There are a lot of Innovation surveys floating around out there – some highly useful; others not so much. Measuring the relative importance of key innovation activities give us a starting point in understanding what an individual company needs to do next. We are looking for highly important innovation practices that are not satisfactorily being addressed.

Innovation is a process that when implemented in its key elements universally bring a high degree of long-lasting success. Researchers Joe Tidd and John Bessant have identified perhaps the six most important elements and we have added a seventh, senior leadership.

The innovative process has four fundamental steps:

• Search: finding the right innovation opportunities
• Select: knowing what to choose and why
• Implement: understanding how to make it happen
• Capture: turning success into value

These steps need to be enveloped within:

• Organizational Health: people prosperity drives innovation
• Senior Leadership: driving today into tomorrow
• Strategic Clarity: converting vision, values and skills into focused energy

Let’s begin with an understanding of your firm’s goals:

Instructions

We want to measure in two dimensions: how important or relevant each “best practice” below is to your company, and how satisfied you are in the way it is being executed by your people:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UN-IMPORTANT :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: IMPORTANT
……..1……………..2…………………3…………………4……………5……………….6……………….7…….
Completely – - Mostly – - Somewhat – - Neither – - Somewhat – - Mostly – - Completely
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UN-SATISFIED :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: SATISFIED
……..1……………..2…………………3…………………4……………5……………….6……………….7…….
Completely – - Mostly – - Somewhat – - Neither – - Somewhat – - Mostly – - Completely
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOTE Abbreviation – IPS: innovative process, product and/or service

Rate from 1-7 the (1) importance and (2) level of satisfaction (at your company) of each of the following:

A. Desired Changes to Address

1. Your Innovation Goals

1. Increase IPS and/or current product quality
2. Minimize IPS and/or current production cost
3. Increase in IPS and/or current production flexibility
4. Improve IPS incrementally
5. Develop breakthrough IPS
6. Widen product mix
7. Increase new IPS revenue percentage
8. Increase in market share
9. Create new markets
10. Create new business models
11. Overcome product obsolescence
12. Minimize regulatory issues
13. Improve environmental conservation
14. Improve work safety
15. Improve organizational health, culture & leadership

B. Best Practices

2. Your Organization’s Innovative Health

1. Continually and systematically develop people
2. Structure organization to enable ideas to flourish
3. Enable rapid decision making
4. People communicate bottom-up, top-down and laterally
5. Remove barriers & boundaries
6. Ability for people to challenge status quo
7. Recognize & non-financially reward innovative behavior

3. Your Personal Leadership

1. Understand IPS process from idea to launch
2. Commit to IPS as a personal responsibility
3. Design and shape the IPS process
4. Support & empower IPS team members; allocate robust resources
5. Lead go/kill IPS project decisions
6. Measure & scorecard key IPS project results
7. Tie IPS metrics to executive compensation

4. Your Innovation Strategy

1. Convert vision, values and skills to business goals & IPS philosophy
2. Measure needs, size, potential of key and adjacent market arenas
3. Assess your firm’s distinct competencies, core strengths, & learning capabilities
4. Integrate & decide IPS long-term commitments
5. Define broad IPS goals & tactical objectives
6. Build & monitor IPS strategic roadmap
7. Design go/no-go scorecard priorities for IPS ideas

5. Search for Your Opportunities

1. Part One – Build Idea Generation Systems

1. Select effective & functionally diverse team members
2. Charter teams & keep them stable from idea to launch
3. Review industry developments (trends, shifts & new technology)
4. Systemize understanding needs of customers, marginal users & prospects
5. Prioritize & select identified needs against strategy & available resources
6. Develop processes to search for ideas; focus methods on selected identified needs
7. Build a classification system to store ideas by category

2. Part Two – Idea Generation Methods

1. Brainstorm with staff on pre-selected needs
2. Investigate new business models
3. Network with researchers & industry executives for ideas
4. Invite suppliers and users to help identify crying needs & unusual ideas
5. Brainstorm with suppliers and users on pre-selected needs
6. List copycat competitors (fast follower approach) to possibly imitate
7. Investigate potential purchase or joint venture with small innovative companies

6. Your Selection Process

1. Part One – Systems

1. Establish your “why” from vision, values & strategy
2. Adapt strategic scorecard to measure and rate selected ideas
3. Build a reward & risk analysis system that rates & chooses IPS projects methodically
4. A stable team judges & recommends an idea to develop, test & fast-track
5. CEO approves by allocating resources & budget; concentrates on only a few of the best
6. Review completed & abandoned projects (share learning internally)
7. Maintain a portfolio of future potential IPS projects

2. Part Two – Analysis

1. Ability to respond to marketplace change
2. Examine customers’ total processes
3. Follow entire value chain processes
4. Explore IPS proposals with internal departments, customers & suppliers
5. Plan scenarios (alternative target segments)
6. Compare present IPS to future market needs
7. Measure IPS fit comparing corporate competencies & market needs

7. Your Implementation System

1. Systemize development processes & stages from conception to launch
2. Divide all approved ideas into 3 or 4 strategic categories
3. Budget: coordinating teams, team mix, time & resources to each IPS category
4. First thoroughly research concepts before any engineering; then prototype
5. Reiteratively test, discover & redesign (from scratch) IPS survivors for each next stage
6. Continjuosly narrow the portfolio by making go/no-go decisions from conception to launch
7. Increase critical resources after each stage until successful launch

8. Capturing New Value from Success

1. Convert IPS learning into repeatable methodologies & know-how
2. Strengthen relationships & networks into ongoing partnerships
3. Reinforce staff harmony & personal meaning from work
4. Build energy & dreams
5. Reposition company brand & entrench your success
6. Reinvest new revenue into future performance engines
7. Be prepared to reinvent, unlearn & abandon your past successes

Next post we will address how to build a formula to rate which best practices to pursue first.