How to Improve Innovation Effectiveness

No one is able to stand still in this fast paced business environment. As business leader you're looking for ways to innovate. "An innovation is something original, new, and important – in whatever field – that breaks in to (or obtains a foothold in) a market or society." In this definition of Frankelius the words "original, new and important" are vital.

When there’s a need to come up with something new, people generally start by organizing a brainstorming session. Ironically, often times nothing innovative ever materializes. That’s why brainstorming holds such negative connotations in lots of companies. It’s because it is the same group of colleagues who usually get together without any preparation to brainstorm. You might think the problem is their inability to generate new ideas. But you would be wrong. The problem is their inability to let go of the old ones! I love this quote by the American businessman Dee Hock, he says: “The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it. Once you get the old ideas out of your mind, new ones come automatically!”

Innovation is difficult to master. In my experience from practice, innovation really is a balancing act. It's all about:

• Finding the right balance between the business of today and the business of tomorrow;
• Finding the right balance between creativity and business reality;
• Finding the right balance between 'outside the box' and 'inside the box';
• Finding the right balance between breakthrough thinking and feasibility;
• Finding the right balance between: customer interests and company's interests;
• Finding the right balance between: breaking rules and fitting existing patterns;
• Finding the right balance between: risks and rewards

Research shows that only one out of seven official innovation projects successfully reach the market. Although a lot of people working in innovation say we should embrace failure, I think we should focus on improving the innovation effectiveness rate!

My personal mission the last 10 years has been to structure the chaotic start of innovation in an methodology which makes it less complex to master. If you start innovation better, the results at the end of the innovation pipeline will improve.