Persist in disruptive times & markets

“We create a place for guaranteed success in digital advertising”, that’s our vision. However, words must be backed up by actions. Because striving for success for our customers, at every touchpoint of the collaboration with esome, requires a growth mindset, restlessness – in a positive sense – and innovation. Markets are becoming increasingly disruptive, and dealing with VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) is no longer a theory, but has become common practice. The “new way” of steering a business requires us to be nimble on every dancefloor. It means being able to react with agility to individual challenges and customer-needs, being open to changes of course, putting the customer and his actions at the center of our work, and to constantly improve as an organization, for ourselves, our customers and our partners.

Never stop learning to secure growth potentials

In times of change, constant development and improvement is key to success. Whether it’s about finding more meaning and motivation in what we do, exploiting even more of the current potential, or ultimately developing esome strategically for the future. Many companies are desperately looking for employees who really understand the problems of their customers as well as internal challenges. Creative minds that can quickly develop and implement truly innovative solutions are essential for a company’s durability. At esome, we want to actively accompany change, instead of reactively observing what happens to us. For this reason, we no longer work “only” in teams, but in so-called circles. These competence groups come together for the most diverse topics, projects and challenges. Circles in the context of our strategy are e.g. our OKR groups, our esome academy team for knowledge & education, for meetings and workshops the Miro facilitator and of course, the circle of innovation facilitators, for highest impact along all processes at esome. To be as excellent as possible, in our teams and our circles, we need maintain our hunger for growth. Willingness to learn, innovate and develop, as individuals and as an organization are essential. Only those who continue to learn can become continuously better and more resilient.

Implementing innovation – it’s a fuzzy process!

What does it take to anchor innovation in an organization? Such relevant questions, which are still valid today, are clearly stated in a McKinsey article. Innovation cannot simply be implemented. Innovation is more than a buzzword, process, tool- or skillset. Innovation is holistically thought about an organization and thus above all a mindset that ultimately influences the culture. For such a mindset, we need to keep examining and asking ourselves:- Do we regard innovation-led growth as critical, and do we have cascaded targets that reflect this?-

• Do we invest in a coherent, time- and risk-balanced portfolio of initiatives with sufficient resources to win?
• Do we have differentiated business, market, and technology insights that translate into winning value propositions?
• Do we listen to our customers or personas carefully?
• Do we create new business models that provide defensible and scalable profit sources?
• Do we beat the competition by developing and launching innovations quickly and effectively?
• Do we launch innovations at the right scale in the relevant segments?
• Do we win by creating and utilizing external networks?
• Are our people motivated, rewarded, and organized to innovate repeatedly?
• Do we fail fast, learn and adapt?

How we leverage innovation at esome

The mindset is crucial, it’s the winning factor above all. Mindset shows that the employee, not the framework, is the driving force. Openness, empathy, creativity, willingness to change, and co-creation are the focal points that are important to us. What is more, is that in innovation processes, we’ll all become a bit more coaches than expert nerds. We learn moderation and reflection, how to define good design thinking challenges, why the problem space is just as important as the solution space (not jumping to conclusions!), why good listening and observation is important, what makes user journeys “sexy” and that an MVP can also be a simple role play. We allocate resources, invest in training, create space for creative thinking, make room for innovation and, above all, celebrate success. It’s no coincidence that two of our current priority projects grew out of an innovation cycle and have been strategically transitioned into our OKR framework for further development and scaling afterwards. And yet, we are only at the beginning. Shu-Ha-Ri (follow the rule, break the rule, be the rule) as a famous Japanese learning concepts says – that’s our approach. And we’re nowhere near the finish line, we’ve only just begun.

What goal are we pursuing?

Innovation itself has no ultimate goal but it has many purposes. What does this mean for us, as individuals, as esome? Well, we want to form a resilient organization, use “the power of community” and thus distribute responsibility, make ourselves less dependent on external factors, think and be agile and creative, recognize mistakes as “normal” and thus positively influence our culture. “We shape the future”. This and other corporate values guide us and are significantly part of our DNA. We live and love our life “in green.” And, we want to co-determine, co-shape our future. Through innovation as a competence set, as a framework and as a mindset, we ensure to continue to precisely determine this future ourselves and to develop esome further into what it has become already. A place for guaranteed success in digital advertising.