Idea and Innovation Blog

Like many other people out there, I have been spending some time in chat rooms, forums and LinkedIn groups regarding innovation.

There are thought-provoking concepts and theories regarding this or that; many opinions, tack-tics and strategies, book recommendations – myriad advice-givers and a good helping of product hawkers; but it would seem  precious few doers. Of the non-doers, much chatting, theorizing and endless consensus building are taking place in lieu of practice; to insure the age-old pattern of risk mitigation is being preserved. The safety of the road well-travelled versus the unknown of the unbeaten path.

As we know, everything has a cost - when comes to innovation, leaving your comfort zone is the ante.   But happy thing occurs at the start of that journey and the potential of an ROI already shows signs of life – you begin discovering gems in and around your organization that you didn’t know you had. Moreover, you discover that you can be more agile than first thought; and that people respond well when the organization responds well to them. There are also many different opportunities to contribute to an Idea & Innovation process, so long as provisions for activities, tasks and deliverables have been planned to accommodate these roles. But in order for this agility to spawn and the engagement to infect all those within range, the process that you put into place has to be organic.   That means letting people do what interests them. And of equal importance, the process has to be your own.

I can cite a utility client of ours that is transforming their business operationally, financially and culturally – all because they had the conviction to listen and the courage to act in a truly innovative manner; by first engaging in process innovation – when they first did this, it naturally gave birth to the innovation process that was right for them; the second part of it occurred most naturally. Which is the central point of this piece. It is good to get education, solicit opinions and to compare notes – but if you’re going to really be innovative, it has to come from your organization’s gut. None other will fit as well, respond as meaningfully and accommodate the needs of your future better than the process that was born from your organization going through this transformational experience. It’s a process – like puberty; you can tell, forewarn, plan and educate a kid to be prepared. But until they go thru it for themselves, they can never discover who they are or draw from the benefits of the process to guide their future.