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

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.