Creativity and business innovation by Pamela Riveros Paredes

Today I can see headlines such as “In Latin America there is a lack of innovation which hinders the creation of quality jobs”, “The economic outlook in Latin America is such that companies tend to start small and stay small”, “There is nothing wrong per se in being small, but staying small forever is a problem” (Source: bancomundial.org).

Reading this, I deduce that the lack of innovation damages competitiveness, the emergence of new opportunities and affects the quality of work; a situation that could be generated from the selection of human capital, the difficulty to patent ideas, the personal sphere of workers, among other reasons.

The consequence of a limited vision and management of innovation is that many organizations innovate and do not have the desired results; moreover, sometimes they invest money in such actions but then there is no support from the company’s culture. For this reason it is important to consider the true meaning of innovation and understand that it is formed as a result of small steps over time.

Another aspect to address would be the confusing assignment of responsibilities, and we can see that innovation is destined as the responsibility of only some areas, when the whole organization should be committed and include creativity in its processes. Now, what would happen if this is done and it becomes a reality in the company? Well, feedback and improvements would be needed.

Another important point is coordination, for which a good leader is needed to constantly support the company’s objective and the purposes of the innovation.

So far we have focused on the company, now if we focus on the customer it is extremely important to observe their current behaviors and imagine ways to enrich and improve their lives.

All the above mentioned is a challenge worth taking so that our companies are not part of the 96% of optimism in the implementation of innovation without results, but we need to become part of the culture of those companies that start small and end up being great enterprises. It is up to us to choose to be one more or to be the best in what we do and achieve sustainable success.

Pamela Riveros Paredes
Professor of Management & Entrepreneurship, Human Resources Consultant performing assessment, diagnosis, prevention and intervention programs, Indoor and Outdoor, with training in competency assessment through the Assessment Center Modality, with experience in the management of organizational development and talent in different private companies and the State. She works as an external consultant in Human Management Project workshops at PSICOTEC. Jury of Innovation Impact Lab of the Postgraduate Programs of the Universidad del Pacífico. Master’s Degree in Psychology of Work and Organizations from Universidad de San Martín de Porres. Master’s Degree in Prevention and Intervention Programs from Universidad Femenina del Sagrado Corazón, Bachelor’s Degree in Foreign Language Education and studies in Management and Entrepreneurship. Currently, she teaches in the Administration and Human Resources Career at UPC and at USIL in the Administration and Management & Entrepreneurship Career where she was recognized for her outstanding teaching work in 2017.