Managing the Mandate to Innovate: A Step-by-Step Guide

Mark Turrell, Imaginatik   Today’s Top Stories   or  Other Management Stories  

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June 27, 2005 (Computerworld) -- Innovation is the new watchword for today's business. Top executives constantly emphasize the importance of building innovative products, offering innovative services and being more innovative thinkers in order to stay competitive. In a recent Bain & Co. survey, nine out of 10 senior managers saw innovation as a critical source of future competitive advantage. The ability to consistently capture, build and develop new ideas has a direct effect on revenue growth. Yet while all businesses want to be labeled innovation leaders, most don't have any real plan to foster innovation.
One of the first lessons that companies learn is that innovation isn't just the domain of the executive suite or business development group. Everyone has a role to play in innovation, from call center and production workers to field sales and overseas staffers. Successful innovation clearly needs strong leadership and guidance. However, it's only when an organization establishes a culture of innovation and a process to help individuals and teams develop new products, services and business methods that they truly see the benefits of innovation. So, here is some time-proven advice for those charged with managing the innovation mandate. The roadblocks to successful innovation result from two common misconceptions: 1) Innovation is a matter of guesswork and serendipity; and 2) innovation relates only to research and product development.
The truth is that successful innovation in the best companies touches all aspects of a business. Improving business processes, identifying new ways to reduce costs, improving existing business models and creating new ways to market products are just a few examples of innovation that can effect a company's bottom line.
Achieving consistent innovation relies on a process that must be formalized within a business. Companies must foster a culture of innovation that encourages people across the organization to share their ideas and insights. They must create a series of processes that guarantee success. There are seven key components to creating an innovative culture:
Managing ideas. Although to some this may seem strange, businesses need an idea management process in order to scale innovation in a networked, distributed organization. Otherwise, organizations "invent" the same ideas over and over again and foster idea silos where people share ideas only within a specific group. Idea collection is only part of the problem. The top firms devote 60% of their attention to structuring ideas, the evaluation process and making sure that ideas are implemented.
Focusing. Old-fashioned suggestion programs encouraged any idea, anytime. Random idea-sharing has some intellectual merit, but unfortunately it tends to disrupt management and business processes. The most successful systems for idea-sharing use short-term, focused business challenges to encourage employees to solve specific problems

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