How to Stop your innovation Program from Failing
Good news….companies are investing in innovation programs.
Bad news….innovation programs are failing because companies are not setting them up for success.
Based on a recent survey of 217 professional services firms, it was found that 44% of companies surveyed were “innovation active”, while 23% were not innovating at all or had abandoned their innovation programs altogether.
Why are these programs being abandoned and how can companies that are actually investing in innovation increase the return on innovation investment?
Here are eight essential elements that will help stop your innovation programs from failing:
Innovation programs are only as good as the culture that underpins them. Large organisations are built around a risk averse culture that ultimately ends up stopping innovation from flourishing and innovation programs from succeeding. Build a culture that encourages employees to fail, celebrates quick wins and promotes experimentation.
If a carpenter turned up to a house without his tools then he would fail to deliver. The same goes for innovation. If your team members are not equipped with the tools and techniques to generate new ideas and build them then they are set up to fail. Ensure team members are provided with the training to allow them to unleash individual and team creativity. Design Thinking and Lean Startup training are fundamentals that all innovators should be able to put into practice. Find out how Sportsbet applied Lean Startup to help drive their innovation programs.
It is common to come across organisations that have completed an idea contest only to sit on all the ideas submitted. What happens next? Energy levels drop and enthusiasm is destroyed. It is essential to keep the momentum going with any innovation program because the more delays that are encountered during the innovation journey, the higher the chance of failure. Create a sense of urgency by setting realistic timelines and sticking to them.
For innovation programs to succeed the innovation agenda has to be supported by leadership in the organisation. Senior management need to walk the talk. Leaders also need to be aligned in regards to their innovation priorities. If there is alignment across leaders within an organisation then selecting ideas and executing on them becomes a much easier and faster process.
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The WorkFlow podcast is hosted by Steve Glaveski with a mission to help you unlock your potential to do more great work in far less time, whether you're working as part of a team or flying solo, and to set you up for a richer life.
To help you avoid stepping into these all too common pitfalls, we’ve reflected on our five years as an organization working on corporate innovation programs across the globe, and have prepared 100 DOs and DON’Ts.
