Innovation has become a dirty word for many businesses.
Lots of business owners claim it to be an everyday occurrence in their companies, but how many actually live up to their claims and, more importantly, leverage innovation to further their success?
In a study conducted by consulting and research firm McKinsey & Co towards the end of 2020, it found that 90% of businesses believed the next five years would be transformative in terms of whether their business survived or thrived. However, only 21% of those businesses said they had the resources, expertise and commitment to innovation to land on the growth side of that ledger.
It’s something that Tracey Seipel – the chief executive of award-winning Brisbane based healthcare company Seipel Group – knows to be true.
As a business leader, Seipel has guided her company through decades of product development, market orientation and logistical priorities to be one of the best medical innovation business stories in Brisbane.
Seipel Group researches, makes and markets clinically proven natural medical products, specifically in bladder control.
But innovation, she says, is not just a word for businesses to toss around.
“You’re inventing,” Seipel says.
“You’re doing something that hasn’t been done before or looking at it in a way that it hasn’t been looked at before. It’s never the cookie cutter box option. It’s something that’s very individualised, and very specific.
“I don’t think there is as much innovation out there as people say. I think truly creating something very unique, very needed and very different, it doesn’t happen as much as people think.”
Smaller businesses are in the innovation box seat
The stats back up Seipel’s claims – especially when it comes to bigger businesses.
You only have to look at the failures of large enterprises across the world such as Blockbuster and Toys R Us to see how bigger businesses simply aren’t geared to innovate. In fact, they did exactly what they were built to do – operate at the highest efficiency at scale for the lowest cost. Blockbuster kept stores open because it thought people liked saying hello to each other as they chose a movie; Toys R Us cheaply built its online presence on Amazon, hence showing its customers just how cool Amazon is.
But Seipel says smaller businesses are in the perfect place to innovate and out-manoeuvre the big guys on a daily basis.
“I’m a distance runner. I’m used to going the long haul with things,” she says.
“I’m used to just persevering. To get to the point where you seem like an overnight success, you just have to be quite determined and persevering.
“As a leader, I haven’t compromised on my quality. I’ve set a certain standard for the product and the research and the marketing. And smaller agile businesses can do that much easier.”
Fostering a culture of innovation is key
Seipel says building and fostering a culture of innovation among your team is a vital tool in being able to move quickly, and having the ability to change course when necessary.
“The key for our team is to be really giving to one another,” she says.
“The larger companies we work with often have lots of processes and stages, and we might have been talking to them for two and a half years with a lead time to launch in another two and a half years. It’s not always how we work, but the key is we can work that way if we have to.
“The attributes of our team are quite dynamic, and very skilled and knowledgeable. They really believe in the products and they really want to help people. That’s a big part of it.”
