and partnerships being developed that other industries can learn from.

Just to give you two examples of this: private sector companies are partnering with public sector organizations to fund redevelopment projects and healthcare providers are collaborating with supplies to develop new technologies to improve patient outcomes.

There is a lot we can learn from what is going on in healthcare right now. The question is are we open to that learning?

My clients face many different challenges, but let me share the top three with you and how I may recommend you resolve them.

The first challenge is that they don’t implement their strategies effectively. This seems to be a constant problem as great strategies are developed but never implemented successfully. In order to implement these strategies successfully you need to involve employees in the strategy development process. Create internal champions who will help everyone see how they fit into the bigger picture. You need to provide clear accountabilities and measurements so people know what success will look like and how they can help get there.

The second challenge my clients face is that they don’t collaborate enough with their customers and suppliers on improving performance. You must engage employees, customers, and suppliers more often in identifying new performance improvements. Look at your best customer relationships and determine why that is. Look at how your suppliers are working with their best customers. What can you learn and build into your own organization?

The third challenge my clients face is that they move too slowly. Organizations often spend a lot of time on activities that are not adding any value to the organization. You need to assess your operations and stop performing activities that don’t increase profit, improve attraction and retention of top people, improve customer service or improve the sustainability of the organization. I help my clients focus on value added activities and if you ask yourself those four questions and you can’t answer yes to any of them you need to stop doing the activity.

Research In Motion (RIM) is a classic example of a company that moved too slowly and now they are struggling for survival in the cut-throat cell phone and tablet markets. They developed some very good products but became complacent and they are now losing market share rapidly to companies like Apple and Samsung.

Speed is a key component to the success of any company. What are your biggest challenges and how are you tackling them?

Watch this great video on how to implement change successfully.

There is an ongoing discussion on how to increase and encourage innovation. This is especially prevalent in the risk-averse Canadian healthcare space. In order for innovation to prosper in a marketplace, these conditions must prevail:

Understanding what innovation is

Innovation doesn't have to be a brand new technology or process, it could be an enhancement of something that already exists. By looking at the definition in a different way, it makes the activity of encouraging innovation easier to digest. Let's think about how we can make improvements. Some will be brand new and game-changing and others will be small improvements on what currently exists. Both are innovations.

Having a system that incents innovation

This requireds governments and industry organizations to create incentives for companies that innovate. These incentives could take the form of grants, funding, lower barriers to market access, tax credits or relief, or many other options. The key is that companies are incented to improve upon what is currently in the marketplace. This can also extend to those organizations that have the ability to discourage innovation-media, lobby groups, funders. These organizations often publicly punish organizations who are trying to innovate but may not have been successful, thus discouraging others from trying.

Having an appetite for risk

Organizations that are in the marketplace need to have an appetite for the risks required when chasing innovation. Not every innovation is going to be a success, so companies need to recognize this when embarking on an innovation. Listen to the marketplace, listen to customers and fulfill a current or future need to increase chances of developing successful innovations.

Developing a roadmap for success

Whenever you try to go from one place to another, you need a map to show you how to get there. Innovation is no different. What are the processes that need to be in place? What stakeholders need to support the initiative? What are the steps required to effectively develop, commercialize and implement new innovation? Without a common roadmap, organizations will falter at various stages by developing their own way of operating.

Understanding and taking the first step

One of the biggest roadblocks to new innovation is that organizations don't know where or how to start. To talk about innovation as a concept is a daunting task, so we need to break it up into manageable chunks. Understanding the first step in this initiative will go a long way to creating some forward momentum. Don't think of the whole journey, just think of one thing your organization can do to start the journey, then let the laws of physics take over (something in motion tends to stay in motion).