It is always interesting to talk with designers about their personal innovation experiences. This week, I had an interesting conversation with an engineer from a major U.S. automotive manufacturer. We were both attending a conference about software and innovation, so it was natural to talk about his experience using innovation software.
He told me he had an opportunity to use innovation software and found it very valuable. He wished he still had access to the application, but the company had stopped making it available to him. When I asked him if was going to try and get the software again, he indicated that he didn’t feel he could. He felt that this initiative needed to be championed at a higher level in the company. Until the attitude of those responsible for providing infrastructure changed, he didn’t feel he would get the support he needed to have access to innovation productivity tools. He was disappointed by this situation because he felt that access to these tools would allow his to create more value for the company.
Unfortunately, this is a very common situation. Innovation workers in the enterprise want to make a higher value contribution to the organization, but they don’t feel support from above to move in that direction.
Management must take responsibility for creating the right environment for designers and engineers to be most productive. Management already owns responsibility for corporate revenue and profit goals. What will it take for them to wake up and see that time waits for no one?
Just yesterday, I heard of another case of a company that had identified a breakthrough concept and then sat on it. Now, they are kicking themselves because a competitor has developed and build IP protection around the technology.
The time to act in the innovation game is always now. Don’t wait for your competitors to out run you.
What do you think?
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