We help businesses create value, and communities amplify initiatives and mindsets – all underpinned by focusing on taking action.

What’s worked in the past isn’t necessarily going to push your business forward into the future. At the Scale Institute, we've spent years developing action-orientated programs to help businesses solve this kind of challenge.

With my colleague Dr Tim Rayner, who’s an entrepreneurial educator at UTS – we’ve created a startup approach for existing businesses to adopt. Here’s an overview of two critical levers.

DATA WINS ARGUMENTS

The best people to make decisions are the people closest to the problems. Data can win arguments - This is a mantra in the startup industry.

Traditionally, seniority determines who wins an argument. It's the people on the coalface, who are interacting with the users - who have greater insight into what’s working and what’s not.

It makes sense to devolve decision-making power from the top to the bottom of the organisational pyramid and let the people who are gathering data make the decisions.

HOW DO YOU MEASURE INNOVATION?

One thing that trips businesses up when they invest in innovation is the absence of change in the way they evaluate success.

Trouble is that knowledge is intangible, and the return of an experiment is usually negative. Agile organisations evaluate things differently.

CLICK TO TWEET

They measure progress in terms of ‘learning metrics’: agreements about what teams need to learn in order to succeed at what they’re trying to do.

For example, here's how things work in one of our current innovation projects:

First, we had to identify the challenges and develop a product innovation roadmap.

After a 6-month engagement, we were able to release 4 concept prototypes, 1 pilot program and a business model for what we’re calling habitUal to provide action-orientated learning experiences.

After 12 months we launched a new company and are now commercialising these opportunities.

As a result, our innovation 'funding meter' has been extended for another 12 months to further identify new products and services to solve how might we prioritise learning for SMEs.

Our model has been tested and refined with companies such as Stockland, News Limited, Hilltops Council, The Executive Connection and Westpac.

So, why not start today? Every Thursday, whilst my family and I are self-isolating, I’m offering free 30-min consultations for people ready to act. Let’s connect for ideas about how your company, institution or community can renew your business model. You can book time with me using Calendly.

Thanks for reading. This is the fourth of a 5 part series on renewing business models. You can find all the content at The Scale Institute. Take care in this unstable period and do what you can to just start!

START TAKING ACTION

Business Model Innovation