Taking an inside-out approach is what drives clarity and innovation.

Contrary to popular belief, thinking outside the box is a misnomer. The common buzz-phrase in today’s culture of how innovation and creativity comes from outside the box thinking is not correct.

In fact, it is inside-the-box thinking that drives real innovation, creativity and performance.

Here’s why.

Quite simply, thinking does not work in a vacuum. Outside the box thinking represents an untethered and disconnected way of processing information, embarking into the unknown future with little to no context supporting one’s inquiry into what’s possible.

Neither thinking that is outside or inside the box is bad, per se, but an inside-out approach provides context and sets some parameters within which to work based on real-time needs of employees, as well as customers and gaps in product experience in the current moment.

Take Uber, for example. Many critics acknowledge the visionary, outside-the-box thinking of its inventor and think that it came through a “Eureka moment” of insight.

However, quite the opposite is true. The idea behind the innovative drive-sharing application originated from an in-depth consideration of various business contexts.

The “innovation” that resulted in the creation of Uber came from inside-the-box thinking, as product developers analysed consumer demands, existing technology applications and trends in the transportation economy to develop a new platform that addressed a gap in service and consumer’s behaviours and needs in an entirely new way.

Understanding the metaphorical box which your organisation operates in sets parameters that define who you are, what you do and how you do it, which altogether guides the process of making advances and what will bring the most progress.

When we talk about the box, leaders often think four sides. They are correct in simple form. However, the organisational box is actually six-sided. There are four sides — direction, operations, people and engagement — and a bottom — identity — and a top — environment. This dimensional box provides the proper construct for clarity and driving performance, safety and employee engagement.

These six sides of your organisation’s box are the functional framework of your company. Thinking from within this space creates synergies that allow you to evolve and make incremental improvements that can be applied in real time, engage your employees and connect them deeper to the core of the company, and affect your customers specifically, based on their needs and interests.

Taking an inside-out approach to innovation requires first an in-depth understanding of the contexts or dimensions within which you conduct business on a daily basis. Here are some suggested steps to take in order to create the space for you to continue enhancing your services and bettering the products that you bring to market.

Step One: Understanding Who You Are

The first step in creating a framework that will spark creativity and ingenuity that directly affects your organisation is defining your unique, shared identity.

Your identity serves as the foundation for everything else your organisation does. It comprises your purpose (why we do what we do), characteristics (who we are), values (what we care about), and traditions (how we do things), constructing a cultural framework that distinguishes the interactions and process of working that your company lives and breathes by. Similar to a house, this cultural foundation makes the space within which all other ideas will emanate and expand.

Step Two: Understanding How You Work

Your foundation sets expectations around how you interface with clients and what value your company focuses on delivering to market. This context of your box defines the roles and goals of your organisation at every level, integrating them in a framework to better facilitate collaboration and drive daily action. The strategy and the initiatives you implement are connected to your foundation and flow through all aspects of your organisation. These pathways of action create the cycles of productivity from which your company’s bottom line is driven.

Step Three: Knowing Where You’re Going

Understanding the context of who you are, what you’re doing, and how you’re doing it all takes place in the current state.

However, in the hyper-competitive and saturated business world we exist in today, you need to always be acting in service of a definitive future state of your company.

A mission statement and company vision provide a panoramic view of where you’re going as a company in the long term, which incentivises and connects the daily operations now with a desired future — or North Star.

Without such a guide, our ability to be creative and think about where we can improve becomes unfocused.

Step Four: Establishing a Window into the World

Once your organisation’s framework has been defined, it creates context and dimensionality in the service of a stated and measurable goal. It allows more intentional and productive allocation of resources and increased connectivity with managers and employees.

With this done, you can begin assessing the external environment in which you offer services and to whom. Organisational learning occurs as we listen to customer’s concerns, analyse broad market trends and utilize new technology to deliver newly renovated and iterated products.

As you embark on the quest for innovation and organisational development, remember that it is the context which sets parameters around what’s needed.

And it is within this framework of thinking inside the box that real, practical innovation becomes replicable, reliable and infinitely more powerful.

Learn more about research on defining the elements of the box: https://bermudaclarityinstitute.com