Bringing a project to successful completion is highly satisfying. Great enterprises and teams are built project by project. Good leaders applaud great work and make sure the team takes the time to celebrate the victory.
But before moving on to the next task, they also know there is an important step in making the most of a completed project.
Every project presents an opportunity to fine-tune a process, create an innovative solution, or build a template that can be used again. Before turning the attention of the team to a new challenge, the question to explore is: What lasting output can be created from this project?
With so many projects and initiatives taking place at the same time, it is imperative that leaders ask team members to save what they have built or designed so it can be used by others in the future.
What begins as a customized or bespoke solution to a project problem often results in a highly replicable innovation for other projects.
Successful projects require sound thinking, flawless execution, and a measured approach. By thinking through the unique problems and challenges of a project, teams and team members often come up with some amazing ideas and approaches. Hammering out these innovations and building something sustainable to be used in future projects is what good teams do.
Far too often, teams and team members throw away or bury powerful solutions believing they are “one-off” designs. By asking team members to purposely build something longer lasting from every project, good leaders turbo-charge innovation and create a toolbox of new solutions that makes future projects even more successful.
Certainly, new processes, templates, instruments, diagnostics, exercises, and approaches are common to accomplished teams and team members as they tackle a challenging project.
The best leaders don’t overlook these valuable resources. Instead, they ask for them, capture them, and have team members share them with others.
This is what innovation really looks like in action.
