Asking these questions just may spark your next big idea.

Andy Bailey is an Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) member from Nashville and lead entrepreneur coach with Petra, a business-coaching firm. Andy also serves in an advisory role on the Gazelles Council, the leaders of the scale-up movement. We asked him about his thoughts around innovation and the best ways to inspire it.

Very few companies I work with would list innovation as one of their top five strengths. In fact, most people struggle to find better ways to do things. They find comfort in doing things as they have always done them and never make a change. Sometimes that’s okay– like in the case of a favorite family recipe. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Well, that’s usually not the case when it comes to your business.

The challenge with stagnation in business is that eventually the “same ol’ thing” is bound to make you–or worse, your entire industry–irrelevant. Think about that. Do you want to be irrelevant? Probably not. So, how do you stay ahead of the curve? How do you make sure you’re using innovation to stay relevant as a company? And how can you find the answers you need? Start by asking these three questions:

View the full article on Inc.com, a partner of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization.