Put your innovation to work: processes & skills
For many organisations, innovation is synonymous with ideation
sessions. Although there is nothing wrong with generating new ideas,
innovation should be much more than that.
In the most innovation-friendly companies, there is a company culture
where people are supported and stimulated to generate, test and
implement new ideas. In practice, this support consists of much more
than allocating 10% of somebody’s working hours to an innovation side
project.
In a true innovation culture, processes
are put in place and innovation skills are proactively developed. Both
processes and skills determine how fast innovation projects are rolled
out.
Things to consider when installing innovation processes in your company:
- Do we address the desirability, viability and feasibility of innovation?
- Do we need a dedicated innovation team?
- How much autonomy will we give the innovation team?
- Do we have a dedicated innovation budget? And can the innovation team make autonomous budget decisions?
- How will the team report about the project status towards management and the rest of the organisation?
Innovation can only work when people have the necessary skills.
Obviously, skills like creativity, critical thinking, communication and
problem solving are essential. But there are many more:
- Conceptual thinking
- Reporting
- Interviewing
- Structuring information
- Technical skills
- Presenting skills
- Persuasion techniques
- …
It’s hard to find all these skills in one person. That’s why it’s important for innovation teams to look for members with complementary skill sets.
When these skills cannot be found in house, then external experts can
add an extra dynamic and help the team to see things from an unbiased
perspective. This is the role that TomorrowLab likes to play and has
played before with great success