Globalization and the empowerment of people regarding their needs, has made it necessary for companies to develop the necessary skills to face people's challenges through an "Innovation Strategy" that generates value for the business in a sustainable and sustainable way over time. .
Visualizing the way in which each member of the executive team and the board meets this requirement is a determining factor in the success of any organization.
To ensure the successful incorporation of Innovation, organizations must get used to breathing in the needs and pains of their customers, facing these needs as their own challenges and in this way generating solutions that add value.
The Innovation Strategy cannot live encapsulated in a document separate from the business plan, its development and implementation must respond to a structure that ensures that Innovation moves through a series of discrete stages in a management process, from the origin or discovery opportunity / need through exploratory stages, to completion of a successful prototype test or proof of concept.
Here are 8 fundamental pillars that ensure a high percentage of success in any Innovation Process.
1. Motivation
First of all, Innovation requires leading the team within a motivating environment that facilitates alignment and interest in initiatives. Motivation requires that each member of the company understand Innovation as their own challenge, starting from the CEO, going down to executives and arriving at each collaborator, everyone must understand the challenge of innovating as their own, where they must involve Inspiration and Passion.
Given that the target will be in constant movement, the motivation must also have a significant iteration quota with the point of view, communication is key at this point. The C-level must be attentive to looking at the company's offer of Products, Services and functions, and be in charge of ensuring that it represents the thinking and reflects the strategic business process. The C-level must be empowered by the vision, mission and innovation strategy of the corporation.
2. Ecosystem
A fundamental part of the characterization of the ecosystem is developed through Mapping, the dynamic management of the ecosystem and the analysis of disruptors, these tools will facilitate the delivery of directions about the development of the industry and are useful to determine innovations and competitors.
The experience represents a fundamental antecedent, recognizing those experiences of others failing, provides valuable information in the development of the innovation process. Currently, many companies tend to outsource risk by exploiting external innovation, as they are not good at celebrating failure, but the idea is that with good integration into the Ecosystem, companies can incorporate proven innovation and also incorporate exploration into their process. , developing Points of View, Solution Concepts, Prototyping and Iterating new business models.
Organizations must consider cultural attributes, at least the basic ones to achieve a faithful identification with the internal & external client, and an orientation towards experience, passion for products & services and a strong commitment to technical talent and knowledge.
The articulation of the external ecosystem will also be necessary to benefit the company with the advancement and failures of the industry in general and with experience in other industries, focusing on the breadth of tools used by other industry players (competitors) and others. actors outside the business itself.
3. Mind & Heart
Activating innovation processes based on the legitimate interest in the other, many times it is a more important challenge than the problem itself, to overcome it, methods and tools must be used to Facilitate, Empathize and Acquire the Mindset, and the solution to the need it will be obtained as a natural result of exercise.
Organizations must learn and incorporate the necessary tools to "go in and out of the box at will." But first of all, the company must recognize that it has a box and that it cannot make it disappear, as many would like ...
Building a relationship will also be important, innovation processes are of cultural transformation and it is not the companies that do or do not innovate, it is the people.
4. Knowledge management
"It does not matter what people do, but what people know". One of the most important pillars of innovation lies in the knowledge of people, that worker who has been in the company for 20 years is key to starting the understanding of needs, a key factor is to involve them without losing the north about the value of the initiatives, from the functional perspective, their emotional value and the social value.
5. Reframing
Reframing is another key success factor, it is a key tool to facilitate the reframing of any problem (or construct), related to the ability to understand, interpret and act.
Observing the problem and separating the solution from the problem will make it easier to understand the fundamentals: dematerialize the problem and rebuild it based on abstract thinking skills, exploration and based on a particular challenge.
6. Ideation, Prototype and Validation
The Ideation and Prototype pillar deals with divergence and convergence of ideas. Building from point of view, the innovation team must explore all possible solutions. Here it is important that all ideas are considered and people retain their judgment.
Throughout the ideation phase, the most viable ideas are further explored through rapid prototyping.
7. Serious game
Innovation must be part of a "Serious" Game, where the game takes place around a pleasant and pleasant activity and opens us to spaces of exploration and improvisation where creative behavior appears. Only in such environments is it possible to activate new ideas and different points of view. For the "Serious" Game to have the creative effect that is expected, it must be accompanied by an environment conducive to innovation and "safe", where we can push our ideas to the limit without being pressured by the result (numbers). "Far from the sharks as my Creativity teacher would say."
8. Integration in the Business Plan
The creation of an Innovation Strategy integrated into corporate strategies and plans must incorporate the definition of the scope for financial and resource planning, ensuring that the business, geographic and functional units are aligned with Innovation.
The alignment of the innovation strategy with the business strategy is a determining factor when it comes to differentiating innovation from conventional R&D.
The implementation of metrics and incentives that facilitate alignment will allow leveraging the financing of new innovation initiatives based on the results obtained in previous years.
It goes without saying that if you are interested in seeing what is beyond your box, do not hesitate to make contact.