1. Leadership Engagement
Leadership engagement goes far beyond just commitment, awareness, approval or buy-in. True engagement means involvement and participation in the process. It means making sure new ideas are solicited from all potential sources and time is allowed for individual or collaborative problem solving. It means demonstrating a willingness to experiment and having the patience to await the outcome. Leadership engagement requires action and courage.
2. Business Discipline
Innovation management, to be truly effective in driving new growth, must be treated as an equal business discipline within the organization. Equal with such functions as Sales & Marketing, Human Resources, Information Technology or Finance. The strategic and tactical operations of resolving business problems, developing new products and services, engaging existing customers and new prospects, making business processes more cost effective and developing new potential profit sources demand the attention and discipline of a dedicated business unit. Where innovation or idea management is simply treated as a singular event, launched only when the organization needs new product ideas or to simply gather “voice of the customer,” it will not garner the required respect or impetus needed for continual success.
3. Resources
It almost goes without saying (although I have learned the painful lesson of blind assumption) that an adequate amount of resources be allocated to the innovation management effort. These required resources, however, will come in many forms. “Human” resources will include executive leaders, key stakeholders, innovation management subject matter experts, process analysts, facilitators, training professionals, finance gurus and risk analysts. “Financial” resources will be needed in the form of capital investments, external costs and internal labor commitments devoted to the operation of the innovation management functional center. Additionally, a budget account will need to be dedicated for research, development, prototyping and testing. Some organizations even require Profit & Loss responsibility to their innovation management functions. “Time” resources are among the most difficult to budget and manage. Time is required in order to think, play, collaborate, design, develop, prototype, test, research, market and sell new ideas and concepts. Time is a very scarce resource. Finally, “Spatial” resources should be dedicated to the effort. Whether the space requirements dictate a separate creative inspiration pod, project center, Oobeya room or just a simple meeting room, dedicating some space to think, work and collaborate will produce favorable results.
4. Process
Innovation management “centers of excellence,” built on the foundation of these four fundamentals are, in our opinion, bound for immediate success.The final “must-have,” and another that seems self-evident, is the availability and usage of efficient and effective processes for idea and innovation management. There are great process sets available for problem management, idea management, innovation management, project management, portfolio management, financial management and just about any other kind of “management” you can imagine. You may have some processes that work only for your specific line of business or you may be using some generic “best practices” that add efficiency or effectiveness to a process. Find ways to continuously improve your processes, develop “next practices” that allow others to benefit from your trailblazing and tailor any process for the best fit to the particular circumstance.
Problems and ideas have an amazing amount of detail associated with them. Sometimes, it can be easy to miss some of the details that help to further define the problem or help follow ideas in new directions
The status quo is your ultimate enemy. By definition, innovation is something new that provides a benefit to someone. The mere exploration of something new challenges the status quo...and it is simply amazing how many organizations are afraid to do just that.
Walt Disney once said, "I want people to walk into a $5 million dollar restaurant to buy a $0.05 cent hamburger." Walt always believed in "plussing" or giving his guest extra value. Ideas can be viewed the same way. Make sure the idea you are working on brings someone benefit and then drive that benefit as far as you can.
There are a lot of skeptics around the concepts of creative problem solving and innovation. The non-believers think that the only benefits that a company can achieve are the one's that can be measured. People who believe in ideas are often expected to fail. Many times...they will be right. But sometimes...they will be wrong...and jealous.
Innovation, creative problem solving and ideation are fruits of individual thought and effort. In many cases today, management theory and behavior suppress that thought and effort. If you are an individual contributor, be willing to think creatively and have the courage to drive your ideas forward. If you are in the management ranks, be willing to listen to the ideas of your employees and have the courage to promote creative thought in your organization.
Most meetings in Corporate America are mind-numbing, unproductive and a waste of time. They can, however, be opportunities for idea generation, problem solving, prototyping or discussing innovation strategy. Make meetings a time that employees look forward to rather than opportunities to come up with excuses not to attend.
New ideas bring change. Innovative products and services bring change. Problem solving brings change. You can either be a champion of change and lead the way or you can be left behind. What path are you going to take?
Ideas are always under attack. Some will try to take credit. Some will try to kill them before they even have a chance to grow wings. Some will try to steal them outright. Some may even try to slowly shrink your ideas into nothing. Be courageous and strong enough to keep your ideas alive and well protected.
Listen to the ideas of every employee. That's right...every employee. The CEO has some great ideas. The VP of Finance has great ideas. The Manager of IT Shared Services has great ideas. The Mainframe Technician has great ideas. The Administrative Assistant has great ideas. The lady that pushes the mail cart has great ideas. The guy who cleans the bathrooms has great ideas. Find the ideas...regardless of the source.
One of the biggest mistakes I see in innovation management is the inability to know when to lead and when to manage. My general rule of thumb is to lead by example through the demonstration of innovation-seeking behaviors. Then, manage the ideas, the available free time, the idea pipeline process, and anything but the people. Let the people do their jobs and prove their ideas.
From Wikipedia...Open innovation is a paradigm that assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as the firms look to advance their technology”. The boundaries between a firm and its environment have become more permeable; innovations can easily transfer inward and outward. The central idea behind open innovation is that in a world of widely distributed knowledge, companies cannot afford to rely entirely on their own research, but should instead buy or license processes or inventions (e.g. patents) from other companies. In addition, internal inventions not being used in a firm's business should be taken outside the company (e.g., through licensing, joint ventures, spin-offs)It used to be that innovation was something that happened deep in the bowels of corporate R&D departments. Secretive folks lurked there and lived by the code of NIH or "Not Invented Here". A motto that held that if R&D didn't think of it, then it didn't exist or wouldn't work or should be ignored. Except a funny thing happened...the ideas started drying up. Game changing ideas became few and far between. More of the same survived and less of the unexpected was developed.
January - Stop taking orders and start finding solutions. Ask "How do you do things now and how can we do those things better?" Become a partner in solving the real problem vs. just blindly producing what the customer thinks they need.Remember, you want to manage the work vs. the work managing you. Use these tips to gain control of the idea and innovation management system in your organization. Take control and make it work for you!
February - Innovation is hard work. Stop pretending that it is the result of a few geniuses in your organization. Set up appropriate resource assignments. Break the work down into manageable pieces. Challenge everyone, from the CEO to the Receptionist, on finding problems to solve and coming up with the ideas that solve them.
March - Don't "forecast the future." Understand that you invent and create the future. You have more control over the future than you know. You need to be thinking beyond this quarter and into the next, and the next, and the next. You need to create the "next big thing" before your competitor does. "Imagine the future...Make it happen"
April - Create effective and efficient processes, but be flexible. Create a process for challenging people to come up with ideas. Create a process for gathering and considering the ideas. Create a process for testing the ideas. Create a process for figuring out if the idea will make money. You get the idea. But be flexible...rigidity kills innovation.
May - Be clear on what innovation means to you and your customers. Innovation is one of those terms that can take on multiple meanings. For me, it means anything new that provides value to someone. New can mean "new to you" or "new to your customers" vs. "new to the world." The idea here is to define and document it so there is no confusion.
June - Focus on your internal structures. What is the make up of your innovation team? Would you be better served by an Innovation Center of Excellence model instead? What about process, governance, resources and leadership engagement? Are you helping people or getting in the way?
July - Think about a portfolio approach to managing your innovation pipeline. Each idea you decide to invest in should be carefully considered for risk and "audacity." Spread your idea funding budget across safe bets, probable wins, maybe wins and long shots within your portfolio of development projects. Use these "levers" to adjust overall direction based on risk tolerance, economic reality, etc.
August - Lead, don't follow. The pursuit of "best practices" is important when you are playing catch-up to your competitors. But once you've caught the pack, take the lead with "next practices." This requires a lot of courage, so be prepared to fight the risk-averse within your organization. Let your competitors pursue your "best practices." Be a leader!
September - Data lies. Don't forget this very, very valuable point. Data can be constructed to tell you whatever you want to hear. Use "quantitative data"...as it tells one part of the overall story. But don't fall down and genuflect to it. Give equal weight to "qualitative data." It tells another, just as important, part of the overall story. Bottom line = Consider the facts, trust your intuition.
October - Become a trend hunter. Scan your surroundings. Pick up on the soft signals of momentum. What is hot at the fringe? What is potentially cyclical that may be ready for a come-back? What are the geeks excited about and working on? What is coming and what has already moved on?
November - Demand executive leadership engagement, not just support. Innovation Management should be treated as a business discipline...no different than Marketing, HR, IT, Finance or Legal. Innovation is not a one-time event at some posh off-site. Executive leaders should be challenged to walk the talk. They should be part of idea gen sessions. They should sit on Idea Boards to hear and decide on the fate of new ideas. They should be engaged in setting the appropriate mix of development projects in the project portfolio.
December - Be an effective resource manager. That means you are making sure you have enough people in the right places doing the right things that they are passionate about...human resources. It also means you have adequate amounts of funding to run the program, provide seed money to promising ideas and launch larger projects for idea execution...financial resources. It means making sure that you carve out time for people to think, to come up with ideas, to search for problems to solve...time resources. Finally, it means setting up places to think, to get away from the constant rush of "right now" work, to be challenged creatively, to use tools designed to help solve problems...location resources.
While its great to look back and recognize the great work we have done, we still have much work to do! With our 2012 Research Calendar now set, my main focus will be on improving our Membership count, creating an innovation education curriculum, exploring opportunities for innovation collaboration via forum, panel discussion or "Unconference" format and developing a suite of products/services to supplement our membership-based funding stream.
To our Members and loyal followers, we cannot thank you enough for your support, participation and engagement. We hope to increase our collaboration with you in the new year!
In their research, the AIIE Board of Directors discovered that nearly 68% of all respondents claim that their organizations are either "Neutral" or "Ineffective" at managing innovation, while only 31% of the remaining respondents would classify their organizations as "Effective" or "Very Effective." Additionally, survey respondents listed poor culture for innovation, lack of resources, organizational risk avoidance and a lack of available process/methodology for innovation management to be their main obstacles to innovation management success in the past year.
Looking forward, survey respondents named strategy/innovation alignment, strategic planning and scenario planning as their top three (3) innovation management focus areas for 2012. This data integrated and aligned almost perfectly with the results from most influential survey question, as it relates to research selection for the Institute, "Where Does Your Organization Need The Most Help With Respect To Innovation Management in 2012?":
Since the organization's research team has recently produced a report on closing the innovation execution gap, with a significant focus on strategy alignment (Q3 2011), the Board of Directors has established the 2012 research schedule as follows:
More information can be found at: http://www.AIIEOnline.org