There are three, and only three, models for organizing innovation that work.
The first is the "turn the masses loose" model, also known as the "innovation is everyone's job, every day" model. It works, to a point. With proper motivation, you can get a huge number of small projects done. But the limitation to this approach is significant and easy to see: People are busy. They have day jobs, and once their day-to-day responsibilities are complete, there's little left — time, energy, motivation — for innovation. You may get 5% of Larry's time plus 5% of Mary's time and so on, but slivers of free time are difficult to aggregate beyond a few people, and make it hard to get anything substantial done.
The second model could be called the "make innovation repeatable" model. In this approach, innovation is treated no differently than any other business process. You document each step. You define clear roles and responsibilities. You measure. You hold people accountable. Companies that routinely bring out new products and services are familiar with this model, and it works, but really only for incremental improvements to existing products. When your innovations are making sharp breaks from the past, the carefully designed innovation process, which relies on repeatability, breaks down.
To read the full, original article click on this link: The Surest Way to Destroy an Innovation Initiative - Chris Trimble - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review
Author: Chris Trimble
