Thinking Out Of The Box And Learning From Other Companies

No matter what business or industry you are in, you will always benefit from studying and listening to other companies’ experiences, even if they are working in a different industry.

I have had the amazing experience to work for different companies and in very different industries. The common factor is that in many companies they believe that their industry is so “special” that nobody from outside will be able to understand. I encourage people to see what different industries are doing for inspiration and for thinking out of the box, or better to say out of their industry. Looking around can help us to get new ideas and to find different ways to do something that can shake a bit our marketing, communications and our general way of doing things. 

It is normal that, if we stay in the same place for long, we feel like we are the best for this job, because we have developed this “specific expertise” and therefore, we believe we know what is the most suitable for the company. The truth is that somebody from outside without that much specific expertise can bring a lot of value to the company. 

Listening and Learning From Others: 

When listening to other companies we need to be very open minded. Instead of thinking that “this will never work here” we should think of the way we can take the best of their experience, adapt it and apply it to our business. It is not about copying their ideas, it’s about figuring out what we can learn from them and how we can use their experience and make it a suitable part of our development.

When you listen or study other companies ‘move, it is worth analyzing why they made that move. Do you face similar situation? Does this apply to your business? If you want to focus on products and processes, bench-marking with other companies will help you to evaluate best practices and perhaps, save money before implementing new processes in your company.

When applying other companies’ ideas, if you think to stop because this is too experimental or too risky for your business, reconsider. Being the pioneer in your industry might be very beneficial. It is great to be the first one implementing something nontraditional. If this work, somebody in your industry might be following soon. 

It is also important to take a look at what the other companies' customer are talking about. What do you see?  Do they like the company’s initiative? How do they react to e.g. the new marketing campaign? For example, if their customers are sharing comments and info on the social media channels their info might be useful for you. This is their live testimonial, you’re getting direct insight into what customers want. How this company is managing this communication? Is there something that you can learn from them or even to do differently?

Listening to other companies experience will be useful for your company and for your employees. It will help you to think out of the box and catch new movement that are not yet trendy or common in your industry. Encourage you employees to be active in learning from others, this knowledge is perhaps more valuable than any other that they can get from books or courses.