5 things organisations get wrong about innovation

Innovation drives growth in brands, organisations, societies, and entire economies, but it is not easy and there are many pitfalls to be avoided along the way. Here are some of the common things that organisations get wrong when embarking on an innovation journey.

1. Jumping to the solution

This is the number one innovation mistake organisations make. Too many organisations still waste their time and resources inventing solutions for non-existent customer needs. In a study of 2000 product innovation projects, Robert G. Cooper identified that the number one factor behind innovation failure was ‘a lack of thoroughness in identifying real needs in the marketplace’ , with teams often ‘making assumptions in order to justify the project’.

By spending time upfront identifying real unmet needs and problems that customers want to see solved saves you time, mistakes and rework in the more costly back end of the innovation process, whilst increasing your innovation success rates.

2. Build an innovation lab and (assume) the ideas will come

Building an innovation lab was top of the Christmas list for many organisations pre-pandemic. A report by the Policy Lab at the University of Melbourne in February 2018 identified at least 52 such labs just in the public sector across Australia and New Zealand .

Now, my issue isn’t with innovation labs per se. All teams need space (physical and mental) to create and innovate. And sometimes we need to signal a culture change through artifacts and symbols. The problem is how they are used and our silver bullet mentality where we think building a bright shiny new lab will solve all our innovation problems.

Space is but one lever in building a more innovative culture. Truly innovative organisations take an ecosystem approach and link their innovation lab to their innovation strategy, process, teams and other elements of the operating model rather than have it operating as a standalone space where flannel shirt wearing hipsters get to hang out supping macchiatos from a 3D printed cup whilst sitting in bean bags wearing VR goggles.

?3. Create an internal design team with no mandate or product ownership

Many organisations have leapt to setting up in-house design teams as the cure to a lack of customer-centricity and innovation. Where I’ve seen organisations get it wrong is where they hire a team of passionate evangelists and give them no real remit, budget or product ownership.

Design (or innovation) is about creating new value, often in the form of products, services or better ways of working that meet a customer or user need. However, with little remit and no ownership of a portfolio of any kind (current or future) these teams are set up to fail right from the start. And what happens is either these heart on their sleeves designers leave in despair from banging their heads on too many walls or the whole team is disbanded as quickly as it arrived from the lack of tangible results!

Design-led innovation needs to be embedded into the teams who are doing the innovating and are integrated with the rest of the organisation - the marketing, product, technology, R&D, engineering, and innovation teams.

?4. Treat innovation as a one hit wonder

Too often innovation is seen as a fad or a quick fix. I.e. “we need to run an innovation project (or worse still a design sprint), to build our innovation pipeline and become a disruptor”. However, one standalone ideation project or workshop isn’t going to turn the ship around. This on again and off again approach with no continuous focus never creates any long-term sustainable innovation growth.

For innovation to be successful it has to become a part of the everyday fabric of the organisation, just as much as core and business as usual activities are. This means having leadership own and role model it, an innovation strategy with clear areas of opportunity and focus that are aligned to the overall business strategy, a customer centric and experimentation driven process, structures and teams, including specific regular meetings and/or sections on the everyday agenda dedicated to innovation.

?5. Innovate in silos

Nothing quite kills innovation like a silo mentality. From not invented here syndrome to teams being measured on different and conflicting KPI’s to handovers with no buy-in and teams adding their own spin to the original insights and ideas. Yet organisations still continue to operate (and try to innovate) in Silos.

The most innovative organisations work in true cross-functional teams with all departments being represented right from the start through to launch. And whilst their involvement dials up and down throughout the innovation journey, depending on the technical expertise required at that stage, there is continued commitment and momentum from this early and ongoing buy-in. In the same study mentioned earlier Dr Robert Cooper identified working in true cross-functional teams as the 5th top innovation success factor.

There are no shortcuts to innovation success, but there are plenty of lessons learnt. Where I see it work is when teams are doing the right innovation projects, in the right way within an inspiring innovative culture and operating model. To build such an environment requires the thoughtful development and integration of customer-centricity, design and innovation into all aspects of your team or organisation.

Happy innovating,

Nathan

P.S. Thank you for reading, and if you enjoyed it, please like and/or reshare, and add your thoughts and questions into the comments or DM me.

I am the founder of customer-driven innovation and growth firm Methodry and author of “Innovator’s Playbook: How to create great products, services and experiences that your customers will love!” I help teams build their innovation mastery and work alongside them to innovate on their most important challenges.