Brian de Haaff* says innovation is the goal for many organisations in the rapidly changing world of work — but a surprisingly significant number of bold, new ideas go nowhere.
“Innovate or die.” It is unclear who first said this, but the quote is often attributed to Peter Drucker, the pioneer of modern management theory.
The statement is striking for its brevity and boldness. Without a willingness to adapt and grow, you will perish.
This is true for your business, relationships, and your own personal development.
The secret to staving off decay is a steady stream of new ideas.
Most chief executives today will tell you they are investing in major innovation efforts.
You are probably familiar with some of the tactics — hackathons, crowd-sourcing, research labs, cross-functional centres for excellence, innovation outposts, and accelerators, to name a few.
These programs look different at each organisation, but the goal is typically the same.
Leaders want to identify and implement new ideas in order to drive organisational success and longevity.
However, investing in innovation is no guarantee of success.
While almost everyone agrees that innovation is worthwhile, few know how to manage or measure it.
Many organisations find themselves stuck in ‘innovation theatre’.
They proclaim a commitment to new ideas and launch various initiatives — but nothing substantial ever materialises.
One common reason for this is that the organisation lacks the necessary tools to carry out these efforts.
In a recent survey, only 21 per cent of executives felt they had the knowledge, experience, or resources to pursue new opportunities for growth.
Everyone wants to innovate, but it is up to leaders to empower the team to come up with great ideas and pursue the most viable ones.
This starts by putting a structure in place to share, vet, prioritise, and act on insights that can drive the business forward.
It also requires defining a clear innovation strategy and giving people the tools they need to take action.
When everyone in the organisation values growth and understands the process for offering and implementing new ideas, innovation can flourish.
Building a new innovation program (or improving an existing one) is a complex process.
Here are some of the biggest roadblocks to establishing a strong culture of innovation — with potential solutions.
Different groups within the organisation are (knowingly or unknowingly) working towards conflicting goals and priorities.
You need a clear vision and unified strategy. Whether you are trying to build a new product or improve specific key performance indicators (KPIs), first capture the specific needs of your innovation program.
What do you want to improve and why? What types of efforts will you invest in? How will the organisation source, conceptualise, fund, and implement ideas?
Be sure to clearly tie high-level business objectives to any initiatives you are considering.
Team members are sceptical that leaders will listen and take action based on their suggestions.
It is hard for people to modify habits and commit to new ways of working if they have not seen a blueprint for success.
To make innovation a priority for everyone, be inclusive.
The entire team should feel comfortable participating in the innovation value chain.
Some organisations hire a chief innovation officer to lead this effort, while others create dedicated innovation labs or teams.
Some simply identify champions within the organisation who can encourage greater cross-functional exchanges of information and support.
There is no process in place for submitting, assessing, or garnering executive support for ideas.
Establish an easy and consistent way to capture and evaluate ideas from team members, clients and partners.
Some teams define an ‘innovation pipeline’, a clear process for deciding which insights to pursue and how to implement them.
Some want to integrate ideas management with their road-mapping process.
Others want a standalone tool for innovation programs.
Testing new ideas and delivery planning stalls due to lack of resources.
The planning stage is crucial for assessing costs, defining scope, assigning tasks, and establishing a timeline for delivery.
Some organisations establish an innovation program office to oversee these activities.
Besides selecting the initiatives that will have the largest impact, these groups typically secure funding and train team members.
Another important part of this planning is to look ahead several years so you can determine how to scale your efforts over time.
It is difficult to gain executive buy-in and support from the broader team.
Establish and track innovation KPIs. You can monitor financial metrics such as revenue growth, new clients and cost reduction.
Or keep track of other benchmarks such as how many ideas the team generates or how many requests are shipped over a given time period.
Creating a scorecard to measure impact also gives you a quantitative measure of performance.
This can transform sceptical leaders into innovation champions who are more willing to fund future efforts.
Remember that most innovation is incremental — it takes time to experiment with novel ways of working and realise the full value of an idea.
Yet there can be real and immediate joy in adopting an innovation mindset now.
When you commit to improvement and see it realised, you can feel pride in your work.
This fulfilment then carries over into the success of the team and the organisation. You have the power to effect that positive change.
*Brian de Haaff is the Chief Executive of cloud-based software company Aha! He can be contacted on Twitter @bdehaaff.
This article first appeared on the Aha! company website.
