“If you want to innovate, you have to have a culture to innovate,” said Jeff Grogg of JPG Resources during the Maker Space session titled Workshop: Innovation in the Face of Uncertainty, at the Winter Fancy Food Show, yesterday.
Makers who strive to innovate should support three-dimensional diversity within their organization. This includes employees who are diverse when it comes to age, race, and gender.
“Secondly, you want to have input from up and down the organization,” he said. “This includes people who are on the plant floor and in the office. You want to get ideas from wherever you can and treat them with respect.”
To foster a space where it's safe to share such ideas and make team members more comfortable with pursuing risky endeavors, food and beverage makers shouldn't just celebrate the wins, but great efforts as well, even those tied to projects that didn't pan out.
“Innovation is a rough game and somewhere between 60 and 90 percent of new products fail,” he said. “If you’re going to be innovative, you’re going to have some misses. Celebrating the good efforts that don’t always win or even the good effort of killing something that shouldn’t continue” is a good idea.
Related: Seen at the Winter Fancy Food Show - Day 2; Craft Chocolate Offers Opportunity for Specialty Food Retailers.
Image: Loop Seven