I am thrilled to have my good friend and colleague, Thom Singer, share a little of his wisdom with you as my guest blogger. Thom is a keynote speaker and professional emcee. He is the author of 12 books and the host of the “Cool Things Entrepreneurs Do” podcast. You can find Thom at thomsinger.com.

Do you ever feel like your whole world is in a loop of the same activities? If you want to get out of that rut you have to try something new in your business (and life).

The same efforts and same agenda will not produce new results. When I turned 50 I realized how fast time passes, and how easy it is to live a life of routine. I decided to stop only doing what I was comfortable with, and adopted the mantra of “Try New Things”. I never looked back. My career and my personal life changed by getting out of the same routines.

Potential to Performance
Having potential is great, but without actions you never get results. I work with companies to help their people navigate the gap between potential and performance, and the “Try New Things” message gets managers and employees equally excited. Most people do not look at being in a rut as a good thing, and it slows down their progress. When you try something new, you open up unlimited opportunities.

No matter the industry, it is reasonable that you, your employees, your vendors, and your customers are all caught up in the same routines. We need effective systems, and we like the familiar – but too much of the same-old-same-old leads to being stuck.

Not Everything Will Work – But Try Anyway
In practice not everything we attempt will work out positively. When you try something new you have to be sure you are okay with some level of failure. To hit the homerun you have to be at the plate. Individuals and teams that are looking for innovative ways to do their work will usually be the ones who come out on top over the long run.

Promote New Ideas
Companies that are transforming industries are the ones where the corporate culture is to “Try New Things”. If you want to have your people seeking fresh ideas, you have to support creativity. Too many groups shoot down new concepts and hide behind “we don’t do it that way”. Get your team to “Try New Things” by encouraging them to shake up the status quo.
It is said that Google let’s their employees dedicate 20% of their time to working on new ideas. Many of their best product offerings came from these internal side projects. If you want to promote new ideas, make sure you do the following:

1. Encourage brainstorming
2. Do not mock any ideas. There are no bad ideas
3. Allow for collaboration
4. Praise all efforts
5. Get behind the best ideas