Innovation: From Organizational Circus to Practitioner’s Tool

?Innovation in recent times is mostly a misunderstood and over-used word. The common misconception is that Innovation is all about coming out with new or whacky ideas. This understanding is not entirely correct if not altogether wrong. I will share my experience and understanding of Innovation from a practitioner’s perspective.

To begin with, Innovation is not the same as invention. "Invention" is coming out with new products. When you combine creativity with resources, the result is an Invention. When you add Commercial Success to Invention, it becomes Innovation.

Invention + Commercial success = Innovation.????

This is the dictionary definition. There is an inherent problem in this definition. When we look at this from the Cause-and-Effect framework, it turns out that Innovation is an effect- a result of our efforts… aftermath!! When iPod became insanely popular and commercially successful, then only it was termed as the “Innovation” of the day, month, or year!!?But the big question: How do we know that whatever we are working upon will be successful. The answer is: we cannot !! Not Unless we travel into the future …to keep things simple, I am not taking into account interference from TVA - Time Variance Authority ??!!

This imposes a huge problem for everyone. Especially, the development centers that are only concerned with the development of the product. What and why are we talking about something that we have no control over - Innovation.?How can a development team know whether the product or service they are working on will be innovative? Novel- Yes. Technically Sound- Yes. But Innovative ?? The simple answer to this is that they cannot know.

Then why talk about Innovation? When we talk about Innovation, what we mean is to develop an innovative mindset. A mindset that will increase the probability of commercial success.

Let us examine what it takes to develop an innovative mindset.

1.?????Know your Business. Strategy and the Macro picture. This is perhaps the starting point. Whether you are an HR professional, a developer, or into production, you should know what game you are in. You should know how your organization is making its money and the part you play in this process. Be rest assured that if you are working in a company, you are contributing to its commercial viability. Directly or indirectly. You should be clear about how you are impacting the business and strive to come out with ways to increase your contribution. Getting aligned to factors influencing commercial success and business expansion is the first step towards developing an innovative mindset. Anything not contributing to business is NOT innovation. That is why organizations talk about Innovation and not Invention!!???

2.?????In-depth knowledge of End-users. Developing Mechanics of Value and Commercial Acumen. If the end-users do not like your product/service, they are not going to go for it. Your entire effort goes down the drain. Bye-bye Innovation. That is why you see Empathy workshops, Voice of consumer, Mystery Shopping, Surveys, UX studies, etc. assuming importance in recent times and everyone being a part of it. It brings you closer to the end-user. This is what marketing professionals also do: Market research, Consumer Behaviour, Value Identification, and the likes.?An innovative mindset is understanding the mechanics of value creation, consumers, markets, commercial acumen, and ROI.??

3.??????Leading Change & ability to work with people. We are in a VUCA world. Things are no longer what it was sometime back. We have experienced a knowledge explosion in the last decade or so. The nature of knowledge & Technology has undergone a sea change. It is complex, convergent, and ever-evolving. Developing an offering is no longer a game of individuals with “Eureka” moments or teams working in silos. Present-day teams are interdisciplinary, multi-functional, multi-locational, and transient. Working, managing expectations, leading, and motivating diverse teams against a dynamic business landscape is more of a norm than an exception. Leading change is a reality. Knowledge of Organizational Behaviour comes in handy. Culture, Motivation, Empowerment, and the likes – working efficiently with people. An innovative mindset is leading change and getting the best from the team and the system.

4.?????Risk management. Developing anything is costly. Failure is costlier. That is why you see the practice of Design Thinking, Agile, Lean, DevOps, etc. being part of the organizational development process. These are the practices that help manage risk by getting timely feedback and buy-in from the customer. The success of these processes lies in imbibing the philosophy of co-creating with consumers than treating them as rules to be followed to the “T” for audit purposes. An innovative mindset involves managing risk, financial and otherwise, by collaborating with end-user and adopting a Consultative approach to development.????

5.?????Technology, Creativity, and Innovation Tools & Framework.?Effective Solution to Business Challenges. Efficiency, Utility, and Novelty in our offerings. Now that we know our business, have understood the end-users requirement, can work well in teams, manage stakeholder expectations, and have processes to manage risk, we develop our offerings. We do our research, gather data, brainstorm, ideate, and create offerings that are aligned with the end-users. We solve problems and tackle business challenges. We use Innovation tools and frameworks. We use technology. Technology is the enabler, not the product. The “How” to our “why” and “what”. Our “value proposition” is our product. Sometimes we confuse technology as being the end and the means. An innovative mindset involves knowledge of Innovation frameworks and the application of technology to solve problems.?

I have explicitly listed these points because generally, we are so caught up in execution, that we seldom think beyond it. Developing an Innovative mindset is to move towards holistic and strategic thinking.???

Still, in some institutes & organizations, lack of Innovation Strategy, Bureaucracy/Politics, lack of collaboration, over-dependence & attachment to the existing business models and profit formulae turn new initiatives into Innovation Theatre!! Ideas are generated with great energy…and then nothing happens as there is no clarity. Concept Note, PoC, or Prototype are developed without sponsorship and financial allocation. If and when this happens more than once, good people get disillusioned and the whole process gradually degenerates into Organizational Circus !!?

Innovation is no longer an option or limited to projects in which a handful of people are involved. Days of “Ideation” and “Idea campaigns” as solo activities are long over. In good companies, these activities are now part of an integrated & holistic process.?Innovative thinking is imbibed in the work culture.?

Having said that, achieving enterprise-level change is never easy, Developing an Innovative mindset at the organizational level poses great challenges. The initiative is fraught with uncertainty. Like all transformation drives, it requires proper perspective, context, handholding, and guidance. To lead this initiative, we need management with empathy and purposiveness. Organizations need to identify and promote “Ambi-brained” thinkers – the mavericks and rare breeds who can look at the bigger picture and administer the minutiae, who can design a system, frame policies, implement frameworks, yet have the sagacity to go beyond. Leaders with Intent, Insight, and Implementation strength - those who can join the opposites !!???

Innovation is not only misunderstood but also a misnomer for developing an “Innovative Mindset”. It is about creativity, new ideas, R&D, and technology adaption but it is also about handling diversity, managing transition, and contributing to commercial success. An innovative mindset is about joining the opposites: form with functionality, independence with interdependence, self with the system, disruption with harmony…the list is long !!?

?It is high time we shift from Innovation theatre to adopting a practitioner’s perspective towards Innovation.???

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