Innovation may be the obvious business mandate, but plenty of companies are guilty of creating a culture where a good idea has as much opportunity to take root as most of us have of winning the lottery. What gives? For starters, the creative process can be fragile and requires support and nurturing. That can be tough in today's environment of rapid technological change and marketplace competition - but this also makes innovation essential. Here is our list of innovation killers. Find out if your company is crushing good ideas or allowing growth and change to flourish.
“Trusting that innovation will take care of itself is like believing a vegetable garden will just appear in your yard one day. Innovation requires time and money, and it requires a process to support it.”
Innovation killer #1: Believe that innovation will 'just happen'. Trusting that innovation will take care of itself is like believing a vegetable garden will just appear in your yard one day. Innovation requires time and money, and it requires a process to support it, according to Thomas Koulopoulos, founder of the innovation consultancy Delphi Group. Like a garden, the innovation process requires a place for ideas to root. It also requires weeding, protection against predators, and consistent nurturing and care. Attention to innovation is required today, says Koulopoulos. Even in industries, where margins are slim - such as manufacturing and sourcing - innovation is a must. "Here's the irony," he says. "Just because I can't afford to take a big risk, that doesn't mean that somewhere on the globe I won't be challenged." Standing still makes you vulnerable, he says pointing to the American auto industry, which is losing to foreign carmakers; the competitors did think it was important to innovate.
Innovation tip: Lobby for the importance of innovation, the dollars and owners to support it.
Innovation killer #2: Hold a brainstorming session, then call it a day. Great ideas are the seeds of innovation; they are not innovation itself. "Everyone [for example] has the idea for a book in their head," says Koulopoulos, "but there's a huge gap between 'book in the head' and the laborious process of writing the thing." Invention and innovation are two different things and you need both. Koulopoulos points out that companies that get innovation right have a holistic view of innovation and create a culture to ensure that it flourishes. This means a process to support innovation is created, implemented and communicated, so that everyone knows how it works and is able to participate.
Innovation tip: Create a process to ensure ideas are nurtured.
Innovation killer #3: Lay the success of innovation solely on IT's shoulders. Technology should support the role of innovation, not lead it, says Koulopoulos. This is because innovation is first an issue of corporate culture, concerning inspiration and motivation. In any situation, you get two activities: the invention and the innovation, or the actual process of innovating. Koulopoulos draws a hard line between the two and says technology's role falls after invention. IT should be involved with implementing the technology that best supports the innovation process. For example, many companies are turning to vendors that offer idea management technology, such as iBank and Brightidea.com.
Innovation tip: Realize - and convey - IT's role in innovation.
Innovation killer #4
Innovation killer #4: Create an obstacle course for ideas. Guaranteed way to kill the innovative spirit? Model your processes on your typical parking clerk's office. Bureaucracy and Byzantine processes discourage enthusiasm and participation. When employees' ideas are treated with derision or disrespect or the process is confusing and difficult to navigate, enthusiasm is likely to deflate. That's just what Koulopoulos found when he surveyed 374 senior IT execs: 22 percent of respondents reported losing interest in championing their idea due to internal bureaucracy.
Innovation tip: Make the innovation process transparent and clear-cut, and create ways to support everyone's involvement.
Innovation killer #5: Different and new is bad. Ever watched a new idea shot down at time warp speed with a derisive 'that won't work'? Chances are the naysayer was one of the more entrenched execs. "This is the single greatest trap companies fall into," says Koulopoulos, "and it's a people issue: when you've invested yourself [in how things are], the last thing you want is for them to change." Not being open to change is a big mistake, he says. Take the newspaper industry's initial refusal to acknowledge the disruption by the Internet. As a consequence, ad sales - a primary source of revenue - flat lined in 2006. Is your company going to stick to its 'values' about the way things should be? Or will it respond to the need for innovation? Internal resistance is difficult to overcome, Koulopoulos says, but few companies can afford to cling to the past. Innovation tips: Study stories of companies that took risks. And: Learn why fear of change is hardwired into our bodies.
Innovation killer # 6: Hand good ideas over to the legal and accounting departments. Ideas are fragile, easily broken or squashed. On the surface, giving the care of those ideas to legal or accounting may make sense, since one of the greatest issues with inventions are legal ones. And there are financial considerations as well. But those with the most influence over the idea process must be the innovation champions, and that emphasis must come from the top, says Koulopoulos. Research by CIO in the US bears this out. At 61 percent, the highest scoring critical ingredient of an innovative culture was innovation-focused leadership, according to CIO's survey of 2007 CIO 100 winners. (Winners are chosen for innovations in IT that have transformed the company.)
Innovation tip: Create support and ownership for innovation at management's uppermost tiers.
Innovation killer #7: Be very afraid of failure. Failure-tolerant management was the third most important ingredient in creating an innovative culture, according to CIO's survey. There's a reason why this factor is so important. Here's the scary truth: you will fail sometimes. Like a child learning to ride a bike, you simply cannot move ahead without taking a few knocks. The question is: are you the kind of organization that can embrace innovation in spite of that?
Innovation tip: What doesn't work out is merely a learning experience.Use case studies, research and other support to show naysayers why learning experiences are a must in today's corporate environment.
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