Twelve Steps to Innovation

By Dr Walter Dolan, Director - Strategic Management
The word innovation is used freely these days and most people on hearing the word might think of it as something new. By new, do they mean a new product, a new way of doing things, a new way of looking at things, something invented but still on the drawing board, something invented and commercialised to the point of generating good cash flow, something already in use elsewhere but being implemented by our company for the first time, something radical, something simply sustaining a continual drive for improvement and so on?

The fact is that most people confuse invention with innovation. They think they mean the same thing.  As has been suggested, innovation can be defined in several ways whereas invention generally applies to a product that exists somewhere along a sequence starting with a blueprint and ending with a prototype.  A blueprint that sits in a drawer or a prototype that remains a prototype, and represents something new, is an invention. If and when it is commercialised it becomes innovation. Innovation implies action. With innovation we are not just dealing with products, we are dealing with processes also. Innovation is concerned with not only doing things but also with how to do them.

This article deals with some of the key segments of innovation. These are:
 Culture
 Leadership
 Human Resources
 Customers

These are chosen from a total of 9 key segments. An Innovation Grid is used to show the various levels of implementation by the innovative organisation.

Innovation Grid

Key Segment Corporate culture encourages innovation
Level 1  Look externally for new ideas
Level 2  Link with external institutions
Level 3  Tolerate internal diversity

Key Segment Leadership

Level 1  Directors represent innovation and technical functions
Level 2  Innovation is part of mainstream
Level 3  Link innovation to corporate plan

Key Segment Human Resources

Level 1 Everybody understands clearly what the business is about
Level 2 Managers are given opportunities to rethink business operations
Level 3  New ideas are encouraged, generated, captured and
   shared

Key Segment Customers and Suppliers

Level 1  Seek out leading edge customers; partner with major suppliers
Level 2  Ensure current customers do not inhibit innovation
Level 3  Functional groups meet the customer

The above is a sample only of the various aspects present in truly innovative organisations.