Whether your business is services, products or some combination thereof, you’ve always got to be thinking about new business models that can keep up with change and withstand disruption.

You’ve got to innovate.

While increasing the velocity of innovation gets talked about a lot, there are often many hurdles like silos, time constraints and fuzzy thinking that work against us.

Here’s a simple exercise designed by Sydney Finkelstein, Dartmouth professor and author of the “The Superbosses Playbook.” 

In the right team meeting, pull out a poster-size Post-It note, put it on the wall, and divide it into three columns. Each column represents a different question related to innovation:

1. What’s our current recipe for success and the way we’ve always done it at our company? Jot down thoughts in the first column and analyze for obsolescence and staleness.
2. What market shifts, external forces, or technologies might threaten the elements of our operational status quo? List these thoughts in the middle.
3. What can we do about these impending disruptions?Think about preemptive actions, adjustments, or complete redesigns of existing practices.

Bottom line is you’re forced to thinking critically, creatively, and concretely.

At the very least, the exercise prompts team members to break out of old mindsets and passivity so you can foster the creativity, candidness and growth we all crave.

Have a great week.