Monday, October 7, 2019

The Multifactors in Multi-Thread Innovation Management

Organizations need to fine-tune various key factors, develop and implement a dynamic innovation strategy to accelerate the next cycle of digital innovation management.

Innovation differentiates business leaders from laggards. Digital innovation touches broader aspects of organization such as products/services innovation, business model innovation, process innovation, communication innovation, or culture innovation, etc. From an Innovation Management perspective, innovation system includes policy, structure, and program that innovation managers can use to drive innovation systematically. The good or bad innovation would depend on the business’s attitude to nourish a culture of creativity and its aptitude to manage innovation in a structural way. Here are multi-factors in multi-thread innovation management.

Motivation factor: Innovation, especially breakthrough innovation is not for faint hearts. Innovation leaders need to be both inspirational and objective, ask themselves and others: Do we really need innovation, who will be held responsible for implementing innovation, what will be the cost, time, risk, and ROI etc. Motivation is one of the critical factors in keeping the innovation game moving forward. If there’re no inspiring ideas, people’s motivation is reduced. Organizations with a command-control type of management style is often indifferent to external innovations. To manage innovation effectively, it’s important to build a process of a corporate pulse that helps to identify where the pulse/motivation/passion/commitment of the organization lies, and who embodies it.

It’s also important to break down the status quo or “we always do things like that” mentality. You can't build trust or motivate effectively if you don't engage with people. Let people explore where their energy is and then, align the energy to work at hand, and motivate them to think and do things innovatively. Motivational leadership is a means toward reconciling all different factors toward a unifying and driving goals of innovation management.

Strategy factor: Every innovation pursuit has risks in it, and every risk has opportunities in it. Innovation shouldn’t be serendipity. A good innovation strategy enable the business diagnosing critical business problems, developing guidelines, setting priorities, transforming novel ideas to achieve their business value or solving either emerging or existing problems creatively. An innovation strategy frames effective constraints which are not only a facilitator but a requirement to value-driven innovation. It creates a clear line of sight between the enterprise vision and how to build a balanced portfolio with the right mix of breakthrough innovations and incremental innovations.

Digital innovation has broader spectrum, systematically addressing the innovation strategy agenda is forged by seamless alignments. One cannot think in terms of single thread serial actions alone nor can one give undue priority to areas that are covered by the tactical implementation of the innovation strategy only. The multi-thread innovation management involves aligning initiatives, talent, resources, performance with the goals and objectives of good innovation strategies.

Measurement factor: Innovation success is based on both hard elements such as systems or processes and soft factors such as leadership, communication or culture. The success rate of innovation, especially radical innovation, is still very low. Therefore, it’s important to score the company’s innovation capacity, performance, potential, and innovation maturity. Metrics provides feedback and they are part of transparent visual management allowing pulling. 

Often, innovation indicators varying depending on who is doing the measuring, and how they are measuring, unfortunately many innovation indicators are flawed and present limitations. Poor-defined measurement can mislead, create complication, cause confusion, or suck energy. A well-selected set of metrics helps to clarify critical issues such as the revenue generated by innovations launched in a certain time frame; calculate the tangible value created from the multi-threading innovation management, and keep track of innovation performance at both individual and team level, etc.

Innovation is not serendipity, Incremental innovation will keep optimizing the business, and "disruptive" or sustainable innovation will improve customer satisfaction and business brand. Innovation becomes a differentiated business competency for adapting to the “VUCA” digital new normal. Organizations need to fine-tune various key factors, develop and implement a dynamic innovation strategy to accelerate the next cycle of digital innovation management.

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