Have you picked up any business publication recently? Is it me, or is there an emerging, and pervasive, focus on innovation, ideation, and multiple other words grounded in the need to successfully introduce new products, processes, or services? Managing change has long been a challenge and focal point for all business. This spotlight on innovation is clearly the latest obstacle that will raise the bar in business performance.
Why is innovation important? The short answer is the necessity of keeping up with an ever-changing and dynamic marketplace. Across all industries, savvy consumers are increasingly demanding with expectations of quicker fulfillment, cheaper prices, and most importantly – having it their way in all aspects of the consumer experience! Fundamentally, consumer demands are putting pressures on business to keep pace with the rapidly changing marketplace while sustaining and growing their lines of business. For business leaders, reacting to this challenge requires not only the courage to identify and embrace the change that is necessary to lead or react in the market, but to do it very quickly.
The need to infuse new ideas that will add to either revenue growth or expense reduction is a challenge that will not fade. By recognizing that your competitors are also seeking solutions to these strategic questions and issues, today’s executives must build a core competency in innovation processes.
Shifting dynamics in the marketplace guarantee that the ability to leverage innovative solutions is arguably here to stay. This author contends that not only will the trend toward continual innovation grow increasingly more important; it will also be the catalyst for even more innovation. In the end, the need and the ability to innovate will create a cycle of market leaders driving innovation to create successful companies led by market leaders. We are moving towards an environment where market leaders are synonymous with successful innovators.
To that end, more and more companies are striving to be innovative; however, most innovation managers will agree that more often than not, these efforts fail to achieve sustainable or outstanding success. Pressure from short-term business goals, normal resistance to change, or the inability to scale and integrate new ideas into existing business processes have all been cited as leading causes of weak or failed attempts at innovation. While successful innovative companies may look very different in their ideas or execution, “peeling back the onion” will uncover a series of common components.
This article introduces four guiding principles for leading successful innovation efforts. Look for answers to these major questions in future articles.
- Gaining Consensus and Commitment on the Scope of Your Innovative Effort
Ü What are the different levels of innovation?
Ü If you don’t know where you are going, will you get there? How will you know?
Ü Is there a difference in generating and evaluating an idea?
Ü When do you involve different stakeholders?
- Creating a Solid Measurement Strategy
Ü What is the most important aspect of the measurement strategy?
Ü Who should measure?
Ü What should be measured, and when?
Ü Consider this statement: “If you don’t measure it, it didn’t happen!”
- Delivering Flawless Execution
Ü What are the steps in an effective innovation process?
Ü Do you have the courage to a fail?
Ü When and what type of failure is acceptable?
- Relating Output – Test Results to Real Business Objectives
Ü Should any result ever be a surprise?
Ü Does cost avoidance play a role in successful innovation?
Ü What should the output from an innovative evaluation look like?
One article in each of the next four issues of the Real Point of View will be dedicated to one of these principles. Next month, I'll discuss gaining consensus and commitment on the scope of your innovative effort.
Al Groover, business consultant, joined the Brickstream® October, 2004. Prior to joining Brickstream, Al spent over 20 years in strategic and innovation project delivery for major American corporations. Most recently, he served as senior vice president and design manager for Bank of America’s Innovation and Development Center. His current role at Brickstream focuses on working with retail and banking clients in leveraging the data generated by BehaviorIQ™ to drive change within these organizations.
