-
Provide
strategic alignment.
Create an inspiring vision and
launch a crusade. Link
the
innovation strategy
with corporate
vision,
goals,
objectives,
and
strategy. Develop a
strategic innovation roadmap
to choose and do
the right things.
-
Define
the innovation
process publicly.
Rapid innovation requires
an effective innovation process. Help people understand how they fit
into the system as a whole. Document your innovation process
explicitly via maps and charts, and communicate it implicitly by
words and practice.
-
Build
cross-functional expertise
to
harness the power of
diversity and discover
synergies. Develop
cross-functional individuals. Shuffle portfolios. Establish
diverse
cross-functional innovation teams.
-
Establish a
creative chaos environment
to
inspire creativity and
trigger accidental
discoveries. Encourage
improvisation and wild play. Find the right
balance between order and
chaos.
-
Challenge assumptions.
Think
outside-the-box.
Ask searching
questions
"Why?" and "What If?" to identify hidden
problems and opportunities.
Keep
eyes open for inspiration.
Brainstorm
every day.
-
Cross-pollinate.
Incorporate a wide
range of styles, skills, and perspectives
to
inspire and develop winning
innovative solutions. Encourage comments and ideas. Inspire
advocates and critics. Invite outsiders – experts, customers,
suppliers, partners.
Change hats
to generate and evaluate ideas.
-
Reward idea generation.
People want to know their ideas make a
difference. Recognition and rewards
motivate and
encourage people to participate and make quality contributions. They
also demonstrate management commitment to the innovation program and
to the employees.
-
Experiment
to
pursue opportunities,
acquire new skills, learn from
feedback and
discover new opportunities.
Create prototypes to
visualize and test your ideas, inspire new ideas, and sell your
ideas to your sponsors and peers.
-
Allow freedom to fail.
Failure provides a great
learning opportunity and
should be viewed as a very lifeblood of success.
Learn from failures, regroup, and start again more
intelligently.
-
Measure the progress to take a
corrective action and accelerate the pace of ideas to
implementation.
-
Make business fun to make
people excited about what they are doing,
working as a team, and
tackling new challenges.
