Innovation is Not for Busy People!

Innovation is Not for Busy People!

Some time ago I got an interesting comment on innovation in large companies.

“Innovation requires time and drive to explore new vistas, therefore it is understandable that busy employees can’t be bothered to look into it. The best way is for senior managers to assign a team and give them the time and resources!”

First, I agree that it makes sense to assign teams and give them time and resources to make it happen.

Next, I think this comment is dangerous: “understandable that busy employees can’t be bothered to look into it”.

If executives believe that busy employees cannot be “bothered” to look into it, this sends a strong signal that they do not prioritize innovation high enough. This is very dangerous in a business world where innovation has finally started to get high on the executive agenda and where it seem as if the future winners are those who know how to make innovation happen.

Let me add two other perspectives to the comment:

1) You should not let every employee work with innovation in a company at the same time, but everyone should be given the opportunity to contribute – some way or another. This can be through clearly identified ways for employees to suggest ideas and projects and to build on those of others. It could also be through frequent innovation campaigns such as internal business plan competitions, challenges and accelerations.

2) Even people that are busy with their daily work should be focused on improving the organization and innovating where it is possible and relevant. This is where most innovation actually happens and we tend to call this incremental innovation.

This should happen in the business units and at the business functions themselves. You can then have your assigned innovation teams to work on more demanding or more risky innovation projects where the payoff is harder to predict as well as to achieve.

On the latter point, I also believe that it is a key role for corporate innovation teams to act more like facilitators (develop the overall corporate innovation capabilities) and integrators (connect internal and external resources) rather than as teams trying to make everything happen by themselves.

You can only scale up corporate innovation efforts if you make it happen together with the relevant business units and functions and the external element can often serve as a catalyst for faster pace and more diversity.

What do you think?

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  • Michael Jenkins

    One of the keys to any successful business is being able to come up with new ideas to keep operations, products and services fresh.

  • Steve Walker

    Some innovations embodie the improvement of something that has come before

  • Niall McCuaig

    Companies that take the largest risk, close the biggest gaps and identify the newest opportunities are rewarded with the title of true innovators and leaders by their consumers and peers.

  • Sam Lennox

    Most employees feel their organisation isn't doing enough to foster innovation

  • Becky Davey

    The problem is that too many businesses are trying to develop innovative ideas in ways that aren't productive

  • Robbie Lanphier

    In order to successfully innovate, businesses need to install the strategies that best fit their needs and goals.

  • Marco Staines

    There is no point considering innovation in a vacuum.

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Stefan Lindegaard

Leadership Guru

Stefan is an acclaimed author, keynote speaker, advisor and entrepreneur. He is a global thought leader on leadership in general and corporate innovation management in particular, he travels around the world to interact with executives and corporate innovation teams who want to take their innovation capabilities and efforts to the next level. The Silicon Valley mindset is key for this to happen. This mindset is rooted in one word: impact. By leveraging new technologies, talent, strong ecosystems, agile leadership, and ingenious approaches to business, Silicon Valley impacts entire industries in ways that shape the world. For a company to thrive—or even survive—in the next decade, its leaders will need to understand the Silicon Valley mindset and be able to put it to work. He helps executives on this through his Silicon Valley Fast Track venture. Stefan completed his entrepreneurial background in A.P. Møller Shipping School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Sloan School of Management.  For more information about the Silicon Valley Fast Track, please visit: www.siliconvalleyft.com.

   
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