Some random thoughts:
- Put innovation (define the type of innovation you’re looking for) on the agenda
- Take and allow time for creativity and slack
- Encourage people to pursue ideas
- Make innovation a central topic of your training and development programs
- Allow for small scale experimentation. “Just do it.”
- Set aside resources for these experiments.
- Create and use diversity in knowledge, people and resources
- Identify your “innovation leaders”. Who’s in favor of innovation? Who’s particular innovative? Put them in charge of driving innovation throughout the company.
- Align reward systems: make innovation a part of top management’s bonuses
- Encourage risk taking
- Question everything
- Discuss innovation performance in strategy meetings
- Develop KPIs for measuring innovation efforts
- Open the strategy making process to allow for input from throughout the organization
What are your thoughts? How do you drive innovation within your company? Comments welcome!
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 6 comments }
I came across some really good inputs, as I was reading this article and listening to the conversation between Stuart Pallister and Hal Gregersen http://knowledge.insead.edu/innovation-innovators-dna-091221.cfm?vid=358.
Developing KPI for measuring Innovation Efforts has yet been the most difficult task. Any thoughts on how do you go about developing KPI for Innovation Measurement?
Tushar this BCG report from 2009 might be helpful: http://www.bcg.com/documents/file15484.pdf . The Innovation Value Institute in Ireland also have an innovation maturity assessment model which has been deployed in IS functions but I think could be applied in a business…
Dear Tushar,
Hansen and Birkinshaw offer an interesting perspective on KPIs: they suggest 13 different KPIs in 3 phases (ideas, conversion, diffusion) and 6 activities (in-house idea generation, cross-pollination, external sourcing, selection, development, diffusion) for assessing the Innovation Value Chain. An overview of the KPIs is available in my paper on page 88. Here’s the reference of the original article: Hansen, M. T. and J. Birkinshaw (2007). “The Innovation Value Chain.” Harvard Business Review 85(6) June: 121-130.
Hi Marc,
We help drive innovation beginning with the catalyst of “Innovation Boot Camps” – focused events applying Design Thinking techniques.
Innovation isn’t event based, and it isn’t the work of a task force, but these are extremely useful in demonstrating the commitment to innovation and related behaviours, as well as helping to build a competence in Design Thinking methodology.
Dan Pink might challenge rewards – at least the current standard of financial rewards – as an effective means to drive innovation, according to his newest book http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/96150.Daniel_H_Pink
Thanks,
Andrew
Thanks for your comments Andrew. I got a question about design thinking: I recently discussed this with a couple of people and we came to the conclusion that design thinking does not really produce innovations. Obviously you think otherwise. Could you elaborate your view point? Do you have any example where the application of design thinking brought forward an innovation? Innovation being defined as something “new to the world”.
Comments on this entry are closed.