October 2012 - Today globalization and connectivity mean that businesses
and organizations compete not only in products, services, and market share but
for who will survive or perish. In many markets, competitive advantages have
eroded, barriers to entry have lowered, and the speed and intensity of
competition has increased.
Is ‘innovation,’ commonly cited in advertisements and
mission statements, just the latest fad or the next real thing? Although misused, overused, and
misunderstood, I believe innovation is an emerging discipline that is not only
here to stay but is quickly becoming a critical organizational competency. The organizations that will survive and
thrive will not be the best inventor of new ideas and technology, but will be
the best innovator who is nimble and resourceful to capture market and customer
opportunities.
Innovation has many definitions and uses however here it means focusing
on turning ideas into something of commercial value, speed of development,
working in diverse teams, embracing technology, and a willingness to rapidly
develop and test new solutions.
While innovation
may be yet another competency to be developed, the good news is that it can be understood,
taught, learned and practiced. In the
way that entrepreneurship and quality have developed as academic disciplines,
innovation is ripe for the same analysis and presentation.
At Rose-Hulman
Institute of Technology, one of our priorities is graduating students who will
be the innovators and technical leaders of the future. Our programs
inspire innovation by establishing teams of students to take part in high
quality, high touch project work that requires grappling with the complexities
of the real world and practicing the skills of innovation.
Our most unique
program, Rose-Hulman Ventures, works in the ‘innovation-stage’ of development taking
product ideas from outside clients and employing student teams alongside
professional project engineers to develop the ideas into fully realized,
workable solutions that are ready to be reproduced or manufactured for market.
In our decade of
experience with the Ventures program and working on hundreds of innovation
stage projects, we have had many successful and a few unsuccessful project
outcomes. Out of all these experiences,
these best practices and lessons learned for inspiring innovation in a team or
an organization have been captured and offered here.
Anyone can play - Innovation
is within the reach of any organization or individual. Being innovative does not require an advanced
degree or significant capital
investment. Innovation is the
great equalizer as the next great innovator in a market may be anywhere in the
world or any person in the organization.
It’s a team sport - Achieving
success in the innovation stage of development requires multiple hands, a
variety of skills, and a group of independent perspectives approaching problems
from different angles. To achieve
innovation in your organization, get people to work together in teams.
Speed wins - Speed
is the fundamental principle of innovation.
Speed energizes the organization, creates a sense of urgency, and is the
key element of ‘fail fast and fail often’ or 'experiment often and learn quickly' – many unsuccessful experiments or
prototypes leading to a successful outcome.
Scopes creep - Creating
and developing something new often means that it is not possible up front to
write the detailed plan for going from start to finish. Develop a general scope and direction at the
start of the project, begin the work, and accept that the scope will evolve
over time as intermediate results and new information become available. It’s a real innovation killer to insist that
a detailed project plan be developed when creative and innovative solutions
must be developed.
Walnuts before peanuts
- Every project breaks down into multiple problems and tasks that must be solved before an innovation
breakthrough can be accomplished. It is
imperative to prioritize and crack the tough nuts first in order to make effective progress on the project. Taking on the easy tasks first likely means revisiting them when the tough ones are addressed.
Let others drive –
A top down, authoritative leadership
style encourages great followers, not great innovators. Great teams find their strength by assuring
that opportunities to lead and innovate are available for all team members.
These lessons learned provide guidelines for innovation
stage development and also more broadly to inspire innovation in teams and
organizations. We have found at
Rose-Hulman that innovation can come from anywhere and can be instilled in
anyone. The next great innovator in your organization
could just be you.
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