What's Your Innovation Focus?

If you ask for a definition of Innovation from a hundred people, you're likely to get hundreds of responses back (if you're talking to kids).

You might approach zero (when talking to adults), although the chances are that adults will provide relatively vague ideas about innovation, while kids have endless curiosity.

Most of the adults will throw around quotes from people like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Thomas Edison, Peter Drucker, or perhaps Clayton Christensen, aka, the Parthenon of White Innovation Guys (a topic unto itself - diversity is more important to innovation than you might realize).

If you had to weed through hundreds of definitions of innovation, would that seem overwhelming?

Pointless?

Exactly what you'd expect if "brainstorming" is your only tool for innovation?

I've had enough conversations and worked on enough "innovation" projects since 2004 to realize that having a variety of definitions of innovation among a team is actually a GREAT place to get started.

(Note: Beware a single definition, it's certainly a trap.)

Ultimately, you need to get focused about innovation if you want to succeed.

Defining Innovation

Innovation isn't creativity. At least... not necessarily.

In any discussion on innovation, it may feel like a waste of time to define what exactly innovation means. Doesn't innovation mean you're "thinking out of the box?" Why define it and take away the fun, artful aspect of innovation?

If you've experienced a typical brainstorming session, or your organization has an "suggestion box" platform, you've probably experienced the flood of truly unfocused and random ideas, or the sound of crickets and a suggestion box that rapidly grows spiderwebs.

Innovation without focus is a massive waste of energy.

The blind leading the blind, perhaps with great enthusiasm, is an achingly dangerous approach to bringing innovation to life!

With enthusiasm aimed at nothing other than "be innovative!" how will you know if you've hit a valid target?

Let's look at a typical innovation process...

Common innovation practice says you have to ideate (generate ideas, or "diverge") before you execute (or "converge").

Ideas are a dime a dozen, maybe a dollar a dozen in today's inflation - either way, until the ideas has been brought to life, it doesn't count.

But is that really the process you should follow?

Back up a second. Before you and your team fire up the creative neurons...

What are you trying to innovate on? For who? When? What's your budget? Do you need a top line impact? Bottom line cost cutting? Radical efficiency improvement?

Looking to increase your Net Promoter Score and drive up positive word of mouth? Decreasing the percentage of employees that leave within a year? Reduce workplace accidents?

What are Your Innovation Outcomes?

Another way to put it is, exactly who cares? How will you know that you've made a difference that matters? Who gets the direct and indirect benefits of this innovation?

Until you have clarity on where to focus your innovation firepower, don't poison your innovation well by unleashing energy that ultimately doesn't have a clear focus, or a process to run it to ground and deliver something, whether it's a functional prototype, persona spec, financial forecast, or competitive analysis.

“When you try and please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.” - this is as true of people participating in innovation, as well as the people and outcomes you're trying to serve.

In upcoming articles, I'll dive into the still somewhat rarely used Jobs-to-be-Done framework. Once a very academic exercise, successful digital startups have become particularly skilled at using JTBD.

Established organizations coming from a pre-digital world have far more to gain from JTBD to systematically leap into the future from a past definition of innovation that no longer fits the market.

How are you planning out your innovation work for 2020+?