Article re-post from February 23, 2011.
“Innovate!” It’s a common rallying cry these days as an important pairing link to business survival and growth. No longer the sole responsibility of the product developers, engineers or technology teams — marketers can (and should) play an important role in driving innovation. And although most companies place a high value on innovation, finding the time to size up problems and develop creative solutions that will have an impact is quite a challenge. Especially when your workday is filled with nonstop meetings, solving a current crisis or even reacting to latest regulations within your industry.
To help unlock this challenge, we spoke with Lois Todd, senior partner of Denver-based Alchemy, a company that guides organizations through strategic business acceleration and innovative processes. She emphasizes why innovation is so important for organizations, especially today. “The benefits of innovation so clearly show up in the outcome of your project, campaign, product launch or organization change. Let’s just say you’re leading a team to roll out a new product positioning. The upside to innovation within the process is more efficiency, with more team support, better alignment, and a faster road to revenue.”
Here are three key questions to start with to help define — and inspire — innovation at your company.
1. Who are you innovating for?Customers. It sounds simple enough. But at many companies (maybe even yours), it’s a mantra that lacks a supporting strategy.
Companies use “Innovate!” to inspire employees. Too often, when the ideas roll in they never leave the building. Innovation experts agree. And Scott Anthony at Harvard Business Review adds, “Most organizations are designed to execute, not to innovate.” That’s a big barrier when you’re trying to push an idea into the world. But you’re not innovating if you’re only talking to yourself, or satisfying the fewest, most important people in the room. Innovation should speak to your audience — the customers.
2. Where and how do I find areas to innovate within my organization? Ignore common misconceptions about innovation, like it has to be unplanned, unexpected and unfettered by rules. You can take a more logical approach: Simply find a problem to solve, and create a new system that solves it.
Again, Scott Anthony at Harvard Business Review offers up some great suggestions to get you started:
- “Look beyond your best customers to those who face a constraint that inhibits their ability to solve the problems they face in their life.”
- “Look for a job-to-be-done, an important problem that is not adequately solved by current solutions.”
Innovation doesn’t have to be a grand, overreaching idea. If it helps your customers do something in a new, more efficient way, it succeeds.
3. Why should you make innovation a core competency? Do it to keep your company relevant and helpful to your customers.
Don’t innovate as a reaction to what others are doing. It’s a sure way to fall behind in your industry. MaryBeth Kemp at Forrester’s notices reactionary marketing has become an unfortunate trend.
“Through my discussions with marketers,” she explains, “I’ve noticed two things: 1) Most marketing organizations are reacting to, rather than driving, change, and 2) Marketers aren’t reaching far enough.”
When reactionary innovation takes hold of the corporate culture, new products don’t get made, only competing ones do. Your business becomes entrenched in a race, and when you’re running too fast, great ideas fly buy unnoticed. Your brand and your customers suffer.
How to get started
Lois Todd leads dozens of workshops with top organizations both nationally and internationally where she and her team at Alchemy focus on innovation as a key part of leadership development and organizational change. She often uses a five-step process to bring more innovation into any project:
- Start from a vantage point of constant evaluation to improve and make things better.
- Gather a team where you can discuss, plan and share — to look for the seeds of the idea. (Alchemy uses visual maps to record the process.)
- Determine the resources you need to get your idea off the ground (online research, outside consultant or advisor, personnel, business partner).
- Identify the stakeholders and your advocates, who will support you in building change.
- “Be a good developer of follow-ship,” says Lois. “You need to be able to articulate your vision so that you can gain energy and support from others. And while it’s good to know your risk, don’t be afraid to fail.”
At the end of the day, “innovate” shouldn’t be a rallying cry — it should just be part of what your business does.
Email us to get started.
