Walking the aisles of the National Restaurant Show six weeks ago, I was struck by the total absence of “outside the lines” innovative products and processes. Granted, this show designed for commercial representation of companies and products; and likewise, I was not escorted to any “behind the curtain” presentations of prototype innovations. Having said that, it is now six weeks later and I have yet to hear any buzz about totally new and different ideas for foodservice.
I am not talking about the latest new flavored fry, or “break-thru triple filtered oil”, but true innovation of the type that created by a tipping point in the industry.
Innovation is surely a top tier issue for most executives, but rarely gets the attention its importance might suggest. Many CEOs, unsure as to how to get the innovation engine firing on all cylinders, defer the initiative to others for execution. There is nothing wrong with delegating authority to drive innovation, but the CEO must not delegate responsibility. In order to work in most organizations, the CEO must be in effect the “Chief Innovation Officer;” instilling innovation as a fundamental part of the corporation’s culture.
It is the purpose of the Chief Executive to set the direction of the organization, define the parameters of success, and monitor execution. In this role, the CEO must always balance short term and long term objectives. With this in mind the CEO must consider how innovation is to impact the business along the critical dimensions of people, product, position, profitability, and problems.
The innovation vision must be clearly communicated and proper reporting systems put in place to ensure execution. In doing so, the CEO must drive the mandate for innovation though the entire management team all the way to each individual worker such that everyone understands the corporate agenda and what is their personal contribution to the corporate goals.
Here are a few key indicators that a company is serious about making “innovation” a core competence:
Investment in People
High performance innovation organizations recognize the knowledge workers need to be equipped to deliver on their innovation goals. Organizations that are leaders in innovation practice the development of their internal innovation capabilities by providing the kind of specific training that will examine and foster “best practice.” Executives must ensure that the mission of developing these fundamental skills has a defined home in the organization.
Meaningful Recognition Program
To encourage any new behavior it is important to reward the behavior you want. Contributions, no matter how small, must be publicly rewarded for their efforts. Whatever the method, it is important for those involved in pushing innovation ahead feel that their contribution is highly valued by the corporation.
Investment in Infrastructure to Support Sustainable Innovation
The easier you make it for your knowledge workers to adopt the disciplines of repeatable innovation, the greater your return on innovation. This infrastructure should both support your innovation best practices though methodology support and help you leverage internal and external knowledge sources.
Clear Communication of Corporate Objectives
All too often investment is wasted on ideas that are doomed from the start because they are not aligned with the needs of the company. Innovation workers must understand how their role contributes to the corporate goals if they are to be able to integrate corporate strategy into their evaluation of possible innovation paths.
Promotion of the Value of Innovation
Workers need to know that their efforts have made a difference. Managers need to know that they are meeting objectives. Executives need to understand how innovation execution is driving corporate value. Measure your innovation success and make the results known. Executives must keep their team members informed to achieve maximum performance. This type of communication not only inspires employees and makes them feel proud of their accomplishments, but also motivates them by making it clear that the company values results.
Pervasive Innovation
To build a truly sustainable innovation culture, workers must practice innovation in everything they do. Constantly employing innovation best practices for small challenges, will prepare them to tackle the big issues. For managers, this means they must support innovation workers in this activity and not subtly discourage the development of innovation competence by pushing employees to short circuit the solution process. Executives must show their commitment to doing things right the first time.
As you can see, there are many ways that management can drive the growth of the sustainable culture of innovation that will put their company in the ranks of the high performance innovation companies. Executives, starting with the CEO, must recognize that they cannot be absent from the innovation program. They must lead it. They must make the call for a strong innovation culture and program and then follow through with monitoring execution and making sure the innovation mission is a front burner issue for all employees.