In BusinessWeek’s online Innovation & Design section, Dev Patnaik presents a thoughtful piece on Five Common Mistakes in Innovation. With some succinct examples, Dev identifies some of the pitfalls that trip up many organizations.
- Over-reliance on pilot initiatives
- Unhealthy fascination with unique charismatic examples
- Misapplication of other companies’ approaches
- Descent into a cycle of self-recrimination
- Resignation to superficial changes
However, there is a flaw with one of the basic premises that Dev has put forth. This flaw is apparent in the sub-title to the article: “Every company knows how to get more innovative, but few are willing to make the cultural changes necessary to get results.”
Fact: Not every company knows how to get more innovative.
In truth, the vast majority of companies don’t know how to get started. Dev’s list of common errors is beautiful and articulate testimony to the ways in which companies that don’t know what to do stumble around in the dark groping for a lifeline.
Let’s face it. There are a lot of people out there trying to sell the idea that becoming innovative is easy. Just set up a portal for the outside world to submit ideas. Tell your employees to take more risks. Set up a process to help manage all the terrific ideas that you will undoubtedly be flooded with. These are among the stock answers the innovation snake oil salesmen are hawking.
Building a truly high performance innovation organization is not so easy. It requires stepping back and assessing what your organization is all about and what are your organizational objectives. With this understanding, you can then begin to map out the multi-dimensional strategy, unique to your circumstances, that allows you to make innovation a value-driving core competence.
Your strategy will need to touch all aspects of the organizational fabric. These include what I refer to as the five pillars of innovation:
Culture – It begins with clearly visible executive commitment and must permeate every aspect of activity. Innovation is not an isolated task; it is a continuous process wherein the high performance innovation organizations constantly look to reinvent their products, their services, and themselves. In short, don’t just talk the talk; walk the walk.
People – Empower your people for innovation success: develop internal innovation expertise and establish in-service innovation training/mentoring programs. Don’t forget to provide tangible recognition for key innovation participants—remember that you get what you measure; you get what you reward.
Process – Build your sustainable innovation practice. Identify the innovation best practices that mesh with your objectives and your existing processes. Invest in proper innovation infrastructure and technology so your people will have the right tools for the right result.
Communication – Inform your people so they can perform. Give innovation workers line-of-sight visibility to corporate objectives. Promote the value of your innovation successes. Learn how to not just listen to the voice of the customer, but how to understand what that voice is telling you. Open your vision to incorporate global wisdom.
Organization – Consider how this all impacts your structure. Are you configured for innovation success? What are the right horizontal & vertical integration points for innovation in your company?
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