The New Innovation Agenda

Dateline: February 26, 2016

For many firms, the innovation agenda is now as much about human capital investment as delivering new products and services.

Welcome to our Friday WRAP – one thought-provoking idea to think about over the weekend.  Innovating is the new life breath of most organizations…Innovate or fade into oblivion seems to be the mantra.  How do successful companies keep the innovation process going along side all other operational activities?  Recently, Michael Schrage published a thoughtful article in Harvard Business Review titled Companies Are Now Making Innovation Everyone’s Job.  He suggests,

Increasingly, the organization’s innovation champions and evangelists are becoming its “innovation trainers.” I see their briefs extended to hiring, onboarding, and creating KPI dashboards. These constitute the firm’s new innovation funnel….This new function relies less on bold, big-buck (or -euro) initiatives than on pervasively influencing how their firms value, and evaluate, innovation behavior. These folks effectively rebrand how people perceive innovation inside the enterprise. Being diligent, dedicated, and super-competent used to be enough to get the job or win the promotion. These companies now want prospective hires and promotion candidates to show they’re ready, willing, and able to collaboratively create new value. Innovation attitudes, not just aptitudes, matter. The ethos is as much about culture as competence.

How do you stimulate and keep innovation alive in your organization?

That’s a WRAP!  Have a fantastic weekend.

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