cup of innovation anyone?
Just want to get this off my chest:
1) There's nothing negative about innovation in a corporate/business context.
2) There's nothing negative about making a big deal about innovation in a corporate/business context.
3) It's OK to say you belong or reside within and have an innovation team within a corporate/business environment. Innovation is not a dirty word.
4) Creating processes to support innovation in a corporate/business context is not done to, nor should, promote elitism. Quite the opposite.
Overall, it has to be that innovation has a far more practical place within corporations and businesses.
Some observations:
- It's OK to have an innovation team. You have a finance team. It's really no different. I am as confident I can organise my finances as well as our finance guy, but obviously I appreciate we need someone thinking about that stuff all the time on a business level. The finance guy doesn't stop me thinking about finance. Innovation is no different.
- Innovation as a discipline and job spec. There are a few sustained qualities required by innovation. If Innovation were a person, that person needs to be a great networker, have bags of perseverance, be not afraid of experimentation, be happy (and naturally) question status quo and (crucially) understand the business, what it is trying to do and make associations between different situations and find solutions.
- Innovation and ideas generation. Sure, the innovation team would come up with ideas, duh. But, it is also about capturing and encouraging the development of creativity and ingenuity with whatever person, unit, team or outside influence it comes in to contact with. Your innovation team, if it is a real innovation team, will find a way to empower change and promote ideas from all over the place.
- Innovation and strategy. Products without business cases or strategies are not products, they are projects, ill defined projects. Obviously, innovation has to be strategic and think strategically. Innovation for innovation sake is not viable (mostly), in a corporate or business context, so innovation has to be channeled. It has to fit. There's a gap that needs to be laced up between strategy and innovation, and the innovation team are the ones who should tie the knots.
- Innovation and R&D. R&D is clearly part of innovation, and another very practical reason why you need a team or persons on it. Thinking 5 years ahead on the web is terrifically hard. but seriously, a year ahead should be an ongoing and consistent thread of exploration, theorising and most importantly, visioning.
- Innovation and delivery. This comes back to innovation as a discipline. Bottom line, creative ideas that aren't realised are worthless. Another reason to look at how you ring fence persons for innovation.
Lastly, it's pointless to fear innovation, its challenges and what it entails. Treat innovation the same way as going to the office kitchen. Keep it practical, anchored in the here and now. I'm actually off to the kitchen now. Cup of innovation anyone? It's my round...
(When I get back with my coffee I'd really like to here your feedback on this topic. Particularly on where you think innovation should sit within businesses and corporations?)
Carl Knibbs
Reader Comments (2)
No doubt, having an innovation team would help companies innovate more efficiently. Innovate or die, as they say. The danger comes in that much innovation happens for innovation's sake. Vision Critical has a good blog post on this:
http://www.visioncritical.com/2009/11/innovation-for-innovations-sake-and-the-power-of-no/
Innovation that is not attentive to the brand nor adding value to the customer is simply an exercise in treading water. If an innovation team is to be effective, they must be mindful of these two things. Market research goes a long way towards this assessment. Sometimes the right thing is to say "No!" to innovation.
Thanks Christopher, I agree entirely. When writing the post I was pretty convinced that the most important thing, in many ways, is keeping the knot tied between innovation and strategy. As you say, innovation for innovation's sake - overall, is not going to work in most cases.