Are you doing fine with incremental innovations, but can't seem to satisfy the CEO's demand for radical innovation? That's the situation many companies face, according to Jeneanne Rae in the The Keys to High-Impact Innovation (Business Week Online, Sept. 27, 2005).

Mining data compiled from two years of work in 30 global companies, spanning 60 innovations within the services industry, Rae and her coworkers at Peer Insight developed a list of principles for companies seeking high-impact innovations. Does your organization support all four of these enablers?

1. A clear challenge statement that expresses aspirations to a worthy goal without prescribing the means. This should be expressed in terms of a customer need, not a business need.
2. A well-designed, well-facilitated process that includes multidisciplinary participation and sources of cutting-edge ideas.
3. Emphasis on developing concepts that combine multiple elements of innovation (e.g., business model, IT platform,and channel) to increase impact and distinctiveness.
4. Techniques and structures that counterbalance the forces of risk aversion.

Rae says overcoming the last hurdle is particularly important, and particularly difficult for large, successful companies. Effective techniques and structures included holding high-stakes competitions, funding exploration projects, removing "naysayers" from the innovation governing group, changing the risk analysis approach, and finally, creating a separate incubation area.

What other "techniques and structures" can help organizations overcome risk aversion?

6:18:32 PM    
comment []  trackback []