“The factors that must be in place to support innovation
are not a mystery. Companies that rely on
‘innovative thought’ to advance their product development,
sales, and customer service processes must
be sure they encourage and support breakthrough
thinking,” says Andrew Graham, CEO of Kepner-Tregoe
Inc., (www.kepner-tregoe.com) an international
consulting and training services firm.
According to Graham, companies can check the
health of their own innovation by looking closely at
some of the key variables that affect innovation:
Does your organization have a clear strategy? Strategy defines the field in which an organization operates.
It involves questions such as, “What products
will the firm offer and how much will the firm invest
in each?”
Do your company’s business processes measure
up? Business processes are the workflows through
which business is conducted. Consider, “How can we
do this better,” or “How would we do this if we had no
constraints?” Ask, “Do we have methods in place for
addressing innovation issues?”
Does your organization have clear goals and do
you measure results? To be innovative, organizations
must have clear, strategy-driven expectations
for innovation. Goals must be defined and measured
and results must be reported.
Do employees have the inherent skills or the
tools necessary to learn to be innovative? Hiring innovative
people is one way to foster innovation, but
innovation skills and knowledge can also be taught,
and creativity nurtured.
Leadership — This is the overarching factor that
affects all other variables of innovation. Leaders
must establish an organization’s strategy and ensure
innovation goals are met, successes and failures
measured, and innovative people developed and
supported.
Other factors that can make or break an organization’s
ability to innovate are structural and cultural.
Do information systems let people share ideas and
learn from the past? Are structures and roles impeding
innovation or letting it blossom? Does the culture
— including the reward system — encourage innovation?
According to Graham, the pursuits of “Total Quality”
in the 1980s, “reengineering” in the 1990s, and
Six Sigma in the 2000s have, in many cases, yielded
impressive cost reductions, cycle-time reductions,
and quality improvements. But, executives now realize
they can’t streamline their way to growth. Continuous
gains in ‘how’ an organization does business
must dovetail with expanding the horizon of ‘what’
business the company is in. By looking at this handful
of key variables, Graham claims, organizations can
pinpoint the roadblocks that are inhibiting robust,
profitable, breakthrough thinking.