Fresh ideas

I love new ideas.  

They don't have to be big ones, or ideas that change the world. They don't even have to be ideas that end up being acted on. In fact, a lot of my own ideas - perhaps even most of them - simply stay in my head. I'm sure many of the people I work with will be very thankful for that!

But the reason I love fresh ideas is because of what they bring: new ways of thinking, new opportunity, new potential. And when you are the person forming this new idea, they bring a certain rush of excitement, as well as the opportunity to make a difference to yourself and the people around you.  

Big and small

My own list of recent new ideas is a mixture of very big, and very small thinking. Here's a very small sample of what's on my mind right now:

• Could we find ways of cross selling better through sharing data more effectively?

• Is there a way that GenAI could be used to improve our ability to assess and engage with candidates?

• Could we devise a tool where clients can directly connect their resource planning tool with us to search for skills and availability and reserve contractor resources? That seems like a game changer to me.

The source of my ideas is wide, but one thing I do is make sure I put time aside simply to think. I don't see this as a luxury. In our world where things change fast, standing still is a step backward, and fresh thinking keeps us on track. My job - indeed all of our jobs - is to be a little bit different each year.

Another thing I do is listen. To customers, to colleagues, to friends. Their viewpoints, and challenges, are some of the richest ways of finding new ideas for yourself.

Something to think about

So, what can you do to find fresh ideas?  

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• When was the last time you sat with a customer or colleague and asked what their challenges were in depth? (A good way of starting that conversation is to simply ask 'how are you?')  

• When was the last time you put a little time aside simply to think?

• Is there something, no matter how small, that you could do to make the life of your customer or colleague better?

• What are other people and companies doing that you think we could learn from?

• Do you talk with your colleagues about ideas to test to see if they are good ones?

So, as I round off this week's blog, have a think about how fresh ideas can make a difference for both you and Nash Squared.  

And do drop me an email to share your thoughts. I love new ideas - especially when they come from colleagues across our organisation.

Happy thinking!

Bev

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