No!
For Horizon 3 innovations, innovations far from the core business, I believe that a separate, dedicated innovation team is the most appropriate construction. “Separate” meaning operating independently from the current business teams. This team can be compiled with inside and/or outside employees to focus on disruptive innovations, without being distracted and held back by the short term priorities of typical business teams. I described an example of this in an earlier blog.
For Horizon 1 and 2 innovations, it’s a bit of a different story: innovators should be as closely linked to the core business teams as possible. Here, I believe that every employee should be invited to come up with innovative solutions, but not every employee should be required to innovate. Those that are passionate about innovation should be nurtured, supported and encouraged. On the other hand, those employees that are good at effectively executing business processes, should be encouraged to continue to do so and the “corporate innovative mindset” should guide these employees to support, not discourage innovators in their experiments.
Therefore, every employee who has the potential, interest and passion to innovate, should be able to do so, within limits. The corporate environment should stimulate those innovators to come up and experiment with innovative solutions that address priority business challenges. These innovators can be in any corner of the corporation and have any kind of expertise. If they lack some kind of expertise to appropriately pursue an experiment, they can be connected to experts elsewhere in the organization.
A few examples:
- A sales representative in India came up with a hologram solution to address the high cost (and jet lag) associated with inviting international expert to local congresses. His local and regional management were very supportive. He was then connected with an IT specialist with expertise in holograms to further evaluate the idea.
- A global IT innovator came up with the idea of a Smart Refrigerator to solve the lack of cold chain storage of vaccines in physician’s offices in developing countries. He was then connected with the Indonesian and Philippines marketing teams who had several customers interested in experimenting with this solution.
- A manufacturing colleague in Australia came up with an innovative financing/supply chain solution to increase access to an oncology medicine. She got a grant (after winning an Innovation Award Challenge) and was connected to a global finance colleague with expertise in financing tools and regulations to set up an experiment.
- A marketing innovator in Brazil had an innovative wireless solution to engage adult patients who needed vaccination. He was connected to an IT innovation expert to help him go through the innovation framework (rather than immediately starting an expensive pilot) and to help him define the most relevant wireless solution.
Facilitation by the innovation leader is critical in
- finding those innovative employees
- securing a stimulating, safe environment where those innovators feel comfortable to come up with ideas and are encouraged to experiment
- providing guidance on where innovations should be focused on, so innovative ideas are aligned with the priority business/customer problems
- helping with the next steps, like management support, usage of the innovation framework, funding and connections
- recognizing and sharing innovations to inspire others in the corporation
As Henry Ford said:
“I am looking for a lot of people who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.”
So, as Innovation Leader, I created a climate that stimulated innovation and supported passionate innovators, wherever they were in the corporation.
More viewpoints on this: 3 Companies Who Are Doing Intrapreneurship Right , by INNOV8RS Team
What do you think? Please share below!
More of my blogs on innovation: Wim Vandenhouweele