Innovation focus and capabilities an organization demands depend on the circumstances the business is in.
Innovation is utilizing what you already have in a unique way that has not been done before and using that thing to make profit. But most organizations cannot walk the talk, to truly get innovation spurred and reap the benefit from it.
Innovation as serendipity: There are “aha moments” for creativity; serendipity plays some part in the innovation effort sometimes, there are plenty of stories over the years about great ideas evolving out of chance interaction, sudden flashes of insight. However, innovation is a process that needs to be managed smoothly to improve its success rate. Different organizations are at the different stage of business growth cycle and vertical sectors, different types of innovation should be managed via tailored management processes, help the organization adapt, improve, grow, and ingrate
Innovation is done by people and for the people. People are innovators, framework, process or tools are enablers. Innovation is a manifestation of a unique trait in some people who consciously or unconsciously strive to do better through changes. Make the innovation process as visible and company-wide as possible. Overall speaking, the success of innovation management is never an accident, it’s a holistic management process with an iterative thought-out planning and execution continuum.
Innovation as a lip service: For many less innovative organizations, innovation is just lip service, everyone talks about it, but very few people, especially leaders are creative enough to live on it and knowledgeable enough to really work on it. As they lack a good strategy to manage innovation, they become too dependent on satisfying corporate regulation or protocols, and not get around to developing a culture that fosters innovation until it is too late.
There is innovation friction. Once people get into a routine at work, they typically do not like to hear about how things could be done differently and boost creative energy. It is likely that if you are creative, you will challenge the status quo as you break through the conventional wisdom and push toward the path that few people have taken. Organizations set clear goals, clarify the logic on how to implement it, build a balanced innovation portfolio and manage cost, time, and risks skillfully.
Innovation as a hammer: Innovation is the means to the end, but not the end itself. If innovation becomes the hammer in search of a nail for aggressive business, diminishes creativity, and ultimately much of the stability of any given company. The “VUCA” new normal forces digital leaders and professionals to be cautious of barriers and pitfalls of innovation management. Businesses have limited talent and resources, they should set the right priority for taking innovation initiatives, be proactive, and get really creative on how to apply multidimensional disciplines to manage innovation. In fact, there is art embedded in scientific design, construction and optimization.
The successful businesses are the ones that have learned where the innovation hotspots are, how to innovate more smoothly. Innovative companies with creative culture encourage thinking and doing things differently, to make the work more productive, fun, effective, error-free etc, develop a scientific set of methodologies and practices to implement innovation systematically. It’s important for companies to craft their own version of the playbook to focus on doing more with innovation in a structural way.
Different organizations have different strengths and competency to innovate. Innovation focus and capabilities an organization demands depend on the circumstances the business is in. Assessing innovation capability maturity is important because it helps the organization identify innovation bottlenecks and avoid pitfalls on the way in order to improve the innovation management success rate and build a high-innovative organization.
