"'I can't' isn't a reason to give up.  It is a reason to try harder." - Unknown

We have talked previously at great length about what innovation means, how to set up systems and a culture around innovation and even how to avoid some of the common obstacles to innovation.  But how does innovation even arrive in business leader consciousness?  What causes a company to consider an innovation or idea management system in the first place?  It is what I like to call "innovation root cause" and surprisingly, the reasons are similar wherever I go.

The main reasons that you typically hear about are obvious and are included within just about every CEO's quarterly report to either his/her Board of Directors or direct reports.  Most of these presentations will include the following phrase, or something like it, "we are pursuing a course of innovation in order to stand apart from our competition and provide our customers with choices that are second to none."

But that doesn't really answer "why" the organization decided to pursue innovation in the first place.  The announcement, proclamation or progress report of innovation activity follows a long course of research, analysis, hand-wringing and other executive angst.  It comes from a courageous decision to deliberately pursue risk, fail fast, encourage creative thinking, fund promising prototypes and a dedication to growth through ideas.

So what are the main "root causes" of adding innovation to your organizational strategy?

• A changing, and increasingly global, economy
• Increasing expectations of quality and service by customers
• Continuous financial pressure to decrease cost, improve process efficiency and a general "do more with less" strategy
• Product life cycles that are short and growing even shorter
• Technology advancements and organizational leverage of those technological advancements
  
• Increased competition...global, entrepreneurial, merged organizations, etc.
• A business climate that is increasingly regulated and subjected to additional governmental oversight
  
• Market fluctuations due to demographic, cultural and geographic changes

You can see why these "root causes" are a different, almost reactive, set of drivers that cause organizational leaders to begin to explore methods of differentiation, market separation and growth via new ideas/approaches.  Some organizations pursue a defect/variance reduction, lean thinking, and cost cutting/containment approach.  Some will pursue a pure creativity, ideation and innovation approach.  The truly successful organizations will figure out a way to leverage both.

So what is your "root cause"...and what are you waiting for?

Have a GREAT week!