04.08.19 The 15th Key for Adding Value as an Employee

15. Innovate to Add Value

Business innovation refers to creating or adding value through introducing new ideas, products or services that lead to noticeable improvements or advancements within an entity in line with its strategic direction.

There was a time when the number of transport providers to Manyara and the Serengeti escalated, posing a threat to our flights on those routes. Tourists would be dropped at Arusha Airport by us or our competitors, then either board other air carriers using mostly Grand Caravans, or tour operators’ vehicles to the parks. That was how I chose to apply innovative publicity as a marketing tactic. I do remember adding value to the airline by coming up with innovative school trips to the very Arusha Airport where we were facing the competition. Schoolchildren would be picked by our transport, then given an opportunity to sit in one of our small stationery aircraft, where we would teach them our theme song and share some finger food with them. This was done during the time when our competitors’ flights to the parks were landing or taking off, so that tourists got to learn that not only did our airline exist but that it was passionate about corporate social responsibility.

A value-adding employee devises new products that keep her organisation ahead of the competition. By the way, ‘competition’ is not for commercial entities only, but for governmental and non-government organisations as well since they compete for government and donor funding, and other resources as well.

Some people refer to innovation as ‘a change that adds value’. This means that any change that does not add value cannot be characterised as ‘innovation”. Innovative changes lift the standard of a process or activity, and hence the finished product or service, to a higher level, thereby leading to organisational growth. Examples of such interventions include those that enhance efficiency, satisfaction, cost-effectiveness and others. Therefore, research to identify the value that your innovation will add to the organisation so as to generate buy-in from your management team. My sister, seeking God will position you as an extraordinary innovator. See what Jeremiah 33:3 says (AMP): ‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you [and even show you] great and mighty things, [things which have been confined and hidden], which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish.’