Roles !

Sparks to fire up your innovation combustion

This coaching session discusses the role of Innovation Leaders.

Starring: Inna (Innovation Leader in a large Pharma corporation) and Wim (coach for Innovation Leaders).

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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, people are often confused about my role of Innovation Leader.

Wim:

⁃ That’s not unusual. There are many interpretations of the role of an Innovation Leader. What is the confusion typically about?

Inna:

⁃ Very often, colleagues are not sure who should come up with ideas and who should experiment with those ideas.

Wim:

⁃ It’s important to clarify this, both with your leadership and the rest of the organization. This clarity will help to manage expectations about your role and to avoid confusion and even frustration. People do often confuse the roles of Innovation Leaders and of Innovators. These roles can also overlap.

⁃ In some companies, the Innovation Leader manages a dedicated team that is assigned to develop innovations. This team may come up with ideas as well as seek inspiration from other employees and then it experiments with those ideas. Sometimes, the Innovation Leader is then assigned to run a stand alone business, build on those innovations.

⁃ In other companies, the Innovation Leader focused on training emplyees on innovation methodologies and tools. Those trained employees then may come up with ideas and experiment themselves, with or without additional support from the Innovation Leader.

⁃ Sometimes, the Innovation Leader is assigned to look for emerging innovations outside the corporation and to support those start-ups.Support can include money, but also specific expertise from the corporation: technology, regulatory, legal, etc. When successful, these start-ups can even be integrated into the corporation.

Inna:

⁃ How did you approach this?

Wim:

⁃ Very simple. I first made sure to understand what my leadership needed. In my case, this was identifying successful innovations across the 60+ subsidiaries of the corporation. In addition, I was asked to create an environment that stimulated more innovation. There was no lack of innovative ideas, the problem was that many ideas were not fully pursued or were duplicated: one team was not aware of what other teams had done (or failed in).

⁃ This led to a very clear definition of my role as innovation leader: First, I supported innovators who had relevant innovative ideas. And then I ensured that successful innovations were scaled to other countries. Secondly, I stimulated innovation through communication and by identifying and removing barriers for innovation.

Inna:

⁃ Great! Innovators innovate! Innovation Leaders inspire, follow-up, support!

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