How do you go about innovating new solutions within your organisation (or the organisations you work with)? Recently I’ve had some great discussions on this issue, as the impact of global ways of working further permeates into our every day.

When innovating, tailoring a solution to your own organisation’s unique set of challenges and its context is critical, along with scanning the newest research and seeing how your competitors, or innovative organisations are solving similar issues.

HR Innovation in the Digital World

Gathering intelligence from what other organizations are doing used to look like:

· Calling contacts at local competitors (maybe you used to work with them or you meet at networking events), comparing notes and trading quid-pro-quo. If you were really lucky you might even get a soft/hard copy of a recent piece of work from that organization.

· Drawing on your knowledge from past employers/organizations you’ve worked with – digging out that printout of the scoping document you kept, developed 4 years ago, for just such an occasion.

· Checking out the latest copies of your industry magazines (the ones you have floating around your office at least) to see if that article you remember glazing over quickly actually addresses the issues you’re facing and if there’s any practical guidance you can draw on.

With the advent of social and the associated increase of professionals being more visible online there have been some wonderful flow on affects for developing solutions collaboratively across organizational lines.

Instead of having to rely on ‘real life’ connections that are often linked to your location and contacts within your industry, the internet of things allows us to establish new connections and rediscover old ones – flipping the way we’ve been collaborating and sharing on its head!

When I suddenly need new ideas for how we may approach a structural or cultural issue inside a certain team, I can contact six people I know all over the world who I know work in related fields or have encountered related difficulties. I can crowdsource a solution across industries when I’m faced with developing a new strategy or policy. I can do this by posting a general call out on a professional group on LinkedIn and instantly connecting with 4 people who have pertinent, current information and research that they are willing to share.

These changes have had a significant impact on how we work because they allow us to search internationally for solutions when faced with problems in our organizations or those we collaborate with. Why create a solution to “catch up” to your neighborhood rival when you can gain access to the best and the brightest ideas and establish yourself as the market leader?

Be bold! Get out there and connect with those HR disruptors digitally that you wouldn’t normally. My bet is they’ll surprise you and you just might end up having a brilliant idea spark because of something they say/share with you.