Mark Henderson

Espressogrow

Mark comes from a business consulting and management background. He has strong experience in the advertising and information technology sectors.

He has worked with Fortune 500 and ASX Listed companies and his work has taken him across the globe, including the USA, United Kingdom and Asia. Mark was one of the first Australian private sector commercial representatives on the ground after the devastating tsunami that moved through Banda Aceh, Indonesia in 2004.

Innovation

Innovation for a business is key. Regardless of size, innovation is what keeps a business fresh and competitive.

3 strategies to help you be more innovative:

Be habitual – do it every day.

Put formal and informal time aside for thinking about ways you can be innovative with your business, everyday.

Without this constant focus on innovation, you will find a number of excuses not to do it. Make it a priority so it becomes a natural, habitual part of the business day.

Apply innovation to every layer.

Innovation is not just about sexy new products or new frontiers for the business – it is every layer of the business, for example, how can I improve cash flow? Is the marketing hitting the right audience? Are customer deliveries operating as efficiently as possible?

Raise the discussion internally to allow everyone in the business the opportunity to offer a solution. You never know where great ideas may come from.

Keep it real.

Ideas don’t need to come from taking staff to a five star resort. You should be generating ideas every day on the fly. It is important to keep ideas real and do-able.

Encourage staff to think outside the box and give them ownership of their idea and let them bring it to fruition. It is rewarding for staff to see their idea cycling through the business and everyone reaping benefits from it.