Now is an excellent time to think about where your business is going and how to create innovative new ideas and initiatives for the coming year. How will you move forward in 2013?

Ordinarily, being innovative is a good business move. But there are some initiatives that will not benefit you in the long run; for example, European discount airline Ryanair’s idea of charging its customers to use the bathroom. if your business is looking for innovation in 2013, most people are not going to look kindly on new policies that might cost them more money for needing to take care of basic bodily functions. If you are looking to innovate your business, here are some slightly more promising ideas to get you started.

1. Encourage Thinking Outside the Box

If your employees have very regimented roles with very specific goals, then flexibility and creativity, qualities that are essential if you wish to innovate your business, are probably lacking. To encourage more employee productivity and employee creativity, back off a bit and give your employees more space to experiment, make choices, and learn from mistakes on the way to becoming more in tune with today’s world. Allow for a little overlap in professional duties. Outline basic priorities but don’t dictate specific results.

2. Allow For New Experiences and Influences

Figure out how to incorporate new and interesting employee training opportunities. Bring in professionals from a variety of different disciplines to speak at a brown bag lunch series. Send employees for offsite meetings. Encourage work-life balance. Unleash your employees from their cubicles and computers to get out into the world and experience new people and new ideas. With the right balance, your employees will come back refreshed, inspired, and stronger in employee productivity than before.

3. Brainstorm as a Group

Allow employees to have individual journeys, but also encourage coming together to share ideas and evaluate the path ahead. Coming together can help your team talk through proposed programs, such as pay-to-pee restrooms on airplanes, and really flesh out the pros and cons of any given scheme to innovate your business. Bouncing ideas off of employees in different departments can also lend new perspectives and help fully develop new ideas.

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