Are you still making rafts when you could be building a bridge?

One of the most common barriers to innovation I hear is “we have no time”.

Many leaders today, are so busy doing their day job, they have no time to focus on trying new things.

Is it though, we are so busy making rafts to cross the river that we never look up to consider building a bridge, a tunnel, or a dam.

We just keep focusing on making those rafts.

If we want our people to be creative, set the goal, ‘to cross the river’.

Then challenge them to come up with ideas, or at least get them to investigate, what people elsewhere are doing.

The message is clear, we as leaders have to free up time for innovation, in order to empower our people to come up with ideas and explore them.

Whether this is one hour a week, one day a month, or one day a quarter, time for innovation is critical.

Are you still making rafts when you could be building a bridge?