Sparks to fire up your innovation combustion
This coaching session discusses whether to centralize or decentralize innovation.
Starring: Inna (Innovation Leader in a large Pharma corporation) and Wim (coach for Innovation Leaders). [Transcription far below]
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Are you looking for a personal innovation coach?
- Do you want a soundboard, a sparring partner?
- Do you want to run an idea by a passionate outsider?
- Did you just start an innovation program or want to improve it?
- Do you need practical ideas to stimulate innovation?
- Do you want tips on how to manage an innovation portfolio?
If yes, I’m ready to help you!
- I believe in KISS: Keeping Innovation Super Simple. High focus on passion, low focus on processes.
- I have coached more than 50 innovation leaders across the globe in Pharma/healthcare.
- I work as independent coach: per hour or as long as you consider valuable.
- You can reach me (Wim Vandenhouweele) at wimvand@outlook.com
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Transcript
Inna:
⁃ Hi Wim, should innovators be a separate team in a company?
Wim:
⁃ Some companies organize innovation centrally, in a dedicated team. This team typically performs experiments and may even drive the commercialization of successful ones. Other companies decentralize innovation, by allowing employees from across the corporation to experiment with their own ideas. There are arguments for and against each approach.
Inna:
⁃ What is the benefit of a separate team?
Wim:
⁃ Most importantly: time. This team is fully dedicated to innovation. They are not distracted by day to day business priorities that compete for their time. Also: resources. Often, they have an allocated budget and have access to a network of experts in different fields. And of course, expertise. This team is familiar with innovation frameworks, tools and metrics. They continue to accumulate learnings from previous experiments.
Inna:
⁃ And what are the benefits of decentralized innovation?
Wim:
⁃ Understanding. The innovator, who might be a sales or marketing employee, is typically close to the customer. He also might have a deeper understanding of the business needs and issues: he is confronted with the problems in his daily job. This makes that he has a personal professional interest to passionately pursue a solution. Capacity. There are less limits to the number of experiments that can be done. In contrast, a dedicated team needs a more rigorous prioritization. Credibility. When their innovation works out, colleagues may be more inclined to adopt a successful innovation from their peer than from a distant “HQ” team.
Inna:
⁃ Interesting, it’s a balancing act.
Wim:
⁃ Indeed. But keep in mind that many issues can be mitigated.
⁃ For example: To increase their customer understanding, a centralized innovation team can recruit experienced marketers from within the corporation. A decentralized, country innovator can be provided with training in innovation tools or/and local experts, to help with the innovation experiment.
Inna:
⁃ So, key benefits are, for a dedicated team: Time, Resources, Expertise and for individual innovators: Understanding, Capacity, Credibility
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