Power Point Presentation On Textbook
Leadership for Innovation
Leadership
FOR
Innovation
Three Essential Skill Sets for
Leading Employee-Driven Innovation
David Masumba
NEW YORK
LONDON • NASHVILLE • MELBOURNE • VANCOUVER
Leadership FOR Innovation Three Essential Skill Sets for Leading Employee-Driven Innovation
© 2019 David Masumba
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To my mother, Doris, uncle J.K. and mama Eunice
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Contents
Preface
Introduction
PART I: INNOVATIVE THINKING SKILLS
Understanding Innovative inking Skills
Approaches: How Do You Develop Innovative inking Skills?
Why Is It Important for Organizational Leaders to Have
Innovative inking Abilities in Leading Workforce Innovation?
PART II: INNOVATION ENGAGEMENT SKILLS
De�nition of Innovation Engagement Skills
Importance of Innovation Engagement Skills
Description and Expression of Innovation Engagement
Initiatives
Innovation Engagement Committees
Application of Innovation Engagement Approaches
PART III: INNOVATION MANAGEMENT SKILLS
Ability to Engage in Innovation-Oriented Planning Activities
Ability to Identify Areas for Innovation Focus
Ability to Create and Implement Innovation-Performance Job
Descriptions and Job Speci�cations
Ability to Create Innovation-Challenge Questions
Ability to Formulate Innovation Goals
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Ability to Design and Implement an Effective Management for
Innovation Ideas
Ability to Measure and Report Innovation Performance
Summary
About the Author
Selected References
Notes
Index
Preface
Ability to drive innovation in organizations is one of the top competencies required of organization leaders today. —IBM Institute for Business Value
Not long ago, innovation in organizations was perceived as the responsibility
of speci�c functional units and professionals. at’s no longer the case; study
after study has revealed that many organizations now perceive innovation as
everyone’s job, from senior leadership to the most junior employee. However, a
number of studies and analysts have observed that although organizations are
urging their entire workforce to get involved in driving innovation, many
organizational leaders do not seem to have the skill sets required to make every
employee responsible for driving innovation. So what skill sets should senior
executives, managers, and supervisors possess to lead and effectively systemize
innovation across all functional units of the organization?
For more than ten years, I’ve been engaged in innovation training and
consulting, offered training programs, and interacted with organizational
leaders on the topic of innovation leadership. I’ve also conducted reviews of a
number of studies and publications related to leading workforce innovation.
My experience is that most organizations and publications have a narrow
perspective of the skill sets organizational leaders should possess. In many
cases, the de�nition of these skill sets is based only on leadership-related traits
and behaviors. is book contests such a narrow view point and suggests a
broad perspective on skill sets for leading workforce innovation. is book is a
culmination of research, experiences with clients, lessons from the practitioner
world learned through various public training programs that I’ve conducted in
different countries over the years, and my interaction with professionals at
conferences and meetings. e book suggests three categories of innovation
skill sets that are essential for leading employee-driven innovation: innovative
thinking skills, innovation engagement skills, and innovation management
skills.
Introduction
Innovative companies don’t just happen; they are consciously cultivated at the leadership level, and then throughout the organization.
—Jeff Dyer, Horace Beesley Professor of Strategy, Brigham Young
University
Overview ere are �ve vital aspects of innovation that need to be understood from the
onset. First, workforce innovation implies employee-driven innovation in
which everyone in the organization is involved. In other words, employee-
driven innovation aims at realizing a meaningful level of workforce
engagement in advancing innovation across all functional units of an
organization. e second vital aspect is that study after study has observed that
in the last ten years or so, company executives across the globe have
consistently ranked innovation as one of the top-priority strategies for growth,
competitiveness, and survival. ird, the culture of innovation does not occur
naturally; it occurs only if a climate for innovation is created. Fourth, a climate
for innovation across the organization can be created only by implementing
innovation-support initiatives on a continual basis. Fifth, many studies have
observed that conventional management models are not effective in creating a
climate for innovation in organizations. is means that there’s a need for
speci�c innovation-oriented skill sets to drive innovation across the functional
units of an organization, which is where this book comes in. It will:
i. Explain what leadership for innovation entails in the context of leading
employee-driven innovation
ii. Describe the three essential innovation skill sets required for leading
employee-driven innovation
iii. Explain how to apply the three essential innovation skill sets to build a
climate for innovation and make innovation systematic and ongoing
across functional units
is introduction lays the groundwork for future chapters by providing a
summary of the essence of the book, outlining the structure of the book, and
de�ning some key phrases and terminology. e aspects covered in the chapter
are as follows:
1. Premises
2. De�nition of leadership for innovation 3. Objectives
4. Audience
5. Interpretation and derivation of the innovation skill sets
6. Innovation-performance job descriptions and job speci�cations
7. Meaning of making innovation “systemic”
8. Structure
1. Premises e book is based on the following premises described as follows:
i. Innovation leadership is too simplistically defined. As is clear from my interactions with organizational leaders in various countries and from
reading articles in a number of publications, many seem to have
interpreted the topic of leadership for innovation in a simplistic
manner. For instance, in the 2009 report Innovation Leadership, the North Carolina-based Center for Creative Leadership described a
narrow conception of leadership for innovation consisting of the following aspects:
Organizational encouragement: An organizational environment where the leadership encourages followers to generate ideas
Lack of organizational impediments: A culture where barriers to innovation are identi�ed and removed
Leadership encouragement: An environment where workforces feel a sense of freedom in making decisions about work-related projects
Sufficient resources: Workforces should be given access to resources to advance innovation across their organizations
Freedom: Innovation thrives where workforces have the freedom to decide what work to do and how to do it
Challenging work: Innovation thrives where workforces feel a sense of being challenged by their work
Teamwork and collaboration: People in innovative organizations should have open communication and support for one another’s
ideas across the organization
ese factors characterize a one-sided perspective that is insufficient
to create the conditions for advancing innovation in organizations
because, as we shall see later, the social-psychological perspective on
leadership is just one of the contributions needed to develop enabling
conditions for workforce innovation. In addition to the social-
psychological aspects of leadership, other necessary components include
“hearts-and-minds” conditions and system or structural conditions to
support workforce innovation across the organization.
e joint Leadership for Innovation report, conducted in 2005 by the United Kingdom’s Chartered Management Institute and Advanced
Institute of Management Research, argues that organizational leadership
can affect innovation in more complex ways than would be implied by a
focus solely on inspirational leadership. However, this report presents
another simplistic perspective on what constitutes leadership for
innovation. e report acknowledges that there are two broad
conceptions of what leaders do in relation to creating organizational
conditions for innovation to thrive: leaders (1) motivate and inspire
their followers and (2) design organizational contexts for innovation to
thrive. e report outlines and describes various social-psychological
processes (such as trait and style approaches to leadership) that leaders
can apply to steer and advance innovation in organizations. However, if
you take a closer look, the report does not explain how the various
conventional trait and style leadership approaches can be applied in the
context of instilling innovation performance in the hearts and minds of
workforces. us, the perspective is too simplistic. In addition, the
conception of leadership that the report refers to as contributing to
creating enabling conditions for innovation is the “structuralist or
management approach to leadership.” However, the report narrows the
structuralist perspective to mean the creation of effective innovation-
development processes in organizations. e report does not mention
creating and adopting innovation-support systems and practices, such as
corporate innovation strategies, innovation-performance reports,
functional-unit innovation-performance goals, workforce innovation-
performance rewards, alignment of innovation-performance and talent-
recruitment practices, development of innovation-performance
succession-planning frameworks, and other innovation-support
requirements that are critical to advancing workforce innovation across
the functional units of an organization.
e position of this book in relation to these two perspectives is that
it’s difficult to leverage workforce innovation to drive meaningful
pro�tability, corporate growth, and competitiveness if leaders possess a
narrow perspective on innovation skill sets.
ii. Organizations are now seeking to broaden innovation capabilities across
functional units. e conventional approach to innovation in organizations has been that innovation is the responsibility of speci�c
functional units and professionals, yet studies have revealed that in
many cases, the functional units responsible for innovation struggle to
meet the organization’s demands for innovation. Further, most
innovative companies—such as Apple, Amazon, Google, Tesla,
Microsoft, IBM, GE, 3M, Net�ix, Samsung Group, Toyota, and Uber
—require multiple innovation pipelines to satisfy their innovation and
growth demands. Also, innovative companies are usually at risk of
losing their top innovation talent. For example, according to a Forbes
online publication, Apple lost about 150 innovation talent and
executives to Tesla between 2008 and 2015. In order to mitigate the
effect of losing innovation talent on the innovation performance of
functional units, organizations are now broadening innovation
capabilities across functional units and making innovation every
employee’s responsibility. According to a 2010 Institute for Corporate
Productivity study on the topic of innovation, virtually all 641
respondents representing organizations with a thousand or more
employees agreed that innovation had increased in importance across
their organizations and further agreed that innovation would become
more important in the next �ve years. In a 2012 interview with Roger
Crockett, a veteran business writer and contributor to Harvard Business
Review, on innovation and culture at Procter & Gamble, the then CEO
and chairman Bob McDonald described how innovation is perceived at Procter & Gamble: “Innovation is perceived as the lifeblood of the
company. We talk about the fact that we have �ve strengths. One of
those strengths is innovation. We expect every employee to deliver
innovation.” McDonald continued, “So, whether you’re the worker in a
factory line, you’re expected to innovate the process of making the
product. Whether you’re an executive assistant in a general office, you’re
expected to innovate that job in order to continue to improve our
ability to touch and improve lives, which is our purpose.”
iii. Organizational leaders face difficulties in creating a culture of innovation. One of the challenges that today’s business leaders are facing in relation
to employee-driven innovation is a lack of the right leadership skill sets
needed to make innovation systemic and permanent across functional
units. e 2005 Leadership for Innovation report by the Chartered Management Institute and Advanced Institute of Management
Research, mentioned earlier, notes that leadership is required to create
the right organizational climate where innovation thrives. A 2007 joint
study of 293 senior executives from 17 industrial sectors across the
global corporations by US-based management consulting �rm, Oliver
Wyman in conjunction with the Economist Intelligence Unit revealed
that three out of four executives believed that an innovation strategy
was critical to their company`s success. However, the study revealed
that fewer than half of the companies were creating a climate that
fosters innovation. According to the study, the executives agreed that
creating a culture of innovation across functional units was the major
challenge to their leadership. e executives also agreed that the biggest
obstacle was the shortage of leaders who demonstrate through their
behavior that innovation is essential to business success. In the same
study more than half of the respondents indicated that leaders in their
companies did not establish a clear purpose and supportive climate for
innovation. And the 2010 Institute for Corporate Productivity report
notes that the challenge that many senior and junior organizational
leaders face is that they do not have the right skill sets to lead and
systemize innovation across the organization. Other reports have also
revealed that in a bid to promote innovation practices across functional
units of their organizations, many managers merely urge or encourage
workforces, through verbal or written communications, to be
innovative. My experience with managing workforces and interacting
with managers across the globe is that mere encouragement of
workforces to be innovative gives you zero results in terms of innovation
performance from those workforces. In a 2017 study by PwC that
surveyed 1,200 executives in 44 countries, one of the aspects mentioned
in this report is that over the past dozen years (of conducting similar
studies), the studies have consistently revealed that majority of
companies are implementing operating models aimed at involving all
functional units in advancing innovation. Similarly, other studies have
revealed that systemizing and making innovation permanent across the
functional units of an organization in a valuable way takes more than
just verbal encouragement of workforces to be innovative. It requires an
integrated approach that includes (1) appropriate skills and abilities of
top leadership to develop the right initiatives and programs aimed at
instilling emotional interest and passion for innovation in the hearts
and minds of their workforces and (2) the right systems for advancing
and sustaining innovation performance in the organization. It’s this
kind of leadership approach that many organizational leaders lack.
iv. Current conventional management models are stacked against innovation
performance. At a conference on innovation held at Harvard Business School in 2007, panelists noted that traditional management practices
have little to contribute to innovation performance. Many panelists at
this conference felt that the current conventional management models
are stacked against innovation performance. e obvious implication is
that if organizational leaders are to meaningfully contribute to
innovation performance in their organizations, they must possess the
necessary innovation skills to develop and implement crosscutting
innovation-support systems and practices to create a climate for
innovation in their organizations.
v. Leadership is the best predictor of innovation performance: Studies have revealed that leadership capabilities of an organization are critical to
creating a culture of innovation. For instance, in a 2008 survey of 600
hundred business executives, managers, and professionals by McKinsey
& company, a global management consulting �rm, respondents
suggested that leadership was the best predictor of innovation
performance. According to the survey, respondents who described their
organizations as more innovative than other companies in its industry
rated its leadership as “strong” or “very strong”. However, respondents
who belived that the ability of their organization to innovate was below
average rated the leadership capabilities of their organization as
signi�cantly lower and, in some cases, poor. e question is, if
leadership is the best predictor of innovation performance or culture of
innovation in organizations, What innovation skill sets do leaders require
to execute leadership for innovation in an effective way?
2. Definition of Leadership for Innovation e �rst question on seeing the title of the book might be, What is leadership
for innovation, anyway? is book de�nes leadership for innovation as leadership provided by individuals who possess particular innovation skill sets and the
ability to execute those skill sets to build a culture of innovation in which every
employee across the organization is involved in driving innovation.
3. Objectives is book has four objectives:
i. To identify and describe the three essential innovation skill sets for
leading workforce innovation
ii. To explain why the three innovation skill sets for leading workforce
innovation are vital
iii. To demonstrate how the three innovation skill sets can be developed
iv. To describe how the three innovation skill sets can be applied to execute
innovation-performance duties and responsibilities across the functional
units of an organization
4. Audience is book has the following intended audience:
i. Senior and midlevel managers in any sector or industry, such as
pharmaceuticals, energy, �nancial services, computing, education
services, retail, telecommunications, media services, mining,
agribusiness, food services, beverage, transport and logistics,
manufacturing, health services, and so forth
ii. Individuals being developed to take up supervisory and managerial
positions in their companies
iii. Undergraduate and graduate students aspiring to work in the corporate
world
iv. Government policy makers involved in championing innovation and
designing national innovation policies aimed at advancing innovation in
the private sector
5. Interpretation and Derivation of the Innovation Skill Sets e interpretation and derivation of the innovation skill sets involve the
following aspects:
i. Definition of Skills
Before de�ning innovation skills speci�cally, it is important to
understand the generic meaning of the word skills. e general
de�nition of skill is something you do or attain through training and repetition.
ii. Definition of Innovation Skills
From the perspective of organizational functional activities, innovation
skills can be de�ned as a combination of abilities that individuals can attain and apply in a particular organizational context to contribute
toward advancing innovation in an organization.
iii. Application
Where and how do you apply innovation skills? e premises on which
this book is based are described at the beginning of the chapter. One of
those premises is that organizations are now perceiving innovation as
everybody’s business, from the most junior in the organization to the
CEO. So in answer to the question of how and where innovation skills
are applied, innovation skills are applied in every sector, industry, and
profession and by all types of employees, irrespective of their position or
level of seniority in the organization. In other words, people are not
born with innovation skills; anybody and everybody can develop or
attain innovation skills.
iv. Categories of Innovation Skill Sets
As stated earlier, this book identi�es three categories or types of
innovation skill sets that are essential for leading workforce innovation,
namely innovative thinking skills, innovation engagement skills, and
innovation management skills. ese three categories of innovation skill sets are presented in three parts, I, II, and III respectively, with each part
focusing on a particular category.
v. Derivation of the Innovation Skill Sets
e types of innovation skill sets on which this book is based are
derived from the context of measuring or determining innovation
performance. But how is innovation performance measured?
Traditionally, innovation performance in organizations is measured in
two contexts: innovation inputs and innovation outputs. e broad characteristics of these two contexts are discussed in detail in the �nal
chapter of this book. In terms of how the innovation skills are derived
and used to formulate the three categories of innovation skill sets on
which the book is based—innovation management skills, innovation
engagement skills, and innovative thinking skills—the �rst two of the
innovation skill sets are derived from the measurement of innovation
inputs, whereas the third innovation skill set is derived from the
measurement of innovation outputs.
Innovation inputs: ere are various kinds of innovation inputs or innovation-support initiatives that are usually implemented
organization-wide to create a climate for innovation. Innovation inputs
are characterized differently in terms of human abilities and nonhuman
abilities. Some of the nonhuman abilities or capacities include research and development (R&D) spending and implementation of innovation-
support technologies. However, in most cases, the climate for
innovation in organizations is created by implementing speci�c
innovation-support initiatives that are generated by direct application of
human abilities or capacities. e two innovation skill sets derived from
the characteristics or context of innovation inputs are outlined as
follows:
Innovation management skills: In a nutshell, innovation management skills involve creating and implementing
organization-wide innovation-support systems, such as
innovation-support strategies, innovation policies, innovation
procedures, innovation plans, innovation-development processes,
and workforce innovation skill-development programs.
Innovation engagement skills: is innovation skill set involves the application of skills and abilities by organizational leaders to
create and implement organization-wide innovation-support
initiatives aimed at speci�cally engaging and instilling innovation
in the hearts and minds of workforces.
Innovation outputs: e term innovation outputs refers to the metrics used to measure the outcome or result of implementing different forms
of and approaches to innovation-support initiatives across the
organization. Metrics for characterizing innovation outputs are
translated in different contexts and terminologies depending on how an
organization characterizes and de�nes the innovation output metrics.
Examples of innovation outputs include innovations (developed from
innovative ideas) and also the revenues generated from innovations.
us, the generation of diverse innovative ideas by workforces that
emanates from the innovative thinking abilities of workforces is also an
innovative output. ese abilities are normally developed over time
through deliberate and speci�c efforts and approaches at the individual
and corporate levels, such as those discussed in part I of this book. In
other words, generation of innovative ideas on a continual basis by
workforces does not happen naturally; it requires developing and
nurturing innovative thinking abilities, which in turn in�uence the
generation of different types and degrees of innovative ideas in the
context of the functional activities of an organization. erefore, the
category of innovation skill sets derived from innovation output is
innovative thinking skills. Part I demonstrates how organizational
leaders can leverage their innovative thinking skills to build and lead a
culture of innovation across an organization’s value chain.
e simple diagram in �gure 0-1 illustrates the interplay of
innovation inputs and innovation outputs.
Figure 0-1. Innovation inputs and outputs
6. Innovation-Performance Job Descriptions and Job
Specifications It’s important to understand that, like any type of skill, innovation skills are
not applied in a vacuum; they are applied in job positions. So if organizational
leaders are to effectively and competently apply all three types of innovation
skill sets, it’s vital that leaders understand the context in which each of the
three innovation skill sets should be applied to lead employee-driven
innovation across the organization. is is why organizational leaders should
have the ability to formulate innovation-performance job descriptions and job
speci�cations, through which leadership for innovation should be expressed or
applied. us, this section looks at the de�nition and description of
innovation-performance job descriptions and job specifications. Samples of innovation-performance job descriptions and job speci�cations worksheets are
provided in chapter eleven.
i. Definition: What are innovation-performance duties and
responsibilities? Innovation-performance duties and responsibilities can
be separated into three categories: (1) innovative thinking–related duties
and responsibilities, (2) innovation engagement–related duties and
responsibilities, and (3) innovation management–related duties and
responsibilities. Details on each of the three categories are as follows:
Innovative thinking–related duties and responsibilities: ese are duties and responsibilities that are focused on the identi�cation of
problems/needs and opportunities and the generation of innovative
ideas/solutions to deal with the identi�ed challenges, which
ultimately add commercial value to the organization.
Note that speci�c duties and responsibilities vary by organization
and by functional unit. In terms of functional units, innovative
ideas can be generated in either core or support functional units.
Some of the core functional units include product design and
development, manufacturing processes, market-strategy
development, and customer service. Support functional units
include human resources (HR), information technology (IT),
procurement, �nance and accounting, corporate affairs, and so
forth. Also bear in mind that innovative ideas generated in support
functional units are mainly for efficiency and cost-saving purposes.
Innovation engagement–related duties and responsibilities: ese are innovation-performance duties and responsibilities that involve the
continual application of organizational assets/resources to design
and implement communication initiatives in various media (i.e.,
various means of communication) aimed at inspiring and instilling
innovation performance in the hearts and minds of workforces
across functional units.
Innovation management–related duties and responsibilities: ese are innovation-performance duties and responsibilities that are focused
on the continual design and implementation of various innovation-
related systems, such as innovation-support strategies, innovation
policies, innovation procedures, and innovation action plans. ese
contribute to creating a culture of innovation across the functional
units of an organization.
ii. Definition: What are innovation-performance job specifications?
Innovation-performance job speci�cations are the characteristics,
abilities, knowledge, and experience needed to perform duties and
responsibilities related to innovation performance.
Innovation-performance job speci�cations are categorized into three
types: innovative thinking, innovation engagement, and innovation
management. Brief details on each of the three abilities are as follows:
Innovative thinking job specifications: ese are the characteristics, knowledge, abilities, and experience required to perform innovative
thinking–related duties and responsibilities.
Innovation engagement job specifications: ese are the characteristics, knowledge, abilities, and experience required to perform innovation
engagement–related duties and responsibilities.
Innovation management job specifications: ese are the characteristics, knowledge, abilities, and experience required to
perform innovation management–related duties and responsibilities.
iii. Worksheets
e creation of worksheets for innovation-performance job
descriptions and job speci�cations is covered in chapter 11.
7. Meaning of Making Innovation “Systemic” Making innovation “systemic” means ensuring that innovation is made a
permanent organizational habit across all the functional units of an
organization by continually building different contexts of organizational
capabilities for supporting a culture of innovation across the organization.
Such capabilities include the following:
i. Innovation-promotion initiatives for inspiring and instilling innovation
in the hearts and minds of workforces
ii. Continual implementation of programs aimed at enhancing the
innovative thinking abilities of workforces
iii. Continual implementation of organization-wide innovation systems,
such as functional and corporate innovation-support strategies,
innovation-support policies, and innovation-support procedures
Making innovation systemic means that the top leadership of an
organization must ensure that each functional unit plays a key role within the
context of its functional activities to develop strategies and initiatives that lead
to the continual �ow of diverse innovative ideas, ultimately resulting in growth
in terms of product offerings, revenue, and market share.
Figure 0-2. Functional units play a vital role in implementing support strategies for advancing innovation across the organization
8. Structure is section provides an overview of the book’s main themes and outlines how
the structure of the book is presented. Figure 0-2 illustrates the role that
functional units play in advancing innovation across an organization.
e implication of the diagram in �gure 0-2 is that leaders across functional
units should lead their functional units with purpose to play a key role in
contributing to making innovation systemic across the organization. is can
be accomplished by undertaking innovation-support initiatives aimed at
advancing innovation in their respective functional units. However, making
innovation systemic is not easy. Although there are innovation titans—such as
Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, IBM, GE, Procter & Gamble, BMW, and
Microsoft—that have succeeded in making innovation systemic, many
companies, as indicated earlier, still face difficulties in systemizing innovation
across functional units. at is why the essence of this book is the provision of
innovation skill sets that organizational leaders can build and apply to make
innovation systemic across an organization’s functional units. e skill sets, as
stated earlier, are innovative thinking skills, innovation engagement skills, and
innovation management skills. e importance of each of the three skill sets
can be likened to three pieces of a puzzle, in which each piece, as illustrated in
�gure 0-3, plays a vital role in holding the puzzle together.
Figure 0-3. Innovation skill sets
What this means is that each of the three categories or types of innovation
skill sets is essential in creating a culture of innovation across the organization.
e implication is that without one of the skill sets, the ability to lead
innovation across functional units will be impeded. e three types of
innovation skill sets are presented in parts I, II, and III. Each part describes, in
detail, what each innovation skill set entails in relation to leading workforce
innovation, and how to develop and apply or express each of the essential
innovation skill sets. e next subsection brie�y outlines each of the three
parts.
Structure Brief summaries of each of the three parts are as follows:
PART I: e �rst category of innovation skill set is innovative thinking
skills. is section focuses on how organizational leaders can translate their
innovative thinking abilities into instruments that inspire workforces to
develop innovative thinking abilities of their own. Part I comprises the
following topics:
Aspects that make up innovative thinking skills
How to develop innovative thinking skills
Why innovative thinking skills are important for leading workforce
innovation in organizations
PART II: e second category of innovation skill sets is innovation
engagement skills. is innovation skill set is based on the following two
aspects:
First, because innovative thinking skills can be attained or learned by
workforces, one of the vital roles of organizational leaders is exhibiting leadership approaches and styles that inspire and educate workforces
across functional units to develop innovative abilities. e tools in this
chapter are aimed at helping leaders achieve that objective.
Second, in large part, innovation is a “hearts-and-minds” concept that
requires instilling the value of innovation in workforces and engaging
them in innovation on a continual basis, meaning that it is vital for
organizational leaders to possess skills for engaging workforces if the
workforces are to own the process of advancing innovation across the
organization. In other words, if an organization desires to make
innovation everyone`s job, from the CEO to the most junior staffer,
organizational leaders require skills to inspire and instill innovation in
the hearts and minds of workforces, as well as tools to educate
workforces about several aspects and concepts of innovation, especially
that the term innovation is grossly misunderstood in organizations.
us, part II describes what innovation engagement skills entail and how
organizational leaders can consistently develop and apply approaches and
techniques for realizing employee engagement in advancing innovation
across the organization.
PART III: e third category of innovation skill sets essential for leading
workforce innovation is innovation management skills. e basis for innovation management skills is that inspiring workforces alone is not
enough to create a climate for workforce innovation and make innovation
habitual across functional units. erefore, organizational leaders need to
build innovation-support systems across all the functional units of the
organization. is is where innovation management skills come into play
because they are needed for building various innovation systems across
functional units. us, part III describes some examples of innovation
management skills and how these skills are applied to drive workforce
innovation.
PART I
INNOVATIVE THINKING SKILLS
Overview
Part I covers the �rst of the three categories of innovation skill sets essential for
leading workforce innovation: innovative thinking skills. is part looks at
what the skill set entails and how to translate the skills into instruments of
inspiring and leading workforces to develop innovative thinking abilities so
that they can contribute to building a culture of innovation across the
organization. Part I is structured in three chapters, as follows:
Chapter 1: Understanding Innovative inking Skills
Chapter 2: Approaches: How Do You Develop Innovative inking
Skills?
Chapter 3: Why Is It Important for Organizational Leaders to Have
Innovative inking Abilities in Leading Workforce Innovation?
T
CHAPTER 1
Understanding Innovative Thinking Skills
his chapter will cover the following concepts: (1) the de�nition of
innovative thinking skills, (2) the importance of understanding what
innovative thinking skills entail, (3) the interpretation and expression of
innovative thinking skills, and (4) the expression of innovative thinking skills
in the context of support functional units.
1. e Definition of Innovative inking Skills To understand what innovative thinking skills are, it’s important to �rst de�ne
pertinent terms. We begin with the de�nition of an innovative person.
According to literature on innovation, an innovative person is one who
possesses abilities and characteristics that drive innovative performance. e
next question would then be, What is innovative performance? An
understanding of what innovative performance entails is necessary to interpret
or understand what innovative thinking skills are. us, in order to understand
what innovative performance is, it’s important to �rst establish the meaning of
innovation. is book de�nes innovation as a process that involves the
following:
Figure 1-1. Definition of innovation
is de�nition of innovation forms the basis for interpreting what
innovative performance is. You can see that the �rst and second parts are an
expression of innovative performance. erefore, innovative performance can be
de�ned as an expression of innovative thinking skills and abilities in response
to a need or problem in the particular context of an organization’s functional
activity. Take a look at the following story.
A senior executive at IBM contributed to building a Life Sciences
Unit at the company. Anne Robertson (not her real name) was in
charge of a unit she had built from scratch to its current status of
more than two thousand employees. Robertson learned that her
mother had developed complications during a health treatment
when she reacted adversely to a particular medication. Although
Anne’s mother’s records were updated to warn doctors not to repeat
the treatment, just three days later, another doctor missed that
warning and gave her the very same medicine. Robertson was
shocked when she found out how common and widespread the
problem was in US hospitals. According to reports, more than one
hundred thousand people die every year in US hospitals because of
medical errors such as incorrect medication, incorrect dosage,
inefficient diagnostics, duplicated procedures, operations on the
wrong side of the body, and so forth, and the problem has been
going on for many years. Robertson started thinking about how
IBM could solve the problem in an innovative way or in a way not
seen on the market before. Today, IBM’s Life Sciences Unit
manufactures and supplies IT systems that are helping hospitals
manage their patient data more effectively.
is IBM story illustrates the connection between noticing a problem and
generating an innovative idea, which, in essence, is an expression of innovative
performance. Having described the meaning of innovation and how it’s linked
to the meaning of innovative performance, it’s clear now that the interpretation
of innovative thinking skills is based on the meanings of the terms innovation
and innovative performance. at being said, innovative thinking skills are
de�ned as a process that involves two aspects:
i. e ability to identify problems, needs, and challenges
ii. e ability to turn the problems and needs into innovative opportunities
by generating innovative ideas or solutions (i.e., solutions not seen on the
market before) to �x the identi�ed problems or needs
2. e Importance of Understanding What Innovative inking
Skills Entail Why is it important for leaders to understand what innovative thinking skills
entail?
i. Innovative thinking is now a crosscutting practice in organizations.
According to a number of studies, it’s widely believed across industries
(e.g., manufacturing, technology, �nancial, hospitality, health, aviation,
auto, retail) that innovation is a predictor of growth and pro�tability.
us, in an effort to scale innovation performance across all functional
units, many organizations are adopting the practice of making
innovation every employee’s business. e introduction to this book
cites a 2010 study by the US-based Institute for Corporate Productivity
on the topic of innovation in which virtually all 641 respondents
representing organizations with a thousand or more employees agreed
that innovation had increased in importance across their organizations
and further predicted that innovation would become even more
important in coming years. In order to scale the practice of innovative
thinking across the organization, one vital aspect that the top leadership
has to clarify and instill in the hearts and minds of workforces is that
innovative thinking is not an area reserved for speci�c persons or
functional units. at is, innovative thinking is a skill that all employees
can attain or develop, irrespective of their level in the organizational
structure or the functional unit under which they fall. is fact is
backed by numerous studies. To instill this message in the hearts and
minds of workforces and in�uence or drive innovative thinking
practices across functional units, �rst and foremost, it is important for
organizational leaders to understand what innovative thinking skills
entail. Further, the message can be leveraged by leadership as a
motivational instrument for rallying the workforces to contribute
toward generating diverse innovative ideas and to help build a culture of
innovation across all the functional units of the organization.
ii. Understanding what innovative thinking entails helps leaders to
interpret how innovative thinking skills are expressed. According to the
Human Capital Trends—2012 report by Deloitte LLP, many companies
are now de�ning innovation broadly to include such aspects as services,
processes, business models, communication, and cost-structure
improvements across the enterprise. Similarly, in an article published in
the online innovation management magazine InnovationManagement.se,
Jean-Philippe Deschamps, a renowned innovation expert and professor
at Switzerland’s prestigious IMD management school, observed that one
of the key roles of management in governing innovation is to ensure
that innovation is de�ned very broadly across the organization. us,
understanding innovative thinking skills helps leaders to interpret how
innovative thinking skills are applied and expressed across the various
components of an organization’s value chain such as research and
development, design, manufacturing, sales, marketing, IT,
procurement, distribution, HR, �nance and accounting.
3. e Interpretation and Expression of Innovative inking Skills is section illustrates how innovative thinking skills can be expressed and
interpreted.
Here is an example of how innovative thinking skills can be expressed and
interpreted in the context of each of the functional units of DM Personal Care
Products, a �ctitious company that manufactures a variety of personal care
products.
Step 1: Identify core and support functional units of DM Personal Care
Products. Let’s assume the company has the following functional units:
Core functional units Product-development unit, with the following segments:
Body-lotions segment
Skin-cleansing segment
Hair-care segment
Hand-washing segment
Manufacturing-processes department (the manufacturing-processes
department comprises the same segments as the product-development
unit)
Marketing department, with the following units:
Pricing unit
Product-promotion unit
Product-delivery unit
New-markets unit
Packaging unit
Customer service department
Support functional units Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
Step 2: Create worksheets for interpreting innovative thinking skills in the
context of the identi�ed core and support functional units.
Worksheets 1-1 through 1-5 illustrate how to interpret innovative thinking
skills in the context of the identi�ed business segments and functional units.
Worksheets 1-1 through 1-4 cover the interpretation of innovative thinking
skills for core functional units. Worksheet 1-5, introduced in the following
subsection, is for support functional units.
Worksheet 1-1. Interpretation of innovative thinking skills in the
product-development functional unit
Product categories and segments
How do you define or express innovative thinking skills in the context of the product-development functional unit?
Body lotions Innovative thinking skills in the context of the product-development functional unit would be interpreted as the ability to do the following: • Identify problems and needs relative to the product categories and
segments of the product-development functional unit • Turn the problems and needs into innovation opportunities by
generating new product ideas or solutions (i.e., product solutions not seen on the market before) to �x the identi�ed problems or needs
Skin cleansing
Hair care
Hand washing
Worksheet 1-2. Interpretation of innovative thinking skills in the
manufacturing-processes functional unit
Manufacturing-processes categories
How do you interpret or express innovative thinking skills in the context of the manufacturing-processes functional unit?
Body lotions Innovative thinking skills in the context of the manufacturing- processes functional unit would be interpreted as the ability to do the following: • Identify problems and needs relative to the four product categories
of the manufacturing-processes unit by use of appropriate techniques
• Turn the problems and needs into innovation opportunities by generating new manufacturing-processes ideas or solutions (i.e., manufacturing-processes solutions not seen on the market before) to �x the identi�ed problems or needs
Skin cleansing
Hair care
Hand washing
Worksheet 1-3. Interpretation of innovative thinking skills in the
marketing functional unit
Marketing components How do you interpret or express innovative thinking skills in the context of the marketing functional unit?
Pricing unit Innovative thinking skills in the context of the pricing unit would be de�ned or expressed as the ability to do the following:
• Identify a pricing opportunity within the pricing principles of the company’s business model
• Generate innovative pricing ideas (i.e., not seen on the market before)
Product-promotion unit Innovative thinking skills in the context of the product-promotion unit would be de�ned or expressed as the ability to do the following:
• Identify a product-promotion opportunity, either in a completely new market or in a customer segment within the existing market, for the organization’s existing products or services
• Generate an innovative product-promotion strategy (i.e., not implemented by the organization or competitors before)
Product-delivery unit Innovative thinking skills in the context of the product-delivery unit would be interpreted as the ability to do the following:
• Identify problems or needs within the product-delivery unit
• Generate an innovative product-delivery idea (i.e., not implemented by the organization or competitors before)
New-markets unit Innovative thinking skills in the context of the new-markets unit would be de�ned or expressed as the ability to do the following:
• Identify a market opportunity, in either a completely new market or a customer segment within the existing market, not served by competitors or the organization’s existing products or services
• Generate an innovative new-markets strategy (i.e., not implemented by the organization or competitors before)
Packaging unit Innovative thinking skills in the context of the packaging unit would be interpreted as the ability to do the following:
• Identify problems or needs within the packaging unit
• Generate an innovative packaging idea (i.e., not implemented by the organization or competitors before)
Worksheet 1-4. Interpretation of innovative thinking skills in the
customer service functional unit
Functional unit How do you interpret or express innovative thinking skills in the context of the customer service functional unit?
Customer service Innovative thinking skills in the context of the customer service functional unit would be interpreted as the ability to do the following:
• Identify a problem or need within the customer service unit or segments
• Generate innovative customer service ideas (i.e., not implemented by the organization or competitors before)
4. e Expression of Innovative inking Skills in the Context of
Support Functional Units As noted earlier, the support functional units of DM Personal Care Products
include the following:
HR department
IT department
Procurement
Finance and accounting department
Corporate affairs department
It is important for organizational leaders to understand that the context of
innovative thinking skills in support functional units involves the ability to
generate cost-saving innovative ideas. Worksheet 1-5 provides an example of
how to interpret and express innovative thinking skills in the context of the
previously listed support functional units of DM Personal Care Products. e
leadership must ensure that workforces understand that innovative thinking
skills in the context of the organization’s support functional units are expressed
in the context of cost-saving and efficiency purposes.
Worksheet 1-5. Innovative thinking skills in the context of support
functional units
Support functional units How do you interpret or manifest innovative thinking skills in the context
of support functional units and cost savings?
Human resources (HR) Innovative thinking skills in the context of innovative HR cost-saving ideas would be interpreted as the ability to do the following:
• Identify a cost-saving opportunity within the organization’s HR functional components
• Generate innovative cost-saving ideas in the context of HR practices
Information technology (IT) Innovative thinking skills in the context of innovative IT cost-saving ideas would be interpreted as the ability to do the following:
• Identify a cost-saving opportunity within the organization’s IT functional components
• Generate innovative cost-saving ideas in the context of IT practices
Procurement Innovative thinking skills in the context of innovative procurement cost-saving ideas would be interpreted as the ability to do the following:
• Identify a cost-saving opportunity within the organization’s procurement functional components
• Generate innovative cost-saving ideas in the context of procurement practices
Finance and accounting Innovative thinking skills in the context of innovative accounting cost- saving ideas would be interpreted as the ability to do the following:
• Identify a cost-saving opportunity within the organization’s accounting functional components
• Generate innovative cost-saving ideas in the context of accounting practices
Corporate affairs Innovative thinking skills in the context of innovative corporate affairs cost-saving ideas would be interpreted as the ability to do the following:
• Identify a cost-saving opportunity within the organization’s corporate affairs functional components
• Generate innovative cost-saving ideas in the context of corporate affairs practices
T
CHAPTER 2
Approaches: How Do You Develop Innovative
Thinking Skills?
Studies have shown that innovation is close to 80 percent learned and acquired.
—Hal Gregersen, Executive Director of the MIT Leadership Center
his chapter considers how innovative thinking skills can be developed. At
the innovation training events that I have conducted, I’m usually asked
questions such as the following: What are the characteristics of innovative
people? How do you develop innovative thinking skills? On most occasions,
these questions would begin on a low note but end up in a very passionate
discussion among training delegates. Opinions would usually range from
innovative thinking being an inborn attribute to it being an attainable ability.
e long-held view of experts in the �elds of psychology and innovation is that
humans have billions of brain cells and great creative capacity. Implying that,
generally, people have an amazing potential for innovative thinking; however,
most people do not automatically have the ability to tap into the brain’s
creative and innovative potential. e question is, then, what approaches can be
applied to develop innovative thinking skills and the ability to tap into innovative potential? To answer this question, this section looks at two aspects: (1) the importance of understanding approaches that organizational leaders can use to
foster the development of innovative thinking skills and (2) examples of
approaches for building innovative thinking skills.
1. e Importance of Understanding Approaches that
Organizational Leaders Can Use to Foster the Development of
Innovative inking Skills Why is it important for organizational leaders to understand approaches that
can be applied to build innovative thinking skills? e point made so far in this
section is that every person in an organization has the potential to build
innovative thinking abilities and to innovate in the context of the
organization’s functional activities. at said, it’s important for organizational
leaders to understand approaches for developing innovative thinking skills so
that they are able to enact strategies and programs aimed at motivating,
inspiring, and supporting workforces to attain innovative thinking abilities and
contribute to the goals of the organization for functional-unit and corporate
innovation.
2. Examples of Approaches for Building Innovative inking
Skills What are some of the approaches to building innovative thinking skills?
Numerous studies have been conducted—and many suggestions and opinions
offered—on the various approaches that innovative entrepreneurs use to
develop or improve their innovative thinking skills. One of these studies is a CNN six-year-long innovation research project conducted by professors from
Harvard Business School, INSEAD, and Brigham Young University and
published in 2009. e CNN study, which included more than three thousand
executives and �ve hundred innovative entrepreneurs, identi�ed six skills and
characteristics that enhance innovative thinking abilities and separate the so-
called blue-sky innovators from the rest: associating, questioning, observing,
experimenting, networking, and discovering. Some of the CEOs and entrepreneurs who score high in these abilities include Michael Dell, Michael
Lazaridis, and Pierre Omidyar. e following subsection looks at how these six
skills can be applied.
Application of the Study Findings e main focus of this section is not to reproduce the �ndings of the
aforementioned study but to use the �ndings as a basis for suggesting
approaches and techniques that can be applied to develop some of the
characteristics of innovative people cited in the study. An outline of the
characteristics and how to develop them follows:
i. Associating: e CNN study found that associating was one of the characteristics of innovative entrepreneurs. According to the dictionary
de�nition, associating means “to combine, to interlace, to intertwine, to bring into relation, or to connect.” In the context of innovative
thinking, how is the characteristic of associating developed so that it can
be leveraged to contribute to innovative thinking abilities?
Organizational leaders can utilize various resources and communication
techniques to urge and encourage workforces to regularly use the power
of imagination to link associations and connections between unrelated
things to generate ideas to solve a problem. In other words, leaders can
urge workforces to be regularly engaged in the practice of interlacing
and intertwining ideas from different areas or �elds to solve a particular
problem. Many inventions and innovations have been developed by
connecting ideas from very different �elds to solve a problem. For
instance, ideas that were developed for computers have been used in cell
phones. Products that were meant to solve a particular problem have
serendipitously solved other problems. For instance, at the time of
writing this book, I was also working on my small invention called the
CT Holder. When I was putting together ideas for this small kitchen
device, I found myself “importing” an idea that had been used on a
device in a very different context for my kitchen device invention.
ii. Questioning: e second characteristic or ability revealed in the study
was questioning. e dictionary de�nition of questioning is “an expression of inquiry, asking and showing curiosity with the view of
obtaining answers and insight.” In the context of innovation,
questioning could be interpreted as a mental activity that involves
showing curiosity, examining, and asking questions to explore an issue
for the purpose of obtaining particular insight with the view of �nding
an innovative solution by generating an innovative idea. In terms of how one can build the characteristic of questioning, leaders should use
various communication techniques to regularly encourage workforces to
build habits and practices that involve showing curiosity, examining,
and asking questions to explore insights. Leaders should also help
workforces by creating capacity-building programs and tools aimed at
enhancing the innovation-related questioning abilities of their
workforces. Some of the training programs could focus on things like
how to formulate and use simple questions that challenge common
practices by asking “Why?” or “Why not?” or “What if?”
Chapter 12 (in part III of the book) provides an innovation-related
questioning tool called innovation-challenge questions. e innovation- challenge questions, as we shall see later, are pinpointing exploratory
questions formulated to reveal speci�c organizational or community
problems, needs, and business opportunities that require innovative
solutions.
Over the years, I have developed the practice of bouncing off what-if
questions to myself. I practice what-ifs on any challenge requiring a
solution, ranging from simple to difficult challenges and situations. For
example, when I was putting together various ideas for my simple
kitchen device invention, the CT Holder, I would generate tons of
what-ifs for each component of the device. I also use a lot of what-ifs
when developing frameworks, visual illustrations, and case studies and
when working on tasks for my books and innovation training proposals
and consulting engagements.
iii. Observing: According to the 2009 CNN study by the Harvard Business School, INSEAD, and Brigham Young University professors,
observation is a key tendency of innovative people. According to the
dictionary de�nition, observing is the action or process of watching
something or someone carefully in order to gain information. In the
context of idea generation, observing can be interpreted as an action or
process that involves watching what people actually do or what events take place during a situation for the purpose of gaining information to
develop a solution. For example, my CT Holder idea is a direct product
of observation. I generated the idea after observing, for many years, that
no product had been developed to deal with a simple (but frustrating)
challenge that people experience when undertaking the activity whose
problem the CT Holder is designed to �x. Since the device is yet to be
patented (at the time of writing this book), I cannot disclose more
details than this.
In the organizational context, the question is, How can
organizational leaders help workforces build or enhance their observation abilities? Let’s look at some of the basic aspects that need to be
understood. First is the basic fact that all people have observation
abilities that they apply on a daily basis in every aspect of life. Second, according to studies, people begin acquiring observation skills from
childhood through various activities. ird, people’s observation
abilities tend to be in�uenced by the level of emotional interest and
passion for a particular hobby, academic or professional specialty, and
any activity that earns them a livelihood. For instance, police officers
have very good observational skills for anything related to their work
(e.g police officers must learn to observe facial expressions or tone of
voice), soccer players have a high degree of observational skills for their
game, and �shermen and farmers tend to develop very good
observational skills for their occupations. e bottom line is that the
strength of our observational skills is skewed toward the areas that we
have passion for and an emotional interest in, as well as professional
specialties and occupational concentrations. No matter the type of
observational skills that one is skewed toward, there are ways to improve
observational skills, which in turn has the potential to enhance one’s
innovative thinking skills.
In terms of how organizational leaders can help their workforces to
build the characteristic of observation, leaders can use various
communication techniques to regularly encourage workforces to
develop or enhance their observation abilities. Leaders can also help
through capacity-building programs and tools aimed at enhancing the
innovation-related observation abilities of workforces. e following are
some of the general techniques that can be used to build or enhance
one’s observation skills:
Practice the attitude of observing things around you whenever you
can
Observe with curiosity, and ask yourself questions about the things
that you observe.
Practice the attitude of watching and paying attention to what
people around you are doing, and look for particular details to ask
yourself questions about
Eliminate distractions each time you are intently observing and
asking questions about something
Use various test-your-observation-skills aids, such as games, puzzles,
and visual illustrations
Develop the attitude of asking yourself questions when watching a
sports game, movie, or television show
iv. Experimenting: e fourth characteristic identi�ed by the aforementioned 2009 CNN study is that innovative entrepreneurs
regularly try out new ideas in various forms. According to the
dictionary de�nition, experimenting is a test or trial-and-error
procedure carried out with the purpose of establishing the validity of a
hypothesis. In the context of the generation of innovative ideas, the
connection is that, normally, before an innovative product or service
solution is launched on the market, experimenting with a prototype
takes place to establish the innovation’s efficiency and effectiveness.
Whether small or large, complex or simple, one of the common factors
in all the products and services offered in the various industry sectors—
such as food, fashion, electronics, aircraft, books, furniture, and
transportation—is that they undergo an experimentation or prototype
procedure before they are �nally adopted for use. e purpose of
experimentation is to ensure that the product, service, process, or other
innovation ful�lls the purpose for which it was invented and developed,
as well as to ensure that the product or service meets regulatory
requirements. And because experimentation processes usually involve a
lot of thinking, analysis, tweaking, and generation of ideas to improve
the product or service under consideration, the process has the potential
to enhance one’s creativity and innovative thinking ability. at being
said, What is the role of organizational leaders in helping workforces to
leverage the practice of experimenting to enhance their innovative thinking
abilities? First, because experiments and prototypes are a test or trial procedure, they provide an opportunity for generating ideas; leaders can
use various communication techniques to regularly instill the bene�ts of
conducting experiments to enhance one’s innovative thinking abilities
in the hearts and minds of the workforces.
Second, leaders should constantly inform their workforces about
some of the approaches and techniques that one can engage in to
practice with experiments and prototypes, and where possible, the
organization should provide resources with information on
experimenting activities. For example, a simple approach to
experimenting is to use easily accessible materials, such as paper and
duct tape, to illustrate an idea. I’ve used paper and duct tape to
illustrate and �ne-tune simple innovative product ideas. Another
example of an experimenting activity is to disassemble and reassemble
items, thinking through how and why each of the components was
developed and included. Such items could include toys, furniture,
simple electronic gadgets, and so forth. For example, I never used to
like buying furniture from IKEA because of the hassle of assembling
and dissembling involved, which is sometimes very frustrating, but
through experimenting, I have gradually developed an interest in
dissembling and assembling stuff, which often leads to new ideas. Other
experimentation approaches can take place in the kitchen—for
example, tweaking recipes and developing recipe experiments or
prototypes. I love this too. I like mixing ingredients and coming up
with something new—sometimes my inventions taste good, and
sometimes they don’t; it’s the spirit of experimentation that’s important.
ere are a lot of examples of renowned entrepreneurs and innovators
who leveraged their attribute of experimentation to enhance their
innovative thinking abilities. For instance, according to the online
magazine called Biography, at the age of �fteen, intrigued by the expanding world of computers and gadgetry, Michael Dell purchased an
early Apple computer for the strict purpose of taking it apart to see how
it worked. is is one of the noticeable innovative traits that Michael
Dell had when he was growing up: taking stuff apart and reassembling
it. Leaders can also help through capacity-building programs and tools
aimed at enhancing the innovation-related experimenting abilities of
their workforces.
v. Networking: e �fth attribute of highly innovative people identi�ed in
the 2009 study is networking. e dictionary de�nition of networking is that it is a supportive system of sharing information and services among
individuals and groups having a common interest. Numerous analysts
on the subject of networking and innovation have suggested that
individuals and �rms that do not formally or informally exchange
knowledge limit their knowledge base and ultimately reduce their
opportunities for enhancing innovative thinking abilities. It’s important
to know that whether at the individual or institutional level, network
relationships play a vital role in advancing innovative thinking abilities.
How? For instance, there are many types of innovations—for example,
product innovations, process innovations, customer service innovations,
marketing innovations, procurement innovations—that resulted from
ideas that were originally generated from network relationships with
customers, suppliers, professional associations, trade conventions, faith-
based conventions, political conventions, and so forth. at being said,
What is the role of leaders in helping workforces to develop networking
attributes? First, leaders can use various communication techniques to regularly instill the bene�ts of networking to enhance one’s innovative
thinking abilities in the hearts and minds of workforces. Second, leaders
should constantly inform their workforces about networking
approaches and strategies and leverage networking events to enhance
innovative thinking and the generation of innovative ideas.
Organizational leaders can create illustrations or models of how various
networking relationships or events can be leveraged to enhance
innovative thinking abilities—for instance, an illustration could include
suggestions for how professional associations, customer conventions,
supplier conventions, entertainment events, faith-based networks, and
community-based networks can be leveraged to enhance innovative
thinking abilities. Leaders should also provide their workforces with
information on some of the guidelines for effective networking. For
instance, leaders should emphasize diversity. “Like minds think alike,”
the saying goes; therefore, diversity can foster innovation rather than
the status quo. Organizational leaders should ensure that workforces
understand how diversity is a factor when it comes to networking, and
they should give speci�c suggestions to workforces on how to make use
of diversity at networking events. For instance, one suggestion is that
individuals should attempt to meet and establish relationships with
people who have demographic characteristics different from their own,
for example, in terms of age, gender, race, profession, work experience,
or geographical area. Leaders can also help through capacity-building
programs and tools aimed at educating workforces about networking
and how to leverage it to enhance innovative thinking abilities.
vi. Envisioning: e sixth and last characteristic of innovative people identi�ed in the 2009 CNN study is envisioning. Great innovators have
also been referred to as great visionaries. For example, the late Steve Jobs, the chairman and cofounder of Apple, Inc., who pioneered the
personal computer industry and changed the way people think about
technology, is referred to as one of the greatest innovators and
visionaries of modern times. In the organizational context, envisioning
is the ability to understand, predict, or picture key aspects of market
(local or global) trends or patterns that affect the organization’s business
trends.
So in terms of innovative thinking, What is the role of organizational
leaders in helping workforces to develop envisioning attributes? First, leaders can use various communication techniques to regularly instill
the importance of the power of having a vision to enhance one’s innovative thinking abilities in the hearts and minds of workforces.
Second, leaders should constantly inform their workforces about some
of the techniques that can be used to build envisioning attributes to
enhance innovative thinking abilities. Some tips for enhancing
envisioning attributes are as follows:
Develop the tendency of randomly envisioning perspectives, trends,
and future scenarios in various industry sectors, such as
telecommunications, computing, automobiles, aviation, railway,
food, fashion, �lm, music, cosmetics, books, banking, insurance,
and hospitality
Read the corporate visions and strategies of companies across
industry sectors Read autobiographies of renowned innovators and
visionaries
Explore the pro�les and backgrounds of various innovations and
discoveries
Develop a habit of creating market-trend databases on particular
industry sectors
C
CHAPTER 3
Why Is It Important for Organizational Leaders
to Have Innovative Thinking Abilities in Leading
Workforce Innovation?
Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing. —Albert Schweitzer, French-German eologian
hapters 1 and 2 covered the elements of innovative thinking skills and
how they can be developed. is chapter focuses on why it is important
for organizational leaders to possess innovative thinking abilities in
leading workforce innovation. According to the old and common cliché in
leadership, “Leadership is by example.” e application of this adage is that for
a leader to expect a particular behavior from followers, the leader must be seen
to exhibit the same, or even better, behavior that he or she expects from
followers. Studies in leadership by example, also referred to as leadership role
modeling, have revealed that in most cases, followers will demonstrate a particular behavior demanded of them by their leaders only if they see their
leaders displaying a similar behavior. In other words, followers learn through
emulation or imitation. For instance, if you, as a leader, emphasize the
behavior of good time management to your teams, you must lead by excelling
in observing task deadlines so that your followers can emulate you. Similarly, if
you champion a culture of cost saving, you’ve got to lead by example by being
the �rst one stay on budget. In simple terms, you cannot champion a behavior
or culture that you don’t exhibit yourself and expect your followers to adopt it.
One of the most widely quoted aphorisms of Mahatma Gandhi is as follows:
“What we do and what we say must be in alignment.” So in a basic sense, the
essence of leadership by example is about setting standards in collaboration
with followers and, in turn, leading followers in embracing and exhibiting the
set standards.
In innovative thinking practices, the principle of role modeling is critical.
Organizational leaders have to be seen to be contributing to the generation of
innovative ideas and not just evangelizing innovation to their followers.
Leaders who model desired behaviors undoubtedly have much more of an
effect on workforces in terms of enhancing their innovative thinking abilities
than leaders who merely persuade or encourage their teams to be innovative
without them, the leaders, being seen to be innovative. Does this imply that
organizational leaders must be top innovators in their organizations or teams?
Not at all; the point is that they must be seen to re�ect, to a meaningful
degree, what they’re encouraging their workforces to do. ey must be seen to
be innovators or possess meaningful innovative thinking abilities.
At a seminar presentation, one attendee asked me whether noninnovative
individuals in organizations should not be appointed as leaders. My response
was that every organization has attributes and guidelines on which leadership-
appointment decisions are based. However, for any organization that calls itself
an innovation company and has adopted innovation as a core strategy for its
long-term growth and competitiveness, it is vitally important that
organizational leaders at different echelons of the organization exhibit
meaningful degrees of innovative thinking ability.
us, this chapter will cover three aspects: (1) the importance of innovative
thinking abilities in leading innovation in organizations, (2) translating
innovative thinking abilities into instruments for advancing innovation, and
(3) examples of leaders who have leveraged their innovative attributes to drive
innovation.
1. e Importance of Innovative inking Abilities in Leading
Innovation in Organizations Why is it important for organizational leaders to possess innovative thinking
abilities in leading innovation? ree reasons are foremost:
i. It can have a potential radiant effect on the innovative thinking of
followers. As emphasized at the beginning of this chapter, it’s vital that leaders are not seen by their followers to be mere rhetorical champions
of innovation; instead, they must be seen to be contributing toward the
innovation performance of the organization through the generation of
various types and degrees of innovative ideas. When leaders are seen to
be contributing to the generation of innovative ideas, such behavior by
the leaders can potentially inspire workforces to build innovative
thinking abilities, which will result in the generation of innovative ideas
in the context of the organization’s business model, thereby
contributing to meeting the functional and corporate innovation goals
of the organization. is chapter opened with a quote by Albert
Schweitzer, a French-German theologian who died while serving as a
missionary in the West-Central African country of Gabon at the age of
ninety in 1965. Schweitzer repeatedly said, “Example is not the main
thing in in�uencing others. It is the only thing.” is quotation
underscores why leadership role modeling is such a vital aspect when
leading people. In terms of leading workforce innovation, research
shows that nothing encourages and builds innovative abilities in
followers like leadership role models in innovative thinking abilities.
Many studies have established the relationship between the innovation-
role-modeling behavior of leaders and the innovation performance of
their followers. For instance, studies suggest that if a leader takes risks
by acting in ways that are outside conventional norms, he or she makes
a visual statement to followers that risk-taking is encouraged, and
followers are thus in�uenced to be more comfortable with taking risks;
risk-taking is a major attribute of innovative thinkers. For example, in a
2012 survey conducted by Kuczmarski & Associates, a US innovation
consulting �rm, out of the eighty-seven US-based companies sampled,
the study revealed that 62 percent of the successful �rms had their
CEOs actively involved in contributing to the pipeline of innovative
ideas, compared with only 30 percent of the unsuccessful �rms.
A study conducted in 2011 by Innovation Excellence, a US-based
innovation consulting and research �rm, looked at differences between
companies with high versus low innovation premiums and found that
senior leadership’s innovative skills made a serious difference. According
to the study, CEOs of high-innovation-premium companies scored at the 88th percentile in terms of innovative abilities. By comparison, CEOs
of average companies scored only at the 62nd percentile. e study also
found that innovative leaders spent approximately 31 percent of their
time actively engaged in innovation-centered activities, compared with only 15 percent by leaders of less innovative companies. “Doubling the
time a senior leader personally invests in getting new ideas typically
delivers signi�cant returns,” the report indicated. Another study
observed that practicing leaders and managers interested in promoting
creativity in their followers must accurately assess whether followers
perceive them as role models for creativity.
ii. e innovative thinking skills of leaders can potentially be leveraged to
attract and retain top innovation talent. As discussed previously, organizational leaders contribute to advancing innovation in their
organizations by exhibiting different types of and approaches to
innovation abilities, such as innovative thinking abilities, innovation
engagement abilities, and innovation management abilities. In terms of
innovative thinking abilities, there is evidence that leaders with strong
innovative thinking attributes tend to attract and retain top innovation
talent.
Studies have revealed that one of the reasons why many innovative
companies have been successful at innovation-led growth over a long
period is because these companies—such as Alphabet, Apple, Amazon,
Tesla, Microsoft, and GE—are driven by innovative leaders who have a
strong passion for innovation and also have strong innovative thinking
abilities. Such a reputation is a magnet for the attraction and retention
of innovation talent who, in most cases, want to join a company or stick
around longer so that they can learn unique skills on how to lead
innovative companies from their top innovative leaders. In an interview
with CNBC, Chief Financial Officer Ruth Purat hinted that
innovation-based leadership was one of the reasons she joined Alphabet
in 2015 (then Google). Between 2008 and 2015, Tesla hired more than
150 top innovation individuals. And according to media reports, a
number of these talents with unique innovation skills attribute their
joining Tesla to the CEO’s unique innovative thinking abilities and his
passion for and emotional interest in innovation, which some of the
workforces liken to attributes of the late Steve Jobs.
iii. Innovative leaders tend to generate innovation mantras. Leaders who possess innovative thinking attributes tend to have the knack for
innovation mantras, which are vital for engaging and instilling
innovation in the hearts and minds of workforces. During my research
on how innovative leaders leverage their innovative attributes to lead
innovation across the organization, one aspect that I discovered is that
most leaders with strong innovative thinking attributes not only tend to
lead innovation through the generation of innovative ideas (by
example), but they also understand that innovation in organizations
does not occur naturally; they know that an organization must have the
right climate for innovation to thrive. With that in mind, these leaders
have a knack for regularly formulating a variety of innovation-
motivating slogans and catchphrases for instilling innovation in the
hearts and minds of their workforces. ey regularly use innovation-
motivating slogans to emphasize the importance of innovation to the
company’s growth and competitiveness and also to evangelize to their
workforces about innovation being every employee’s responsibility.
ese leaders also ensure that the company has no perceived obstacles to
innovation by regularly implementing crosscutting innovation-support
systems.
Here are some examples of innovation quotes or mantras from top
corporate leaders:
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” —Steve
Jobs
“e cure for Apple is not cost cutting. e cure for Apple is to innovate
its way out of its current predicament.” —Steve Jobs
“Some people see innovation as change, but we have never really seen it
like that. It’s understanding things and making them better.” —Tim
Cook
“An innovative opportunity is missed by most people because its dressed
in overalls and looks like work.” —omas Edison
“I believe innovation is the most powerful force for change in the world.
People who are pessimistic about the future tend to extrapolate from the
present in a straight line. But innovation fundamentally shifts the
trajectory of development.” —Bill Gates
“e biggest risk is not taking any risk.” —Mark Zuckerberg
“When you innovate you’ve got to be prepared for anyone telling you
you’re nuts.” —Larry Ellison
“If what you’re doing is not seen by some people as science fiction,
probably it is not transformative enough.” —Sergey Brin
“Solving big problems is easier than solving little problems.” —Sergey
Brin
“If you’re not failing, you’re not innovating.” —Elon Musk
“Great companies are built on great products.” —Elon Musk
“Our industry does not respect tradition. It only respects innovation.”
—Satya Nadella
“Innovation in today’s world is the best and only way to really win and
the best to grow organically, and succeed on a sustained basis.” —A.G.
Lafley
2. Translating Innovative inking Abilities into Instruments for
Advancing Innovation In addition to the natural radiant effect that the innovative thinking of
organizational leaders has on motivating followers to build innovative thinking
abilities, leaders can also use their innovative thinking abilities and attributes to
contribute to instilling the spirit of innovative thinking in the hearts and
minds of workforces. How? ere are a number of approaches and techniques
that organizational leaders can apply to translate their innovative thinking
abilities into instruments for motivating their followers. e following are a
few examples:
i. Share stories: Leaders can use different contexts of innovative thinking– related stories to encourage and contribute to helping their followers
build innovative thinking attributes. For example, leaders can share
stories on particular activities they undertake that help them generate
innovative ideas, such as jogging on a trail, working out at a gym,
driving on a highway, or taking a shower. Other stories could include
how many of their ideas were rejected or the number of times they tried
and failed before they came up with an effective innovative idea; leaders
could also describe how they mentored particular individuals, helping
them to become top innovators.
ii. Show visual illustrations: Leaders can use simple visual illustrations, such as sel�es of themselves doing activities that help them stimulate
innovative ideas.
iii. Display patent certificates: Have you heard about or seen organizational leaders displaying their academic credentials in their offices? is is ill-
advised because academic certi�cates do not drive the growth of an
organization; it’s ideas that do. Particularly, it’s innovative ideas that
drive organizational growth, progress, and survival. As a symbol on
which organization survival and progress depend, leaders can display
their patent certi�cates and awards in their offices to motivate
workforces to build innovative thinking abilities.
iv. Talk about innovative thinking attributes: Innovative thinking is not a natural characteristic but a talent or ability that emanates from
particular attributes that are developed over time. Organizational
leaders can use their innovative thinking abilities by chatting with
followers about their (the leaders’) strongest innovative thinking
attributes or characteristics and how they developed them and how long
it took them to do so. Examples of innovative thinking attributes
include envisioning, observing, networking, experimenting,
questioning, and associating, among many others.
3. Examples of Leaders Who Have Leveraged eir Innovative
Attributes to Drive Innovation Annually, a number of leading business publications list rankings of the most
innovative companies, for instance, Forbes magazine’s “World’s Most Innovative Companies,” Strategy&’s “Global Innovation 1000,” and Fast
Company’s “Most Innovative Companies.” ese rankings cover a wide range
of companies across industries. Besides the annual rankings of the most
innovative companies, lists of the most innovative CEOs are occasionally
released by some business publications. What is interesting with these rankings
is that if you take a closer look at the lists of the most innovative companies,
you are likely to notice that they have one thing in common: usually, the top
leadership of such companies tends to have strong innovative thinking abilities.
From Henry Ford (the man who altered the course of the auto industry) to
Conrad Hilton (the man who transformed and internationalized the American
hospitality industry) to omas Edison (the cofounder of General Electric) to
Juan Trippe (the founder of the defunct Pan American World Airways,
commonly referred to as Pan Am), founders and leaders of innovative
companies, both small and large, have in most cases tended to have strong
innovative thinking abilities. Evidence shows that one of the differences
between large noninnovative corporations and the most innovative
corporations is that in the latter, the top leadership is deeply involved in
generating innovative ideas. “In interviews with dozens of senior executives of
large organizations,” one report revealed, “we found that in most cases they did
not feel personally responsible for coming up with innovations. ey only felt
responsible to ‘facilitate the innovation process’ and make sure someone in the
company was doing it. But in the world’s most innovative companies senior
leaders like Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Marc Benioff (Salesforce.com), A. G. La�ey
(Procter & Gamble) and the late Steve Jobs (Apple) didn’t just delegate
innovation; their own hands were deep in the process.”
e following are some examples of modern-day corporations whose
growth and innovation performance have been in�uenced by the innovative
thinking abilities of their top leadership:
i. Apple, Inc.’s Steve Jobs: e late Steve Jobs is globally referred to as a once-in-a-lifetime, exceptionally innovative, and visionary corporate
leader of modern times who transformed technology, media, and
retailing through his innovation leadership approaches and innovative
thinking abilities. According to the literature, all the companies that
Steve Jobs founded and led—from his initial stint at the then named
Apple Computers, which he cofounded with Steve Wozniak in 1970; to
Pixar Animation, which he cofounded in 1986; to NeXt Corporation,
which he founded in 1988; up until his return to Apple in 1997—Steve
Jobs inspired his followers through his leadership-for-innovation
approach and, more effectively, through his innovative thinking
abilities. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, the company that
he had cofounded was struggling to survive, and on day one, Steve Jobs
declared that he was going to lead the transformation of Apple
Computers by instilling innovation practices in all functional aspects of
the organization. He immediately adopted the catchphrase “ink
differently” as the company’s innovation-motivating slogan. Over the
years, using his slogan of “ink differently,” Steve Jobs instilled the
culture of innovation in the hearts and minds of his executives and
followers, and through his practice of leading innovation by example,
he imprinted innovative thinking behavior in his top executives;
through the admiration that the executives had for Jobs’s innovative
ingenuity, this radiant effect also cascaded down to the rank-and-�le
staff, who were inspired to push their innovative thinking to limitless
heights. e impact of Steve Jobs’s innovation leadership by example on
Apple’s growth and industry dominance is common knowledge. Jobs
died on October 5, 2011. According to records, at the time of his death,
Jobs had more than three hundred patents.
ii. Alphabet’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin: rough their exceptional and unique innovative thinking abilities, Larry Page and Sergey Brin
founded a company in their dorm room at Stanford University in
California—a company that has now become one of the most
innovative search engines of modern times. In the �rst exhibition of
their exceptional innovative thinking skills, Larry Page and Sergey Brin
�led their �rst patent for a page-rank algorithm while studying at
Stanford. Since Google’s incorporation in 1998 (it is now a subsidiary
of Alphabet), the founders have, through their exceptional innovative
abilities, continued to in�uence innovation across all structures of the
company. To ensure that innovation was enshrined and sustained as a
culture, from the very beginning, Page and Brin initiated policies that
were aimed at creating conditions that would continually advance and
sustain innovation across Google. For instance, they had to hire proven
corporate leaders with innovative abilities to ensure a radiant effect on
the rest of the workforce. In a presentation at the Innovation at Google
conference in March 2011 in San Francisco, Patrick Copeland, the
senior engineering director at Google (who is very passionate about
innovation and who was hired from Microsoft), revealed that Google
has a recruitment mechanism called “Spot the Innovators,” which the
company uses to look for people with a track record of innovation. And
in an interview reported in ink Quarterly (a Google newsletter that covers the company’s innovation activities), the company’s senior vice
president explained how Google has managed to sustain its innovation
culture, saying, “Nurturing a culture for innovation has been key to the
company’s success. As we have grown to over 26,000 employees in more
than 60 offices, we’ve worked hard to maintain the unique spirit of
innovation that characterized Google way back when I joined as
employee #16.”
Over the years, innovation has been credited as a reason for Google’s
success in being one of the most admired workplaces in the world.
iii. IBM: Ranked as one of the most innovative companies by media organizations that conduct innovation performance surveys across the
globe, with an understanding of the impact of innovative leaders on
championing innovation across an organization, IBM is one of the
multinational corporations that has invested heavily in both R&D and
in the innovation leadership capabilities of its executives. According to
company reports, one of the aspects of IBM’s innovation culture is that
all individuals holding leadership positions contribute to championing
innovation within their functional contexts by exhibiting satisfactory
levels of innovative thinking abilities and also by contributing to setting
conditions that support and encourage innovative thinking in teams
because the company understands that passion and emotional interest
for innovation must begin with the top leadership. In a farewell
statement to the company in January 2012, Samuel Palmisano, IBM’s
former chairman, president, and CEO, described how innovation values
have transformed and steered the company to what it is today: “In my
view, the de�ning value that IBM has provided over the years has been
the way we think, from the top leadership through to every employee.
Today, as in the past, when people turn to our company, I believe they
are looking for how IBMers approach problems, as well as for the types
of problems we choose to approach—we have over the years chosen to
de�ne success as bringing to the world innovations that make a lasting
difference.” As a result of the company’s massive integrated investments
in innovation performance, IBM continues to record sustained growth,
and for the �rst time in the company’s history, it recorded revenues
topping $100 billion in 2011. It was also ranked as the seventh most
valuable company in the world in 2011, and according to the literature,
IBM was the leading investor in innovation that year, with R&D
expenses of more than $6 billion. Additionally, according to
information from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), IBM
continues to hold the number-one rank in terms of patents, which it
has done for eighteen consecutive years, with a record 5,896 patents in
2011, becoming the �rst company to break the 5,000-patent mark in a
single year. Following the retirement of Samuel Palmisano at the
beginning of 2012, the company tapped another innovation guru, one
of the most in�uential and exceptionally innovative brains at IBM,
Ginni Rometty, as Palmisano’s replacement. Innovation analysts say she
is more than capable of continuing with the exceptional corporate
innovation capabilities developed and sustained under the leadership of
Palmisano. Rometty is credited with spearheading IBM’s growth
strategy, which is anchored on innovation in cloud computing and
analytics businesses. According to one company statement: “Rometty’s
recognition and in�uence go beyond IBM borders because her in�uence
has been recognized globally. She has been named to Fortune magazine’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business for eight consecutive years,
ranking #1 for 2012, she was also named in the 50 Most In�uential
People list of Bloomberg Markets magazine in September 2012. Other
publications in which she appeared as most in�uential include Forbes
and Time magazines.”
iv. Dell Inc.’s Michael Dell: Although Michael Dell may not be as technologically savvy and innovatively gifted as Steve Jobs, his excellent
level of innovative thinking abilities and innovation leadership
attributes have propelled the company to be one of the biggest PC
makers of the modern era. From the time he established the company,
Michael Dell anchored his business idea and entrepreneurial spirit on
innovation performance. According to records, after establishing his
company in 1984, steering the company through growth stages, and
later becoming the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company, Michael
Dell realized that to compete in the brutal PC market, he needed a
radical innovative idea for reaching customers. He then came up with
an innovative market strategy for bypassing the middlemen and selling
directly to customers. For twenty years, Dell Inc. has been following
this direct build-to-order sales model. e company’s longtime market-
strategy model involves customers planning their own con�guration of
the product and placing orders directly with the company through the
phone or on Dell’s website. To date, Michael Dell continues to
in�uence innovation performance by continually adopting practices
aimed at advancing and sustaining innovation across the company.
According to company publications, some of the practices include
R&D efforts that now span various locations around the world and
recruitment of highly innovative talent for top leadership positions in
the company, with some of the executives having more than thirty
patents under their belts. Another Dell initiative developed under
Michael Dell’s in�uence and aimed at fostering innovation is a program
called Dell Fellows, which recognizes staff for their contributions to
innovation. In addition, Dell’s Inventor of the Year is an annual
program that involves honoring outstanding inventors among Dell
employees.
v. Amazon’s Jeffrey Bezos: Jeff Bezos, who won the Economist magazine’s Innovation Award, has instilled a culture of innovation in his executives
and employees across all functional units of Amazon. Leading by
example in championing innovative thinking skills, Bezos ensures that
every manager possesses innovative thinking abilities, and he routinely
checks innovation goals for his managers. According to company
records, Bezos poses one common question to new hires, especially
managers. He asks them whether they have ever invented or innovated
anything. Under Bezos’s guidance, Amazon has grown from an online
book merchant to a massive online retailer of a wide variety of products.
And through his exceptional innovative thinking abilities and
innovation leadership skills, Bezos guided Amazon to be the �rst
company to invent an e-reader, the Kindle. Bezos continues to leverage his innovative thinking attributes to inspire his teams to expand the
company’s device offerings beyond the Kindle. In 2016, for example,
Amazon launched the voice-activated Echo device.
vi. Starbucks’s Howard Schultz: Founded in the 1980s, Starbucks became a household name in the 1990s, with Howard Schultz as CEO
throughout the decade. In 2000, Howard Schultz stepped down as
CEO. According to media reports, eight years after Schultz left, and
amid a global �nancial crisis, Starbucks began faltering, and this
prompted the founder to return to the company as CEO. In his
presentation to the London Business Conference in May 2011, Schultz
revealed that when he returned to Starbucks in 2008, he discovered that
the company had forgotten about the meaningful innovation practices
on which Starbucks had been anchored since its establishment in the
1980s, and he noted that since his return, he had been championing
innovation to get the company back on its innovation-performance
footing. He did so by initiating a number of innovative business
decisions and ideas and by creating conditions that inspire and
encourage innovative thinking and innovation leadership across the
company’s functional units. He has also empowered Starbucks teams to
regularly challenge the status quo.
vii. Procter & Gamble’s Alan George Lafley: As part of the top leadership at Procter & Gamble (P&G), La�ey ingrained innovation as a core
practice and business strategy across all functional units and divisions.
La�ey led P&G for two separate periods, from 2000 to 2010 and again
from 2013 to 2015. In 2015, he stepped down as CEO of P&G but
was maintained as its executive chairman, eventually retiring in June
2016. Viewed as one of the best chairmen and CEOs in P&G’s history,
La�ey accomplished what he did through a focus on innovation and the
consumer. According to company records, when La�ey became P&G’s
president and CEO in 2000, the company had ten different billion-
dollar brands. When he retired from his position as chairman,
president, and CEO in 2010, the company’s portfolio had grown to
twenty-three different billion-dollar brands, with additions like Gillette,
Old Spice, Tide, Charmin, Pampers, and Duracell. e company’s
market capitalization more than doubled, making P&G one of the �ve
most valuable companies in the United States and among the ten most
valuable companies in the world. La�ey’s innovative business abilities
and innovation leadership practices (such as making innovation
everybody’s business at P&G) have been credited as reasons for the
company’s success in the last decade. Speaking at an innovation
conference in Palm Springs, Florida, in November 2011 organized by
Ernst & Young, La�ey described his involvement in the innovation
processes at P&G: “e biggest decision we made was to move to an
open innovation platform. e problem at P&G in 2000 was not that
we weren’t inventive. e problem with us was that we weren’t turning
that invention into innovation that created customers that bene�tted
customers, that created value for customers or a better experience for
customers, and that’s all I wanted to do.” La�ey continued, “So, P&G
innovations have become so successful and a part of people’s daily lives
because the company innovates its brands with the customer in mind
100 percent of the time. I’m a big believer in pushing the idea, the
innovation, and the technology in front of the prospective customer
very early in the process. I learned this working with a lot of very good
design shops. We used to spend way too much time and way too much
money designing and engineering pretty ornate prototypes. is pushed
us to prototype very quickly and prototype very crudely. Consumers are
smart. You just want them to get the idea.”
At the same conference in Palm Springs, Chris oen, former
director of innovation and knowledge management at P&G, shared his
insights into how innovation and consumer focus have been the keys to
P&G’s success: “e drive and focus on innovation La�ey instilled in
the company during his time there is now one of the most important
aspects of the organization’s business. La�ey instilled in the hearts and
minds of staff the belief that innovation is the way for a sustainable
competitive advantage and business growth. Everyone in the
organization breathes innovation in and out every day. At Procter &
Gamble, innovation is seen as the cornerstone to develop the best
possible products for consumers everywhere in the world. Innovation
has been a great game changer at P&G, especially over the past 10
years.” In 2010, La�ey received the Edison Achievement Award in
recognition for his contribution to innovation leadership practices.
viii.Microsoft’s Bill Gates: From the time Microsoft was founded in 1976 until he relinquished his active involvement with the company in May
2014, Bill Gates’s ingenuity, innovative thinking attributes, and
innovation leadership abilities were responsible for building one of the
most highly pro�table and valuable companies of the modern era.
Microsoft was ranked the sixth most valuable company in the world by
Forbes in 2011. Known for his shrewd and “tough-love” kind of leadership style, Bill Gates played a center-stage role in consistently
advancing innovation management in all functional aspects of
Microsoft. Besides his CEO position, Gates was also the company’s
chief software architect, a position he used to manifest his amazing and
rare technological ingenuity and innovative thinking abilities, which
also constantly inspired and in�uenced his executives to build their
innovative thinking attributes and innovation leadership competencies.
As a result of the strong innovation practices that Gates’s leadership
ingrained in Microsoft over the years, the company has managed to deal
with the multiple large-scale challenges of competitors that the software
giant constantly faces across its different product platforms.
Additionally, his successors have continued to steer the company’s
innovation culture through leading by example—that is, by leveraging
the innovative thinking skills and attributes that continue to drive and
sustain Microsoft’s innovation practices. According to company reports,
the software giant invests around $9 billion a year in innovation-
support and R&D activities and registers an average of three thousand
patents a year.
ix. Microsoft’s Satya Nadella: When Satya Nadella, referred to as the “innovation driver,” was appointed as Microsoft’s CEO, taking over the
position from Steve Ballmer, the company was not doing well in the
area of expanding its product offerings, and this contributed to the
company lagging behind in terms of competitiveness against its
industry peers. e company’s �agship product platform, Windows,
was facing hard times from the rise of the iPhone and Android
platforms, and Microsoft stock was not performing as expected. For
instance, according to company records, in 2007, Microsoft market
capitalization was four times that of Apple and 25 percent more than
that of Google. But when Nadella took over as CEO in February 2014,
market capitalization was about 35 percent smaller than Apple and
about 45 percent smaller than Google. e third CEO in the
approximately forty-year history of Microsoft, Nadella was appointed
CEO on February 4, 2014, according to company publications,
speci�cally to drive innovation across all business groups of the
company. One company news release reads, “Nadella has taken over
from Steve Ballmer to prioritize three things, innovation, innovation,
innovation.” After his appointment, Nadella immediately implemented
his well-thought-out innovation-engagement strategies. For instance, he
sent an email to the company’s more than 135,000 employees in which
he emphasized innovation. “We need to prioritize innovation,” he
wrote. He also stated, “Our industry does not respect tradition. It only
respects innovation.” In his vision-promotion video aimed at
Microsoft’s workforces, he mentions the word innovation many times, stating that his leadership would remove any obstacles to innovation so
that innovative thinking could thrive across all business groups of the
company. Before his appointment as CEO, Nadella held various
positions across the company’s business groups. In most of the
functional divisions where he served, he initiated innovative ideas that
contributed to the transformation of the company’s product platforms.
For instance, according to company records, Nadella led the
transformation of Microsoft’s business and technology practices from
client services to the cloud infrastructure. And soon after Nadella’s
announcement as CEO, Microsoft founder and former CEO Bill Gates
spoke glowingly about Nadella’s innovation talents in a video message
to Microsoft staffers, stating that Nadella had steered innovation-led
growth in the various business groups in which Nadella had served.
Gates also said that Microsoft had a long history of innovation and that
the appointment of Nadella was part of the company’s next chapter of
expanded product innovation and growth.
At the time of writing this book, Nadella has already served as CEO
for three years; although Microsoft is not yet completely out of the
woods, multiple independent and company reports suggest that
Nadella’s approach of leveraging his innovative thinking attributes and
innovation leadership and management style to transform various
business groups of Microsoft seems to be steering the company in the
right direction. For example, a company release states that Nadella has
provided strong, consistent vision and execution on the company’s
mobile-�rst and cloud-�rst strategy and has continued to effectively
guide the transformation of the company’s culture to focus on
broadening the its product platforms through innovation.
x. Tesla’s Elon Musk: e cofounder of PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla Motors, Elon Musk is one of the most respected innovative brains of today’s
world and has transformed every business he has ventured into, such as
electronic payments, electric cars, and commercial space�ight. Musk
was born and raised in South Africa. According to media reports, he
studied physics and later business in the United States, then went on to
enroll in a PhD program at Stanford University in California, but like
many highly innovative entrepreneurs have done, he decided to drop
out of the PhD program to pursue his entrepreneurial interests. Musk
launched a highly innovative online mapping and directory service that
later became known as PayPal. He later sold the company and used the
money to fund some of his new business ventures, including Tesla, a
company that manufactures electric cars, and SpaceX, a commercial
space�ight company. e manner in which Musk has successfully
steered his business ventures re�ects his ability to leverage his innovative
thinking attributes and his strong emotional interest and passion for
innovation. For instance, consider Tesla: within a short period, the
company has recorded tremendous growth under Musk’s innovation-led
leadership style, with ambitious targets such as producing �ve hundred
thousand vehicles in 2018. Like most highly innovative leaders, Musk
leverages his innovative thinking attributes as instruments of inspiring
innovation across all functional units and divisions of the two
companies (Tesla and SpaceX) that he manages as CEO by regularly
formulating innovation-motivating slogans and catchphrases, which, as
mentioned earlier, are an effective approach for instilling the spirit of
innovation in the hearts and minds of workforces.
xi. 3M’s George Buckley and Inge ulin: A $20 billion global technology company with leading positions in the electronics, telecommunications,
industrial, consumer and office products, health care, and safety
industries, among others, 3M has been in existence for more than one
hundred years and is regarded as one of the most innovative companies
in the world. In an interview with the Economist magazine in March 2011, and in a presentation to the Global Leadership Summit at
London Business School on May 25, 2011, former chairman, president,
and CEO George Buckley explained why 3M has managed to remain
innovative for so long. Buckley (CEO from December 2005 to
February 2012) cited a number of reasons; one is that the company has
had a long practice of having each generation of leaders pass along the
leadership-for-innovation values to successive leaders. And the second
reason is that 3M has had strong innovation-support practices aimed at
continually developing and strengthening the capabilities of innovation
talent, such as innovative thinking abilities and innovation leadership
competencies. George Buckley’s successor, Inge ulin, days after taking
office in February 2012, made a public statement to the media that he
would continue with former CEO George Buckley’s priorities for
innovation. And in a presentation to shareholders on November 8,
2012, at company headquarters in Saint Paul, Minnesota, ulin
reiterated his and the company’s commitment to innovation:
“Innovation is at the center of our plan, so it is essential that we
strengthen our commitment to R&D,” said ulin. “I am con�dent
that 3M innovation, along with world-class talent, strong R&D and
manufacturing capabilities, unparalleled global reach, and our
unrelenting focus on operational excellence, will drive future success for
our company and our shareholders.”
xii. Marc Benioff: Benioff is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Salesforce, a cloud-computing company founded in 1999. According to media
reports, (such as e New York Times, December II, 2011) Benioff is credited as being one of the early players in revolutionizing the software
industry by using the internet to revamp the way software programs are
designed and distributed. Media reports also indicate that Benioff was
personally involved in coming up with the idea for Chatter, social
networking software for businesses that is a mix of Facebook and
Twitter. Chatter helps folks in his company network better by letting
them efficiently connect with others and see what work is being done
and what ideas others are generating across the company. Chatter
represents Benioff’s idea for how to help others be better networkers. All
Salesforce employees (management and nonmanagement alike),
according to the company literature, get at least two days of innovation
training each year to help them maximize their contributions to
company-wide innovation processes. Additionally, Benioff’s skill as an
innovator has helped Salesforce generate a high innovation premium.
xiii.Fabrizio Freda: Freda is the president and CEO of Estée Lauder Companies Inc. He was appointed on July 1, 2009, to succeed William
P. Lauder. According to company and media reports, Freda excels at
challenging the status quo by listening, observing, and “playing the
outsider.” After arriving at Estée Lauder, according to media reports, he
spent six months on a “listening tour,” zigzagging across Lauder’s
worldwide operations in 140 countries. In a statement to the media,
Freda said he uses the power of listening to generate innovative ideas. “I
strongly believe in the power of listening,” says Freda. Listening, he
says, helps him connect the dots. “e way my thinking and creativity
goes, is listening, connecting and creating,” according to Forbes online
magazine, posted on September 5, 2012.
xiv. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg: Zuckerberg is the CEO of Facebook. He cofounded Facebook, now the world’s largest social network, based in
Palo Alto, California, when he was twenty. An NBC News article notes,
“Zuckerberg’s great innovation was to understand that people would
rather see one another online than look at third-party content. People
would rather see friends and family than news or search engine results.”
Zuckerberg faced strong competition when he entered the social
networking business. For example, Myspace was by far the largest social
network in the world. It was owned by and had the backing of one of
the world’s largest media companies—Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
However, through his innovative abilities, Zuckerberg managed to build
the world’s largest social network and created the largest advertising
platform in the United States by convincing major marketers that social
networks are advertising-friendly, not platforms for the ridicule and
attack of large companies. Over the years, Zuckerberg has built a strong
culture of innovation, partly through his innovation leadership
behavior, which creates conditions that inspire Facebook teams to
generate innovative ideas. In an interview with a Silicon Valley media
outlet, CIO Digital Magazine, Tim Campos, Facebook’s chief
information officer, described how the culture of innovation has been
instilled in the hearts and minds of Facebook employees. “Facebook is
all about innovation,” says Campos. “To be the best, we need to
innovate. And for people to innovate, they need the freedom to make
mistakes—it’s part of the learning process.”
xv. Netflix’s Reed Hastings: Hastings cofounded Net�ix in 1998 in Los Gatos, California, to offer �at-rate rental-by-mail DVDs to customers
in the United States. Hastings’s innovative idea was that it would be
more convenient for people who watch DVDs at home to receive them
at home. Since founding the company, Hastings has expanded the
company’s services through various other innovative ideas. For instance,
according to company reports, as broadband technology developed and
became widespread in 2004 and 2005, Net�ix used it to launch a
business that allowed consumers to stream premium content from
Net�ix servers to their PCs. e service was upgraded two years later so
that the �lms and TV shows could be streamed straight to televisions.
Hastings has also set up deals to license content directly from studios,
which poses a major threat to cable TV and telecom �ber-to-the-home
businesses. Hastings changed the infrastructure models for video rental,
video-delivery systems, and premium-content access, all within just
thirteen years. Over the years, as the company grew, it began getting
noticed for its innovative management practices. According to the
literature, Net�ix shares shot up 1,000 percent in �ve years as a result of
the company’s innovation-driven growth. And to date, the company has
amassed a collection of one hundred thousand titles and more than
twenty million subscribers.
xvi. MassDevice.com report: In June 2011, MassDevice.com, a network of manufacturers of medical devices, released a report listing the �ve most
innovative CEOs in the medical device industry. e report also
outlines how the top �ve CEOs were leading by example—that is, how
the leaders, through their innovative thinking attributes, were
encouraging and in�uencing their followers to be innovative.
Bottom line It’s important for organizational leaders to possess innovative thinking abilities
in leading workforce innovation for a number of reasons. First, leaders can
utilize their innovative thinking skills to build employee engagement in
advancing innovation across the organization. is chapter opened with a
quote from Albert Schweitzer, and it’s �tting to repeat this vital point:
“Example is not the main thing in in�uencing others. It is the only thing.”
is means that leaders must translate their innovative thinking attributes into
instruments for in�uencing innovation practices across the organization. e
second reason is that leaders can potentially leverage their innovative thinking
skills to attract and retain top innovation talent. ird is that leaders who
possess innovative thinking attributes tend to have a knack for formulating
innovation-motivating slogans and catchphrases, which are vital for instilling
innovation in the hearts and minds of workforces. Chapter 3 also provided
examples of corporate leaders with strong innovative thinking attributes who
have leveraged these attributes to build workforce engagement in advancing
innovation across functional units.
U
PART II
INNOVATION ENGAGEMENT SKILLS
Innovation is a mind-set that should pervade the whole organization.
—Professor Jean-Philippe Deschamps, International Management
Development, Switzerland
Overview
nless workforces are engaged in innovation, the organization’s efforts to
scale innovation throughout the whole company will remain a rhetorical
exercise. us, the second category of innovation skill sets that is essential
for leading workforces is innovation engagement skills. Part II covers what
these skills entail and how to apply them.
ere’s lots of evidence across industries—namely pharmaceuticals,
�nancial services, computing, education services, retail, telecommunications,
mining, agribusiness, food services, beverages, transport and logistics, energy,
manufacturing, and health services—on the power of innovation to transform
organizations. ere’s also a lot of evidence on what lack of innovation in
organizations can result in. Later, we’ll cover in detail the signi�cance of
innovation in an organization and how the leadership can harness innovation
to drive sustainable growth. As stated before, harnessing innovation to bene�t
the organization in meaningful ways involves the implementation of many
dimensions of and approaches to innovation-support initiatives and activities
on an ongoing basis. One such dimension is innovation engagement, which
involves helping workforces across the organization build passion for,
emotional interest in, and commitment to advancing innovation. Part II opens
with a quote from Professor Jean-Philippe Deschamps: “Innovation is a mind-
set that should pervade the whole organization.” Sentiments indicating that
innovation is a hearts-and-minds process have been expressed by many
innovation experts and analysts. However, one aspect rarely emphasized is the
issue of tools for instilling and maintaining innovation so that it is pervasive in
the hearts and minds of workforces. It is important to understand that
pervasiveness of innovation in the hearts and minds of workforces is not a
natural occurrence; it requires consistent implementation of programs,
activities, and approaches aimed at building workforce engagement in
advancing innovation across functional units. is is not easy. It is a
challenging task that requires speci�c abilities for securing employee
engagement in innovation. However, most organizations tend not to build
such capabilities. Instead, there is just an occasional mention of the term
innovation by the leadership and occasional encouragement of workforces to
contribute innovative ideas. Usually, this takes place at company meetings, or a
few lines on how innovation is considered a vital practice in the organization
might be included in the organization’s performance reports. e casual and
ordinary approach to engaging workforces in advancing innovation is, in large
part, one of the reasons why most companies struggle to build a sustainable
culture of innovation across functional units.
To scale innovation in a meaningful way, there must be recognition and
appreciation by the top leadership that pervasiveness of innovation in the
hearts and minds of workforces involves a great deal of work that requires
consistent implementation of speci�c hearts-and-minds programs, approaches,
and techniques. e leadership should also understand that if innovation is
meaningfully instilled in and engaged by workforces, everyone in the
organization will own the process of advancing innovation, and they will invest
their passion, emotional interest, and commitment to contribute toward
harnessing innovation (through generation of ideas) to drive organizational
growth. us, the basis for innovation engagement skills is twofold:
i. Innovation is largely an issue of mind-set and attitude, which means
that to build a culture of innovation, organizational leaders must possess
skills for engaging workforces’ passion, emotional interest, and
commitment to advance innovation across the organization.
ii. One of the premises on which this book is anchored is that
organizations now perceive innovation as everyone’s job, from the CEO
to the most junior staffer. However, innovation does not occur
naturally; leaders need skills to implement a variety of programs and
activities aimed at educating workforces about different aspects and
concepts of innovation—especially the fact that innovation is grossly
misinterpreted in many organizations.
To realize a meaningful level of workforce engagement in innovation,
organizational leaders need to possess the ability to consistently develop and
implement programs, approaches, and techniques for educating workforces
about various aspects and concepts of innovation across functional units and,
most importantly, the ability to instill innovation in the hearts and minds of
workforces. is is where the innovation engagement skill set comes into play.
Structure of is Section Part II is divided into the following �ve chapters:
Chapter 4: De�nition of Innovation Engagement Skills
Chapter 5: Importance of Innovation Engagement Skills
Chapter 6: Description and Expression of Innovation Engagement
Initiatives
Chapter 7: Innovation Engagement Committees
Chapter 8: Application of Innovation Engagement Approaches
T
CHAPTER 4
Definition of Innovation Engagement Skills
his chapter covers the following aspects:
1. Context of de�nition
2. Informative and inspirational styles: What do the two styles entail?
1. Context of Definition As noted earlier, the innovation engagement skill set is a hearts-and-minds
ability, and innovation engagement skills is de�ned as follows: the ability by
organizational leaders to consistently educate workforces about different
aspects of innovation through informative and inspirational styles using
different communication approaches and techniques for the following
purposes:
i. To change misconceptions that workforces may have about innovation
by explaining whose responsibility it is to innovate and that innovative
thinking skills can be attained or learned by anybody
ii. To secure workforces’ belief in innovation as a driver of revenues,
growth, competitiveness, and personal career development
iii. To secure employee buy-in and engagement (i.e., passion, emotional
interest, and commitment) in advancing innovation across the
organization’s value chain and business model
iv. To secure workforces’ desire to contribute toward various innovation-
support strategies for advancing innovation across the organization
e following list outlines some of the dimensions and aims of innovation
engagement skills:
i. To regularly educate and inspire workforces (e.g., at meetings,
conferences, or retreats; in brochures, articles, and newsletters) in terms
of what the vision of the company is for the next three to �ve years and
why innovation is vital to realizing that vision
ii. To regularly articulate and convey to workforces across the organization
(through different types of messages and visual illustrations) that
innovative thinking skills can be attained or learned by anybody
iii. To regularly articulate and communicate various innovation-support
initiatives—such as innovation strategies, innovation
policies/procedures/plans, innovation goals, and innovation targets—
implemented by the company to advance innovation across the
organization, such as the following:
Functional-unit innovation strategies
Functional-unit innovation goals
Corporate innovation goals
Innovation-talent-recruitment policies
Workforce innovation-performance-evaluation policies
Innovation-talent-succession-planning policies
A framework for reporting functional-unit innovation performance
A framework for reporting corporate innovation performance
A framework for assessing and managing organization-wide
innovation ideas
A framework for formulating organization-wide innovation-
challenge questions
iv. To regularly articulate and communicate types and degrees of
innovations launched or implemented by various functional units of the
organization
v. To regularly articulate and communicate (in simple and clear terms) the
innovation performance of the company in each functional unit or
division and in terms of the organization as a whole
vi. To regularly educate workforces about various aspects of innovation,
such as the following:
e meaning of innovation in the context of the company’s value
chain and business model
What the concept of types of innovation entails in the context of the
company’s business model and functional units
What the concept of innovation degree entails
e signi�cance of innovation in terms of the growth and
competitiveness of the company and also in terms of career
advancement of the workforces
vii. To regularly formulate innovation-motivating slogans, catchphrases,
and visual illustrations aimed at contributing toward instilling
innovation performance in the hearts and minds of workforces
viii.To regularly create techniques to effectively communicate innovation-
motivating slogans, catchphrases, and visual illustrations aimed at
instilling innovation performance in the hearts and minds of workforces
ix. To regularly exhibit �t-for-purpose attitudes, language, and actions
aimed at contributing toward creating an organizational climate that
encourages innovative thinking across the organization
x. To apply many of the other available approaches aimed at inspiring
workforces to build innovative-performance competencies
2. Informative and Inspirational Styles: What Do the Two Styles
Entail? As noted, innovation engagement skills refers to the ability of organizational
leaders to educate workforces about different aspects of innovation through
informative and inspirational styles using different communication approaches
and techniques, with the aim of changing misconceptions about innovation
and also helping workforces to build and unlock passion for, emotional interest
in, and commitment to advancing innovation in the organization. e
immediate question would then be, What do informative and inspirational styles
of fostering innovation engagement in the hearts and minds of workforces entail? Although the gist of both styles centers on educating workforces about various
aspects of innovation and instilling passion for and emotional interest in
innovation in the hearts and minds of workforces, the difference between the
two styles is made clear by the following descriptions of each:
i. Informative style: is style involves instilling innovation in the hearts
and minds of workforces by informing them (through various
communication options) on a regular basis about the innovation-
support systems—such as innovation strategies, innovation policies,
innovation procedures, innovation goals, and innovation plans—that
the organization intends to implement or has implemented to advance
innovation across the organization. It also involves crosscutting
communication by leadership about the innovation performance of
various functional units or divisions of the organization and the
organization as a whole.
ii. Inspirational style: is style involves the constant use of innovation-
motivating slogans, catchphrases, and visual illustrations to instill
passion for and emotional interest in innovation in the hearts and
minds of workforces. e inspirational style aims to achieve two things:
(1) to in�uence workforces to believe in and understand wholeheartedly
the importance of innovation to the competitiveness and growth of the
organization and also to their career advancement and (2) to instill in
the hearts and minds of the workforces a can-do attitude regarding the
development of innovative thinking abilities. How is this done? By
regularly communicating to workforces the inspirational message that
nobody is born with innovative thinking abilities—rather, they’re
attained, and anybody can learn innovative thinking skills.
Example From a nonbusiness perspective, one illustration that gives a good depiction of
the use or characterization of the informative and inspirational styles is a
comparison of speeches by two former US presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack
Obama, at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in September 2012.
ese two leaders delivered their speeches on different days; both were great
speeches, but they had different styles. Clinton delivered his speech on
Wednesday, September 5, and Obama delivered his on ursday, September 6.
What is interesting about the speeches is how the two leaders rallied the huge
audience at the venue and the viewers across the US to reelect President
Obama.
In his speech, Clinton made a case for President Obama by constantly
quoting qualitative and quantitative data on what President Obama had
achieved during his �rst four-year term. In his speech, Clinton articulated the
following points:
i. What Obama’s economic recovery policies had achieved
ii. Obama’s plans for advancing innovation across sectors
iii. e number of jobs created by the Obama administration, including
the number of manufacturing jobs, which had been low for the
previous decade
iv. Obama’s national educational policies, which focused on preparing
young people for twenty-�rst-century jobs and student loan reforms
v. Obama’s energy-sector policies
vi. e �ve-point bene�ts of Obama’s health-care insurance reforms,
including clari�cations on some of Obama’s health-care policies, such as
the savings created by Obama’s Medicare plan
vii. Medicare and Medicaid policy contrasts between Obama and the then
Republican presidential nominee, Governor Mitt Romney
viii.Highlights of Obama’s debt-reduction plan versus Romney’s plan
us, Clinton’s approach would be considered an informative style. In
contrast, President Obama made the case for his reelection to the DNC
audience and the American voters through the constant use of motivational
andcatchphrases centered on words and phrases such as hope, change,
aspirations, opportunity for all, the American dream, and the unwavering
character of Americans. Some examples of the motivational phrases in Obama’s
DNC speech are as follows:
i. “With hope, American problems can be solved.”
ii. “America can make it as long as we don’t waver.”
iii. “You have the choice to go backward or move forward with me.”
iv. “You can choose the right future for America.”
v. “You can choose leadership that is proven and tested.”
vi. “Our efforts must not waver.”
vii. “Change must be de�ned by the hopes and aspirations of the people.”
Application of Informative and Inspirational Styles e question is, How are informative and inspirational styles applied to instill
innovation in the hearts and minds of workforces? An application of the
informative and inspirational styles in the context of championing innovative
thinking to create a culture of innovation is as follows:
i. Informative style: e informative style can be applied with the
following actions:
Explaining and articulating how innovation is linked to the overall
corporate strategy of the organization
Articulating functional-unit innovation-performance goals and
targets
Explaining and articulating how the innovation-performance goals
of each functional unit are aligned with the functional-unit strategy
Explaining and articulating how innovation strategies are being
implemented across functional units
Articulating other innovation-related systems and practices, such as
innovation-idea-development procedures, innovation-challenge
questions, and various strategies and policies for innovation talent
(e.g., innovation talent-recruitment policies, innovation-
performance reward policies, talent-diversity policies, innovation
talent-succession planning)
Articulating the number of innovation ideas generated, innovation
ideas undergoing development, and innovations launched by
various functional units
Articulating and explaining the frameworks for innovation-
performance reporting that the organization has adopted
Articulating the impact of innovation on the performance of the
company over a given period
ii. Inspirational style: In the context of leading workforce innovation, the
inspirational style is applied through the use of innovation-motivating
slogans, catchphrases, and visual illustrations focused on various aspects
of innovation, such as the following:
Articulating and illustrating how innovation is critical to realizing
the organization’s vision
Articulating innovation-motivating slogans, catchphrases, and visual
illustrations that regularly remind workforces about their potential
to generate innovative ideas
Constantly articulating how innovation performance can drive the
organization to greater heights, including examples of companies
that have used innovation to transform their business model and
achieve unprecedented growth
Articulating and illustrating how innovation can propel the careers
of workforces to greater heights
C
CHAPTER 5
Importance of Innovation Engagement Skills
hapter 5 looks at why it’s vital for organizational leaders to possess
innovation engagement skills in leading workforce innovation. e
following are three reasons:
i. e need to inspire workforces to believe that innovative thinking abilities
can be attained: One of the challenges that organizational leaders face in
leading workforce innovation is that many workforces tend to hold low
expectations of themselves when it comes to generating innovative
ideas. is attitude of low expectations is often compounded by the
belief—espoused by many organizations over the years—that
innovation is the responsibility of speci�c functional units and
professionals. Since the current trend in organizations is to make
innovation every employee’s responsibility, organizational leaders now
have a responsibility to change the thinking of workforces about
innovation by continually instilling in them the fact that nobody has
exclusive rights to innovative thinking abilities based on their inborn
capabilities or current job positions and that anybody can attain
innovative thinking abilities and generate innovative ideas. However,
with innovation leadership still being an uncommon and somewhat
unnatural competency for many organizational leaders, unfreezing the
workforce thinking or attitude of “I can’t generate innovative ideas” can
be a daunting task. e good news, though, is that it’s doable—with the
appropriate skills, speci�c tools, and tact. As stated in chapter 4, the
purpose of innovation engagement skills is to equip organizational
leaders with tools and approaches that can effectively change the
misconceptions that workforces have about innovation and educate
workforces that innovative thinking skills can be developed by anybody,
irrespective of status in the organization or type of profession.
ii. Organizational leaders need hearts-and-minds skills to champion
innovation across the organization: e introduction of this book
outlined four premises on which this book is anchored. One of the
premises is that many organizations are now adopting the practice of
making innovation every employee’s business. However, it was also
stated that many organizational leaders have no ability to formulate
tools for communicating or publicizing innovation systems and
innovation practices across the organization. When it comes to
championing innovation across the organization, it must be understood
that instilling innovation in the hearts and minds of workforces is not
an easy task, and without the right skills, it’s almost impossible to
educate workforces about and instill in them the various aspects of
innovation.
Experts on strategy execution have observed that many organizations
are good at strategy formulation; however, when it comes to strategy
execution, most of the organizations don’t cut it. Many analysts in
strategy implementation have indicated that one of the weaknesses
many organizations have, which in many cases accounts for poor
strategy execution, is organizational leaders’ lack of skills to create
effective initiatives to instill the organization’s strategy in the hearts and
minds of workforces. Harvard Business Review termed the process of
instilling the organizational vision and strategy in the hearts and minds
of the workforce strategy communication and observed that it’s one of the
challenges that organizational leaders are faced with when it comes to
strategy execution. As a result, because the workforces, who are key
stakeholders in strategy execution, do not wholeheartedly own and are
not emotionally invested in the organization’s vision and corporate
strategy, the result is a negative impact on the strategy-execution
process. In fact, an often-quoted Fortune magazine study published in
1999 found that 70 percent of CEO failures came not as a result of
poor strategy but the inability to execute strategy. And in one of their
publications, the architects of the Balanced Scorecard approach (a
framework for strategy development and execution), Robert S. Kaplan
and David P. Norton, revealed that one of the key barriers to strategy
execution is a lack of understanding of company strategy by workforces;
they also noted that 85 percent of executive teams spend less than one
hour per month discussing strategy. In his most recent (2013) book,
Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, former P&G CEO A. G.
La�ey states that because strategy is formulated at all levels of the
organization, to be successful, it needs to be communicated at all levels
as well. La�ey emphasizes that the members of management must
communicate their strategies to the whole company. La�ey warns that
the challenge, though, is to �nd simple, clear, and compelling ways to
communicate organizational strategies across functional units. “A
massive binder or thick PowerPoint deck won’t do for the organization.
us, it’s important to think explicitly about the core of the strategy
and the best way to communicate its essence broadly and clearly,” writes
La�ey.
In his book Balanced Scorecard Diagnostics: Maintaining Performance,
Paul Niven notes, “Regardless of the forum or �eld of endeavor, at the
end of the day, true success resides in the power manifested by hearts
and minds.” is underscores the importance of communicating and
publicizing innovation throughout the organization. But as stated
earlier, instilling innovation in the hearts and minds of workforces is
difficult without appropriate skills; for this reason, it is important for
organizational leaders to possess the necessary skills and competencies
to design and implement a wide range of innovation engagement
initiatives (using both informative and inspirational styles) that are
effective in building passion for, emotional interest in, and commitment
to innovation in workforces, which will consequently result in
consistent generation of innovative ideas and achievement of innovation
goals across the organization.
iii. Organizational leaders need to possess the ability to thoughtfully formulate
creative, compelling, and inspiring innovation catchphrases: In my
experiences as a trainer and consultant and through my interactions in
the practitioner world, I’ve seen many organizations use traditional
techniques to try to inspire the desired workforce behavior, such as
displaying phrases aimed at communicating the values, mission, or
vision of the organization to workforces; these posters are usually
displayed in particular locations around the offices or hallways. e
posters often bear common phrases, such as those highlighted here in
�gure 5-1.
What is interesting about this practice is that the majority of the
organizational leaders do not even bother to ask themselves how
effective the phrases they have inscribed on the posters have been in
motivating the desired behavior. In fact, in most cases, the general
organizational behavior fails to re�ect the inscribed organizational
values. For instance, a number of organizations will include or display
on the poster a phrase such as “Innovation is our core value,” yet the
majority of the leadership and the workforces do not even understand
what innovation means in the context of the company’s nature of
business. Additionally, the company may not even have put in place the
necessary crosscutting innovation-support systems and practices, yet the
poster proclaims, “Innovation is our core value.”
e point from the foregoing is that, irrespective of the size and type
of organization, leaders cannot just proclaim phrases that are not
thoughtfully generated, that are uncreative, and that are not compelling
or inspiring and hope to instill the inscribed values and practices in the
hearts and minds of workforces. In reality, the effect is likely to be zero
in terms of instilling the intended message. us, the phrases should be
thoughtfully generated, should be compelling and motivating, and must
be applied using a variety of approaches and techniques in a creative
and effective manner. In other words, the approaches and techniques
used should be well thought out, persuasive, creative, and ultimately
effective in terms of instilling various aspects of innovation messages in
workforces so that they are able to translate the messages into habitual
innovation-related behavior.
So, in part, innovation engagement skills are meant to equip
organizational leaders with knowledge of the importance of crafting
persuasive, creative, simple, and inspiring hearts-and-minds innovation
messages. ey also equip leaders with some techniques for using
innovation concepts to formulate persuasive and simple innovation-
related messages, with the desired effect being to help workforces build
passion for and emotional interest in innovation.
T
CHAPTER 6
Description and Expression of Innovation
Engagement Initiatives
he purpose of this chapter is twofold: (1) to describe what innovation
engagement initiatives are and (2) to outline techniques for and
approaches to innovation engagement initiatives. Chapter 6 comprises the
following aspects:
1. De�nition
2. Approaches to expressing innovation engagement initiatives
1. Definition e term innovation engagement initiatives refers to an integrated range of informative and inspirational styles and organizational activities through which
innovation engagement skills are expressed to instill innovation in the hearts
and minds of workforces.
Stated differently, innovation engagement initiatives involve development
and implementation of different kinds of programs and activities, on a regular
basis, for the following purposes:
i. Educating workforces about what various aspects and concepts of
innovation entail
ii. Inspiring and instilling innovation in the hearts and minds of
workforces so that workforces are meaningfully engaged in terms of
building passion for, commitment to, and emotional interest in
advancing innovation across the organization
iii. Publicizing the various innovation-support strategies and systems
implemented or intended to be implemented by the organization
iv. Educating workforces about the signi�cance of innovation to achieving
corporate growth and long-term competitiveness of the organization,
the impact of innovation on the economic well-being of communities,
and the in�uence of innovation on the career development of
workforces
In chapter 4 we gave detailed examples of dimensions and aims of
innovation engagement initiatives and activities, you can refer to these
for a more elaborate description of the meaning of innovation
engagement initiatives.
2. Approaches to Expressing Innovation Engagement Initiatives ere are two approaches to expressing innovation engagement initiatives:
i. Use of innovation-motivating slogans and catchphrases
ii. Use of visual illustrations
Details of the two approaches follow.
i. Use of Innovation-Motivating Slogans and Catchphrases
As mentioned a number of times, instilling innovation in the hearts and
minds of workforces is not easy because it requires the application of
different forms of approaches and techniques. Whatever the technique
that you use, it has to be creative and have a high chance of
effectiveness. One of the techniques is harnessing the power of
motivational slogans. Great slogans are memorable, and they captivate
people’s emotional interest and passion in relation to the intended
context or purpose. us, innovation-motivating slogans are one of the
effective techniques for instilling innovation engagement in the hearts
and minds of workforces throughout the organization.
However, inasmuch as motivation slogans have a great deal of
impact, that impact is dependent on, among other aspects, the quality
of the slogans and catchphrases and the techniques used to
communicate them across the organization. For this reason, it’s
important for the organizational leadership to create innovation
engagement committees so that the committees can be tasked with
focusing on speci�c innovation engagement initiatives and activities.
Modalities for establishing committees are outlined later in part III.
Once established, these committees should also be oriented to a number
of pertinent aspects, such as how to formulate and publicize innovation-
motivating slogans. e orientation can be done through seminars or
workshops. e following are some of the characteristics of good
innovation-motivating slogans:
Use simple and emotionally connecting language: Innovation- motivating slogans should be written in simple, creative language
and should have the potential to stimulate an emotional connection
in the hearts of workforces. An example of an innovation-
motivating catchphrase with less of an emotional effect could be
written as follows:
“Lack of innovation weakens the competitiveness of our
company.”
On the other hand, the following innovation catchphrase will
potentially have a stronger emotional effect on the hearts and minds
of workforces than the �rst one:
“Lack of innovation creates a laid-back culture, laid-back
products, and a laid-back company. And a laid-back company
cannot be competitive!”
Workforces should be able to form pictures or images from the message: You should ensure that workforces are able to form visual images
from the innovation-motivating slogans. Remember, because
slogans consist only of words, without visual illustrations,
innovation-motivating slogans should allow workforces to create
visual images from the words used. Here is an example:
“Our company lives on ocean waves: without innovation, we`re
tossed!”
Reflect the context of the message used: Ensure that you create innovation-motivating slogans that re�ect the context of the
intended innovation message that you are trying to communicate.
For instance, slogans centered on the connection between
innovation and the organizational vision, revenues, pro�ts,
competitiveness, career development, and so forth should clearly
re�ect this context.
Use impacting language: Innovation-motivating slogans are intended to enculturate various aspects of innovation in the hearts and minds
of workforces. Ensure that the language expressed in the slogans
enables workforces to ingrain the intended aspects of innovation in
their hearts and minds. For example:
“Innovation is the sailboat of the vision of our company.”
Illuminate benefits in simple and creative terms: If you are trying to communicate the bene�ts of innovation, ensure that the
innovation-motivating slogans make clear, in simple and creative
ways, the bene�ts of innovation to the company, communities, and
workforces.
Examples of Channels for Communicating Innovation-Motivating Slogans You could have well-crafted innovation-motivating slogans and catchphrases,
but if you have no effective techniques or channels through which to
communicate, convey, or publicize them across the organization, the intended
purpose of the slogans will not be realized. us, the teams responsible for
creating innovation engagement slogans should use a great deal of resources,
commitment, and creativity when suggesting techniques or channels for
publicizing innovation-motivating slogans across the organization. e starting
point should be for the top leadership (through an ad hoc committee) to come
up with guidelines on the kind of engagement techniques or channels that
would be acceptable to the organization. One of the guidelines, for example,
could be that innovation engagement committees are required to periodically
submit to the top leadership proposals for innovation engagement techniques
or channels, and the top leadership of the organization would then give
guidance on which techniques or channels would be suitable and adaptable to
the organization’s cultural settings, ability to fund, and ability to implement
and adopt. Some examples of techniques or channels that could be used to
communicate innovation-motivating slogans and catchphrases across the
organization include the following:
• Innovation-motivating posters
• Innovation-motivating slogans on pens
• Innovation-motivating slogans on mouse pads
• Innovation-motivating slogans on mugs
• Innovation-motivating slogans on water bottles
• Innovation-motivating slogans on bags
• Innovation-motivating slogans on birthday and Christmas cards
• Innovation-motivating slogans on T-shirts
• Innovation-motivating slogans on company uniforms
• Innovation-motivating slogans on calendars
• Innovation-motivating slogans on hats
• Innovation-motivating slogans for computer screensavers
ii. Use of Visual Illustrations
In addition to innovation-motivating slogans and catchphrases, the
second technique for communicating or publicizing innovation
engagement messages is the use of visual illustrations to educate
workforces about innovation.
What does promotion of innovation through visual illustration
mean? It is a technique that involves the use of simple visual art,
pictures, or any type of drawing to communicate a particular context of
innovation to workforces with the intention of (1) educating workforces
about a speci�c aspect of innovation; (2) instilling the message of the
importance of innovation to the company, communities, and
workforces in the hearts and minds of those workforces; and (3)
instilling the spirit of innovative thinking in the hearts and minds of
workforces.
e following are some of the aspects of innovation that can be
communicated across functional units with the use of visual
illustrations:
e meaning of innovation
e signi�cance of innovation to the organization, communities,
and the career development of the workforces, thereby stimulating
emotional interest and passion for innovation performance in those
workforces
Dimensions of innovation (types and degrees of innovation)
Innovation strategies, innovation policies, innovation procedures,
and innovation practices across the organization
Importance of Visual Illustration e use of visual illustration as one of the effective techniques for educating
workforces about aspects of innovation and instilling the importance of
innovation in the hearts and minds of those workforces is based on the idea
that visual communication has a greater power to inform, educate, persuade,
captivate, and motivate people to get involved and support a particular cause.
Numerous studies have been conducted on the impact of visual illustrations on
productivity. For instance, a study by the University of St. Gallen in
Switzerland showed high productivity in managers who used a lot of visual
illustration techniques to communicate various organizational activities to
workforces compared with managers who did not use visual illustration
techniques.
Types of Visual Illustration Techniques A number of techniques can be applied to communicate or promote visual
messages about innovation across the organization. Some of these techniques
include the use of signs, pictures, drawings, graphic designs, and electronic
resources, such as monitors displaying different kinds of innovation-related
visual illustrations ese aspects can be used in different forms to depict,
convey, or communicate a particular context of innovation. Some of the
contexts of innovation that can be conveyed or communicated across the
organization include the following:
Visual illustrations on the connection between innovation and increases
in revenues and pro�ts, growth, competitiveness, and career
development for workforces
Visual illustrations on the meaning of innovation
Visual illustrations on the signi�cance of innovation
Visual illustrations on types of innovation in the context of the
organization’s business model
Visual illustrations on the meaning of innovation degree (radical innovations and incremental innovations)
Visual illustrations on various external trends driving the need to
advance and sustain innovation performance in the company
Visual illustrations about the company’s innovation vision
Visual illustrations of functional-unit and corporate innovation goals
and targets
Visual illustrations of the company’s innovation policies and practices,
such as the following:
• Funding for innovation R&D
• Innovation skills development
• Rewards and recognition policies
• Innovation performance measurements and reporting framework
• Innovation performance succession planning
• e innovation-idea development process
• e innovation-idea submission process
• Innovation strategies
Other Approaches Other approaches that can be used to promote innovation and engage
workforces across the organization include the following:
Regularly record the CEO’s innovation statements in video and audio
formats, making sure they are publicized and accessible to all workforces
Regularly translate some of the CEO’s statements on innovation into
innovation slogans and catchphrases
Create a documentary about innovation in the company that can be
accessed by all the workforces
Introduce an innovation newsletter to be circulated to all workforces
Initiate monthly “innovation town hall” meetings to be addressed by
the CEO
Organize departmental meetings on innovation to be addressed by
heads of departments and other senior managers
Establish an “Innovation Day” where various activities are conducted as
a way of indicating to workforces the importance that the company
attaches to innovation performance
Introduce innovation-performance awards to be given to individuals
and teams
Circulate to workforces reports on how the organization has performed
in terms of innovation performance against competitors over a
particular period of time
Circulate to workforces information about innovation-support policies
and systems
Circulate to workforces stories on how innovation has contributed to
making some companies great
Arrange visitations or internships for staff to highly innovative
companies
A
CHAPTER 7
Innovation Engagement Committees
s stated earlier, undertaking innovation engagement campaigns across
functional units not only requires the continual formulation of various
innovation initiatives and activities, but it also involves the application of
a variety of creative approaches, techniques, and channels for communicating
innovation-related messages. To build the capability for the continual
formulation of diverse innovation-promotion initiatives and techniques to
convey innovation-related messages across functional units, it’s important for
the top leadership to create innovation-promotion committees whose role
should be to regularly formulate, implement, and evaluate innovation
engagement initiatives and communication techniques or channels across the
organization. us, chapter 7 covers the following topics relating to the
creation of innovation engagement committees: (1) aspects to consider and (2)
creating action plans for innovation engagement activities.
1. Aspects to Consider e following are some of the aspects to consider when creating innovation
engagement committees:
i. Innovation engagement committees should comprise staff from various
functional units to enhance diversity in terms of abilities and ideas for
promoting innovation across the organization.
ii. e number of innovation engagement committees should be
determined by the size of the organization and geographical spread of
the company (i.e., locations or branches).
iii. Organizational leaders should come up with guidelines for innovation
engagement approaches and techniques so that committees do not
develop overly expensive engagement techniques or techniques that do
not mesh well with the values and practices of the organization.
iv. To come up with effective innovation engagement initiatives and
communication techniques or channels, committees should focus on
the speci�c contexts of the messages on which innovation engagement
activities will be centered. For instance, you could have a committee
responsible for creating messages (slogans or catchphrases) focused on
certain aspects of innovation, such as the alignment of the
organizational vision to innovation, drivers of innovation, meaning of
innovation, signi�cance of innovation, and dimensions of innovation.
Some examples of committees that focus on the speci�c contexts of
innovation messages are highlighted in table 7-1 to the right.
v. Once constituted, each committee should come up with a list of
responsibilities to be approved by the top leadership of the organization.
vi. Once the list of responsibilities is approved, the next step is for the
innovation-promotion committees to begin their respective activities.
e �rst step is for each committee to submit its action plan to an ad
hoc committee created to ensure that all committees are up and
running. e creation of action plans is addressed in the next section.
Table 7–1. Example of Committees for creating speci�c innovation
messages
2. Creating Action Plans for Innovation Engagement Activities
Each of the innovation engagement committees (IECs) should understand
how to create action plans for educating workforces about speci�c aspects of
innovation. Here are some examples of things to include or take into account:
A simple and clear title of the overall task in relation to educating
workforces about innovation
An objective statement of the overall task of educating workforces about
different aspects of innovation
Elements to operationalize different aspects of the action plan, such as
the following:
• What: Speci�c activity to be conducted in relation to the overall
task of educating workforces about different aspects of innovation
• Who: Name of a person or team to perform the speci�c activity in
relation to the overall objective
• When: Time frame for conducting each activity
• Resources: What is needed to conduct each activity to achieve the
intended purpose of the speci�c activity
• Output: Expected outcome from each of the earmarked activities for
implementation. Again, the expected outcomes of each activity
should be related to the overall task of educating workforces about
innovation and instilling innovation in the hearts and minds of
workforces.
T
CHAPTER 8
Application of Innovation Engagement
Approaches
o effectively execute an organization-wide innovation engagement process,
leaders can leverage basic innovation terms, speci�c innovation concepts,
and general innovation aspects to instill innovation in the hearts and
minds of workforces across the organization. Chapter 8 looks at how
organizational leaders can apply their innovation engagement skills, abilities,
and various resources to educate all workforces and instill in their hearts and
minds the basic innovation terms, speci�c innovation concepts, and some vital
aspects of innovation. Examples of important elements of innovation that
workforces need to be educated about and have instilled in their hearts and
minds include the following; (1) connection between innovation and
organizational vision, (2) signi�cance of innovation, (3) meaning of
innovation, and (4) dimensions of innovation. Summaries of each of these
aspects are as follows:
1. Connection between Innovation and Organizational Vision Realizing the organizational vision is the single most important reason why
many organizations pursue innovation, and because of this, the connection
between innovation and realizing the organizational vision is one of the aspects
of innovation that leaders should use their innovation engagement skills to
instill in the hearts and minds of workforces. When creating innovation
engagement messages that focus on the connection between innovation and
realizing the organizational vision, it is important to distinguish between
organizational vision and corporate strategy. is is because innovation is a form
of strategy, and according to a number of publications, many organizational
leaders seem to have difficulties in educating workforces about how an
organizational vision differs from a corporate strategy. What is an
organizational vision? is book de�nes organizational vision as a picture
expressed in a statement form of what the organization should be like after a
speci�c period. In other words, it’s an expression of a vision for the
organization’s future. On the other hand, a strategy is what will get the company
from where it is now to where it wants to be after the specified period. In other
words, strategy is how a company intends to realize its vision. Stated
differently, vision answers the question, What do we want our organization to be
like in the next three to five years? Strategy answers the question, How are we
going to get there?
Illustration Assume you are a member of an organization’s leadership team and want to
create various innovation engagement messages aimed at educating workforces
about the connection between innovation and realizing the organization’s
vision. Speci�c steps in the process are as follows:
i. Outline the vision perspectives of the organization. What does this
mean? Usually, companies have different perspectives on how to
formulate their visions. Some companies have a one-sentence vision
statement, whereas others take a multidimensional approach in which
the organizational vision is expressed from more than one perspective,
such as two, three, or four vision perspectives focusing on core
concepts. For example, one company’s organizational vision might
consist of the following four vision perspectives:
Market share: Takes into account what the company intends to be
like in relation to market share within a de�ned time frame
Market leadership: Outlines the company’s vision to be a market
leader in a particular industry over a speci�ed period
Revenue vision: Outlines the �nancial vision of the company over a
speci�ed period. In other words, how much revenue does the
company intend to generate in the next three to �ve years?
Shareholder-value vision: Outlines the desired percentage of growth
in dividends over a speci�ed period
ii. Formulate vision-focused innovation slogans, catchphrases, and visual
illustrations that re�ect the company vision. ese should have the
potential to instill passion for and emotional interest in innovation in
the hearts and minds of workforces.
iii. Identify techniques, channels, or methods for communicating the
messages re�ected in the vision-focused innovation slogans,
catchphrases, and visual illustrations across the organization.
2. Significance of Innovation Remember that one of this book’s premises is that innovation has become
critical to the vibrancy of any organization or industry. Because of the
signi�cance of innovation, organizations are now implementing innovation
practices to build a climate that allows everybody in the organization to get
involved in advancing innovation. e ultimate reason for implementing
innovation practices is to contribute to achieving organizational growth and
efficiency-related goals, eventually leading to the realization of the
organizational vision. In other words, innovation brings about new products,
new services, new markets, efficient processes, cost savings, revenue generation,
competitiveness, enhanced customer experience, realized investor expectations,
and solutions for community problems—and a whole lot of other things.
From these highlighted aspects, you can see that innovation touches the core
existence of an enterprise, and that is why it is often said that innovation is a
predictor of the pro�tability, growth, competitiveness, and survival of an
organization. Given the importance of innovation, leaders should be able to
leverage different contexts of the signi�cance of innovation to instill innovation
in the hearts and minds of workforces across the organization. is can be
done by formulating effective messages through slogans, catchphrases, and
visual illustrations that are focused on different aspects of the signi�cance of
innovation.
When creating messages on the signi�cance of innovation, it is also
important to formulate drivers of innovation. e drivers of innovation are
innovation-related phrases and visual illustrations that depict various factors
in�uencing the organization to make innovation every employee’s business and
that communicate why the organization has made innovation a permanent
practice across functional units. Details on drivers of innovation are provided
later in this section.
e following examples depicting the signi�cance of innovation can be used
to create concise innovation-related statements, slogans, catchphrases, and
visual illustrations on why innovation is important:
i. One study compared the overall �nancial results of the most innovative
group of companies with those that are not very innovative. According
to the study, the results were clear. e most innovative companies
outperformed their industry peers on three different indicators of
�nancial success: revenue growth; earnings before interest, tax,
depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) as a percentage of revenue;
and market capitalization growth. e study also compared the �nancial
results of “highly innovation-coherent” companies in the Global
Innovation 1000 to those of less innovation-coherent companies within
the Global Innovation 1000 group (innovation coherence is the extent
of aligning innovation strategy to corporate strategy) and found that the
pro�t margins of companies ranked in the top third in terms of degree
of innovation coherence were 22 percent higher on average than those
of companies in the bottom two-thirds (not highly innovation
coherent) and that the highly innovation-coherent companies also
achieved 18 percent greater market capitalization growth. Additionally,
the December 15, 2017, issue of Fortune magazine listed the most
valuable companies, by market capitalization, as Apple, Google,
Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook. Perhaps not coincidentally, these
companies were ranked among the ten most innovative companies in
the world according to Boston Consulting Group’s innovation survey
report of 2016.
ii. A 2011 study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) involving 1,201
business leaders in sixty-nine countries revealed that innovation is a
strategic focal point for CEOs and that innovation is ranked as a high
priority in every industry; the study further noted that 78 percent of the
CEOs reported expecting product innovation to generate “signi�cant”
new revenue opportunities for their companies in the next three years.
iii. A 2010 study by Harris Interactive, an international marketing
consulting company, revealed that 95 percent of the Fortune 1000
executives surveyed indicated innovation performance as critical to the
future growth of their companies.
iv. A study conducted in 2009 by Frost & Sullivan, a business research and
consulting �rm, which involved 157 CEOs across the European Union,
revealed that 85 percent of the respondents indicated that there is
increasing need for innovation to withstand the ever-intensifying
competitive environment in their sectors.
v. A survey conducted by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI),
which was partly aimed at exploring the link between innovation and
revenues, pro�ts, competitiveness, reputation, and growth, revealed that
93 percent of the executives awarded a score of at least seven out of ten
when asked to rate the importance of innovation to their companies’
success. e survey further revealed that, on average, companies in
Britain spend 12 percent of their turnover on investing in innovation.
vi. In a 2010 global innovation survey by McKinsey & Company, 84
percent of executives said innovation was extremely or very important to
their companies’ growth strategies and that without innovation, their
companies would struggle to grow. Similar sentiments were expressed
by the US-based Institute for Corporate Productivity Report in 2011:
“Indeed, the corporate landscape is littered with the abandoned hulls of
once storied organizations that no longer exist, in large part due to their
failure to innovate.”
Such information can be expressed in different forms of innovation-related
statements, slogans/catchphrases, and visual illustrations and then conveyed to
workforces in various ways.
Educate Workforces on How Innovation Benefits em It is important for the leadership to bear in mind that employees have the
inherent desire to contribute toward realizing the innovation potential of the
company, and at the same time, they also want to maximize their individual
bene�ts as they contribute toward innovation performance. So in addition to
understanding that innovation is a critical strategy for increasing revenues and
enhancing competitiveness and growth, workforces need to see how their
involvement in innovation performance bene�ts their career development and
economic well-being. is is vital because it’s often said that people have an
inherent need to believe in something when they are convinced that there is
something in it for them. And once they establish that there is something for
them, they will “own it” and invest incredible amounts of energy and
dedication to bring about its fruition. And the opposite is also the case: if
workforces are not convinced there’s something in it for them, they will likely
exhibit unsupportive behavior toward championing innovation. How might
such behavior be manifest? Workforces may display a number of anti-
innovation attitudes, such as the following:
• Being indifferent to all the innovation-support initiatives that the
company is implementing
• Withholding their innovative ideas
• Exploring other options to develop their ideas, such as licensing them
• Leaving the company and developing their innovative ideas elsewhere
us, it’s important to create effective messages in the form of innovation-
related slogans, catchphrases, and visual illustrations focused on how
innovation directly bene�ts workforces.
Educating Workforces about the Drivers of Innovation ere are numerous internal and external factors that in�uence organizations
to implement innovation strategies on an ongoing basis and create a culture of
innovation. Figure 8-1 gives some examples of these factors:
As part of the process for championing innovation across the organization,
it is important for the leadership to inform and educate workforces about the
factors that have necessitated the company to adopt a culture of innovation.
is can be done by formulating effective messages through catchphrases,
visual illustrations, and written summaries on the speci�c internal and external
factors that are driving the culture of innovation across the organization.
Examples of internal and external factors that in�uence organizations to adopt
a culture of innovation include the following:
Internal innovation drivers
• Business growth: In October 2011, when Virginia “Ginni” Rometty
became IBM’s CEO, revenues had been �at for almost six years.
Her immediate goal was to boost IBM’s growth through innovation
in nontraditional areas.
• Cost savings: When Joseph Jimenez took over as CEO for the Swiss
drug maker Novartis, one of his reform themes was implementing
cost-saving innovation strategies across the organization.
• Expiration of patents for existing products: When Ian Read took
charge as CEO of P�zer, a giant drug-manufacturing company, in
2010, one of the major aspects revealed during the company’s
restructuring strategy exercise was that the patent expiration of
Lipitor, the company’s blockbuster cholesterol pill that accounted
for 16 percent of P�zer’s sales, was due in 2011. As a result, Lipitor’s
sales were expected to fall by two-thirds by 2013, two years after the
expiration. is meant the company needed to invest in innovation
research to develop alternative products to mitigate the effect of
Lipitor’s patent expiration.
External innovation drivers
• Increased competition: In an address to Nokia employees in March
2011, Stephen Elop, who had recently been appointed as CEO,
outlined the themes of his strategy. Elop disclosed that despite the
450 million phones the company sold in 2010, 402 million more
than Apple, almost everything Nokia had done since 2007 was
wrong. Elop told the audience that Apple and Google had changed
the industry from a handset focus to a software focus, and Symbian,
Nokia’s software, had fallen too far to have any hope of catching up
with the competition from Apple and Google. Days later, Elop
announced that as part of his strategy, he was discontinuing
Symbian. A few months later, he formed a technical team whose
task was to develop a replacement for Symbian and also innovate a
product that would compete against top players in the smartphone
area.
• Emerging growth prospects in a particular area:
Artificial intelligence and machine learning: In the wake of
predictions and general discourse on how arti�cial
intelligence (AI) is transforming how people live and work,
there is increasing prominence placed on investment in AI-
related innovation research and innovation-skills
development across sectors, such as �nancial services,
computing, health care, transportation, manufacturing,
retailing, telecom, and government agencies, among others.
In PwC’s 20th CEO Survey of 2017, AI and machine
learning were noted as areas that will have a signi�cant
impact in many sectors over the next twenty years. Many
companies are investing heavily in AI. For instance,
Facebook is working on building the best AI lab in the
world. In a statement on Facebook’s Vision 2026, released on
February 18, 2017, CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicated that
the execution strategy for Facebook’s vision will heavily rely
on investing in innovation research in AI. Other companies
investing heavily in AI-related innovations include Amazon,
Google, Honeywell, Boeing, and Rope Technologies.
Financial technology (“fintech”): is is one of the hottest
emerging and growing spaces in �nancial services. e
growth potential is driving a lot of investment in innovative
�ntech services and solutions and innovation-skills
development by corporations like IBM, Cisco, Accenture,
Microsoft, Deloitte, Siemens, PwC, Oracle, Wipro
Technology, and so forth. ere are also a lot of start-ups in
the �ntech �eld, especially in Silicon Valley.
Renewable energy: Because of increased environmental
awareness across the globe, renewable energy is being viewed
as a huge opportunity for innovation by companies in the
auto and technology industries, such as Tesla, Siemens,
Philips, Samsung, and Panasonic. For instance, global
investment in renewable energy in 2016 was estimated at
$285.9 billion, representing an increase of about 640 percent
since 2003. In July 2016, Tesla Motors opened a $5 billion
“Gigafactory” for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries. It’s
the biggest factory in the world, about the size of 262 NFL
football �elds. Under its vision for an eco-friendly future,
Panasonic’s Corporate Division for Energy Solution Business
has designed a global strategy for smart cities. Among the
goals of the division is to develop, design, and implement
innovative smart-city services and products across the globe,
such as the Tianjin Eco-city project in China, the Punggol
project in Singapore, and the Indian Delhi–Mumbai
Industrial Corridor (DMIC) Project.
• Economic downturn: In 2008, the world’s largest steel company,
ArcelorMittal, was hit by the global �nancial crisis and economic
downturn. In 2011, the company reported that the three years of
weak steel demand had put downward pressure on the company’s
earnings and pro�ts, and in a company statement in 2011,
ArcelorMittal’s CEO, Lakshmi Mittal, said his company was
embracing innovation strategies to keep up with the dark market
environment.
• Change in national regulatory policies: For example, following the
2008–2009 �nancial crisis, the Obama administration restructured
the �nancial regulatory framework to deal with some of the factors
that led to the �nancial crisis.
• Government’s emphasis on innovation as a way of realizing the national
vision: Examples of governmental emphasis on innovation include
the following:
e Obama administration’s energy innovation vision was
“to lead the world in clean energy technology.” is vision
was intended to motivate private-sector investment in clean
energy–technology innovations because of government
support in terms of incentives and political will.
On December 15, 2008, during a press conference in
Chicago, the then president-elect Barack Obama made a
passionate statement on innovation, stating that innovation
would be the cornerstone for realizing the goals of his
administration’s Economic Recovery Plan.
In April 2009, the Obama administration unveiled its long-
term economic plan. e plan was anchored on �ve pillars,
and each of the �ve pillars, according to President Obama,
would be propelled by innovation.
On August 5, 2009, President Obama launched his
administration’s National Innovation Strategy, noting,
“History should be our guide. e United States led the
world’s economies in the 20th century because we led the
world in innovation. Today, the competition is keener; the
challenge is tougher; and that is why innovation is more
important than ever. It is the key to good, new jobs for the
21st century. at’s how we will ensure a high quality of life
for this generation and future generations. With these
investments, we’re planting the seeds of progress for our
country, and good-paying, private-sector jobs for the
American people.”
e point is that the leadership should, on a continual basis, leverage
various internal and external innovation drivers in different forms (e.g.,
summary statements, catchphrases, and creative visual illustrations) to instill
the importance of innovation across the organization.
3. Meaning of Innovation By its nature, a culture of innovation is not easy to create in an organization.
But it is even harder for the leadership to get all workforces across the
organization engaged in the innovation process of the company if the
workforces do not even understand what innovation means in the context of
the company’s value chain and business model. How would individuals get
engaged in a process if, to start with, they do not even understand its meaning?
For this reason, it’s important to ensure that workforces understand the
meaning of innovation and how the meaning relates to the organization’s value
chain and business model.
ere are numerous de�nitions of innovation, and some of them can be
misleading. I often come across de�nitions of innovation such as “generation of
new ideas,” “a new product,” or “the act of introducing something new.”
Certainly, these de�nitions capture some aspects of what innovation is.
However, if such de�nitions are adopted, institutionalized, and ingrained in
the hearts and minds of everybody in the organization, the company risks
instilling a partial meaning of innovation in the hearts and minds of
workforces, with the accompanying risk of being bombarded with lots of ideas
generated from across the organization that may not truly be innovative
because they are based on a partial meaning. us, a full and applicable
meaning of innovation has to be formulated.
at said, this book de�nes innovation as a process that involves identifying a
problem or need, generating a new idea that has not been seen on the market
before, turning the idea into a solution to address the identified need, and then
converting the solution into monetary value. us, the de�nition of innovation is
segmented into the following four aspects, as noted in chapter 1:
e following story illustrates the connection between identi�cation of a
problem, generation of an innovative idea (solution), and monetary value:
According to multiple reports, there is a huge demand for English-language
learning in China. Parents in China spend more than $15 billion a year on
children`s English-language learning. Further, there are eighteen million new
babies born in China every year but only twenty-seven thousand quali�ed
English teachers from Canada and the US resident in China. To illustrate the
extent of the problem, in Beijing alone, there are more than one million
elementary school kids, meaning that twenty-seven thousand teachers is not
even enough for Beijing.
Ann Young, a Beijing-based teacher, saw an opportunity for an
innovative idea. She formed a company to offer English-learning
services across China in an innovative way. Upward English-4-Kids
(not real name) is a Beijing-based company that contracts about
30,000 instructors in Canada and the US and matches them with
about 230,000 Chinese kids for one-on-one video tutorials in
English. e teachers offer online tutorials from anywhere in
Canada and the US. In 2017, Upward English-4-Kids generated
more than $800 million in revenue, up from $400 million in 2016.
Institutionalizing and Educating Workforces about the Meaning of
Innovation We have so far de�ned innovation in a generic sense; however, workforces can
easily relate to the company’s innovation practices if, among other things, the
meaning of innovation is translated to �t the context of the organization’s value
chain. In other words, an inability to translate the meaning of innovation to �t
the context of the organization’s value chain can potentially hinder the ability
to instill innovation in the hearts and minds of workforces and thereby impede
the organization’s efforts to build a culture of innovation. is is because,
naturally, workforces will more readily take part in the application of a concept
if they can easily understand and resonate with it, both in terms of what it
entails and also its relevance to the functional activities of the organization.
And once they understand the concept, they’ll buy into it and contribute to its
furtherance. us, to make it easy for workforces to understand the meaning
of innovation and to instill innovation in the hearts and minds of workforces so
that they can build passion for and emotional interest in innovation, it’s
necessary to translate the meaning of innovation to �t the context of the
organization’s value chain. For instance, if an organization has adopted a
concept such as solar innovation, culinary innovation, audit innovation,
banking innovation, �nancial innovation, arti�cial-intelligence innovation,
insurance innovation, or health innovation, the leadership should make an
effort to interpret the meanings of innovation concepts in a detailed form that
�ts the context of the organization’s business model. For example, brochures
could be used to outline and communicate the interpretation and context of
the innovation concepts.
Example Let’s assume you are tasked with creating de�nitions of innovation in the
context of the various functional units (value chain) of DM Personal Care
Products, the �ctitious company introduced earlier, for the purpose of enabling
workforces to relate to the innovation practices of the company.
First, identify the core and support (back-office) functional units of DM
Personal Care Products, outlined as follows:
Core functional units Product-development unit, with the following segments:
Body-lotions segment
Skin-cleansing segment
Hair-care segment
Hand-washing segment
Manufacturing-processes department (the manufacturing-processes
department comprises the same segments as the product-development
unit)
Marketing department, with the following units:
Pricing unit
Product-promotion unit
Product-delivery unit
New-markets unit
Packaging unit
Customer service department
Support functional units Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
Second, create tables for translating the meaning of innovation in the
context of the functional units of the company, as shown in worksheets 8-1
through 8-5. Worksheets 8-1 through 8-4 apply to the company’s core
functional units, and worksheet 8-5 applies to support functional units.
Worksheet 8-1. De�nition of product innovation
Product-development unit
Product category Type of innovation Definition of innovation in the context of the
functional activities of the product- development unit
Body lotions Product innovation An example of the de�nition of innovation in the context of this unit would be as follows: 1. Identifying problems/needs/gaps within the
personal care market 2. Generating innovative product ideas (i.e.,
ideas never seen in the personal care space before)
3. Turning the innovative ideas (through an established process) into solutions (not seen by customers or the market before) to deal with the particular needs/gaps identi�ed in the personal care space
4. Converting the product solutions into commercial value (i.e., in terms of customer attraction and retention, revenue, competitiveness, and growth)
Skin cleansing Product innovation
Hair care Product innovation
Hand washing Product innovation
Worksheet 8-2. De�nition of manufacturing-processes innovation
Manufacturing-processes department
Product category Type of Innovation
Definition of innovation in the
context of the manufacturing processes of the four product
categories
Body lotions Manufacturing-process innovation
An example of the de�nition of
innovation in the context of the manufacturing processes would be as follows:
1. Identifying problems or needs within the manufacturing processes for the four categories of personal care products
2. Generating particular innovative ideas for the manufacturing processes (i.e., ideas never seen before in the manufacturing processes of personal care products) in the following categories:
Body lotions Skin cleansing Hair care Hand washing
Skin cleansing Manufacturing-process innovation
Hair care Manufacturing-process innovation
3. Turning the innovative ideas (through an established process) into solutions to deal with the particular need or problem identi�ed in any of the manufacturing processes of the four personal-care-product categories
4. Converting the manufacturing- processes solutions into commercial value (e.g., in terms of cost savings or enhanced efficiency through an increase in production levels in a reduced time period)
Hand washing Manufacturing-process innovation
Worksheet 8-3. De�nition of marketing innovation
Marketing Department
Unit Type of innovation (Note:
Innovations under this category could be referred to generally as marketing- strategy innovations or specifically by aligning innovation to the particular segment, as done here.)
Definition of innovation in the
context of the marketing functional unit
Pricing Pricing innovations Identi�cation of a pricing opportunity, then generation of an innovative pricing idea, which is then converted (through an established innovation- development process) into a price innovation that contributes monetary value to the organization
Product promotion Product-promotion innovations Identi�cation of a product-promotion need or problem, then generation of an innovative product-promotion idea, which is then converted (through an established product-promotion innovation-development process) into a product-promotion innovation that contributes monetary value to the organization
Product delivery (often
a stand-alone unit in large corporations)
Product-delivery innovations Identi�cation of a need or problem within the product-delivery unit, then generation of an innovative product- delivery idea, which is then converted (through an innovation-development process) into a product-delivery-process innovation that contributes monetary value to the organization
New markets Innovative ideas for new markets Identi�cation of a market opportunity, either in a new market (e.g., a new geographical location) or a new customer segment within the existing market not served by competitors’ or the organization’s existing products or services, then generation of an innovative market-strategy idea, which is then converted (through a new- market strategy) into a new market for
existing products that contributes monetary value to the organization
Packaging Packaging innovations Identi�cation of a need or problem within the packaging unit, then generation of an innovative product- packaging idea, which is then converted (through an innovation- development process) into a product- packaging innovation that contributes monetary value to the organization
Worksheet 8-4. De�nition of customer service innovation
Customer Service Department
Customer service component
Type of innovation (Note:
Innovations under this category could be referred to as customer service innovations.)
Definition of innovation in the
context of customer service
Customer service Customer service innovation Identi�cation of a need or problem within the customer service unit or segment, then generation of an innovative customer service idea, which is then converted (through an innovation-development process) into a customer service innovation that contributes monetary value to the organization
Recall that the support functional units of DM Personal Care Products
include the following:
Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
Worksheet 8-5 provides an example of how you can translate the meaning
of innovation in the context of cost savings in these support functional units.
As stated before, the context of innovation ideas generated in support
functional units is usually focused on efficiency or cost savings within the
context of a particular support functional unit. us, the meaning of
innovation in the support functional units outlined in worksheet 8-5 is phrased
in the context of cost savings.
Worksheet 8-5. De�nition of innovation in support functional units
Translating the meaning of innovation in the context of support functional units
Support unit Definition of innovation in the context of support functional units
Procurement Identi�cation of a cost-saving opportunity in the procurement functional unit of the organization, then generation of a procurement cost-saving innovative idea, which is then converted (through an innovation-development process) into a procurement cost-saving innovation
Human resources (HR) Identi�cation of a cost-saving opportunity within the organization’s HR functional components, then generation of a cost-saving innovative idea in the context of HR practice, which is then converted (through an innovation-development process) into an HR-practice cost-saving innovation
Finance and accounting Identi�cation of a cost-saving opportunity within the organization’s �nance and accounting functional components, then generation of a cost-saving innovative idea in the context of �nance and accounting practices, which is then converted (through an innovation- development process) into an accounting-practice cost-saving innovation
Information technology (IT) Identi�cation of an IT-related cost-saving opportunity in any of the functional units of the organization, then generation of an IT-related cost-saving innovative idea in the context of the particular practices of the functional unit, which is then converted (through an innovation- development process) into an IT cost-saving innovation
Corporate affairs Identi�cation of cost-saving opportunities within the organization’s corporate affairs functional components, then generation of a cost- saving innovative idea in the context of corporate affairs practices, which is then converted (through an established innovation- development process) into a cost-saving innovation in corporate affairs
4. Dimensions of Innovation Remember, it is difficult for workforces to relate to the company’s call for
advancing a culture of innovation if the innovation practices have not been
translated to �t the context of the company’s value chain and business
segments. We have so far discussed the meaning of innovation and how the
meaning can be translated to �t the context of the organization’s value chain.
e second vital concept of innovation is dimensions of innovation. Integral to
establishing the innovation practices on which the organization’s culture of
innovation is anchored is ensuring that an organization has a clear
interpretation of the dimensionality of innovation in relation to its value chain
and business model. Remember that a culture of innovation constitutes various
innovation practices that are translated to �t the context of the organization’s
systems and business model, and one of the concepts of innovation through
which an organization expresses its innovation practices is dimensions of
innovation. us, this section covers the meaning of dimensions of innovation
and how the meaning can be translated to �t the context of the company’s
value chain and business model for easy understanding by workforces. e
section has covered two aspects; definition of dimensions of innovation and
description of types of innovation and innovation degree. Details of these are as
follows:
i. Definition of Dimensions of Innovation
Innovation occurs in different organizational contexts, and these
contexts are what we’ve referred to as dimensions of innovation. e
term dimensions of innovation refers to ways in which innovation occurs
in the context of an organization’s value chain and business model. In
other words, because innovation occurs in different contexts of
organizational activities, dimensions of innovation is a term that describes
the different ways in which innovation occurs (i.e., where) and the
degree of change or newness that innovation entails (i.e., how).
Example of How to Illustrate the Dimensions of Innovation A number of illustrations can be used to describe the dimensionality of
innovation. One simple example would be a basket containing a
mixture of fruits and veggies of different types, colors, and sizes. How
does the basket of veggies and fruits relate to the dimensionality of
innovation? ree relations can be highlighted:
• Variety of fruits and veggies: is relates to the fact that innovation
occurs in the different contexts of the various functional activities
and business segments of an organization.
• Each fruit or veggie has a name: is relates to the fact that there are
different kinds of innovation and that every innovation has a name
in the context of a particular aspect of the organization’s business
model, functional activity, or business segment.
• Each fruit or veggie has a different nutritional value: is relates to
the fact that every innovation idea is different in terms of the
magnitude of newness or extent of inherent impact (i.e., an
innovative idea can either be radical or incremental).
In a nutshell, dimensions of innovation is a term that describes two
related innovation concepts: types of innovation and innovation degree, as
illustrated in the following simple diagram:
ii. Description of Types of Innovation and Innovation Degree
Types of Innovation
What does the term types of innovation mean? Recall that
dimensions of innovation is a concept used to describe two aspects of
innovation: where innovation occurs and how innovation occurs.
e term types of innovation relates to where innovation occurs or
the context in which innovation occurs in the organization’s value
chain or functional activities. Innovation occurs in a variety of
functional activities across the organization’s value chain. For
instance, there are innovation ideas (or innovations) in different
contexts of products depending on the nature of an organization’s
product platforms. ere are also process innovation ideas
depending on the nature of an organization, marketing innovations,
customer service innovations, and a whole host of service
innovations. Further, types of innovation normally re�ect the
context of an organization’s value chain and business model. For
instance, a �nancial institution such as a bank would contextualize
its types of innovation according to the value chain and business
model. Such innovations in a bank would generally be referred to as
bank innovations, and the innovations would then be further
categorized according to the segments in the bank’s value chain. For
example, innovations or innovation ideas generated in a payment
functional unit of the bank would be speci�ed as payment
innovations, and in the bank’s money-transfer division, they would
be contextualized as money-transfer innovations; in the retail-
banking division, innovations would be referred to as retail-banking
innovations. In the restaurant industry, innovations are generally
translated as culinary innovations, and similarly, innovations or
innovation ideas generated in the insurance industry would be
contextualized according to the value chain and business model of
the insurance company. For an insurance company, such as Farmers
Insurance, with business segments that include home insurance,
auto insurance, life insurance, and business insurance and that also
offers claims and agent services, the categories of types of innovation
would be contextualized or translated as home-insurance
innovations, auto-insurance innovations, life-insurance innovations,
business-insurance innovations and claim-process innovations.
Some examples of common types of innovations and their
characteristics are as follows:
• Product innovations: Product innovations are in a tangible
form, such as auto parts, phones, computers, IT accessories,
building materials, heavy equipment, wood materials,
furniture, clothes, foodstuffs, drinks, lotions, soaps, and so
forth. As stated earlier, types of innovation can be broadened
to speci�cally re�ect the organization’s value chain and
business model. For example, a meat-processing company
could describe types of innovation according to the product
segments, such as pork-product innovations, beef-product
innovations, chicken-product innovations, and so forth.
• Service innovations: Service innovations are in an intangible
form. e following are some of the areas in which service
innovations are generated or implemented: health-care
services, �nancial services, insurance services, travel services,
hotel services, and IT services. As with product innovations,
service innovations can also be broadened to speci�cally
re�ect the organization’s value chain and business model.
• Process innovations: e third type of innovation is process
innovations. What are process innovations? When educating
workforces about process innovations, the starting point is to
understand what organizational processes are and how they
are structured. is is important because it helps workforces
to understand the context of their organization’s processes,
thereby making it easy for them to generate focused ideas for
process innovations in the context of the organization’s value
chain. at said, it’s important to understand the following:
First, organizations have numerous process elements that
are structurally embedded across its core and support
functional units, and process innovations can be
described or characterized according to the organization’s
value chain and business model.
Second, process activities vary from company to
company depending on the type and nature of an
organization. For instance, the core and support process
activities of a telecom company like AT&T will differ
from those of a company in the auto industry like GM.
Similarly, the core and support process activities of a
�nancial-sector company like Bank of America will differ
from those of a technology company like Apple.
ird, process activities are usually out of view of
customers, and in most cases, they in�uence the delivery
of services or products in varying ways depending on the
value chain and business model of the organization.
e bottom line is that ideas for process innovations
generated in core and support functional activities vary from
company to company depending on the type and nature of
an organization. For instance, in telecom services, innovative
systems may be installed to process telephone services in a
way not seen on the market before. And in a manufacturing
facility, process innovations could include an innovative
procedure or technology to enhance competitive advantage
in terms of production processes—that is, in relation to
product quality, time of production, ability to customize the
production process within a short time, ability to produce at
low cost, ability to produce in large numbers without
compromising on quality, packaging methods, or assembly
methods. Other business models where process innovation
could be implemented or created include supply chains in
supermarkets or department stores, reservation systems and
baggage-tracking methods in the airline industry, and parcel-
tracking systems by couriers such as FedEx and DHL.
An example of a cost-saving process innovation is one
implemented at PepsiCo’s Walkers potato chip plant in
Leicester, United Kingdom. e Walkers plant developed a
process that involves collecting the rising steam from cookers
using a new device that transforms the potato vapors back
into water, which is then used for cleaning equipment,
washing potatoes, and irrigating lawns and shrubs. is
process innovation has saved the company about $1 million
annually since its inception.
Here are some simple steps in �gure 8-4 that can be
helpful when identifying the types of processes on which to
focus innovation activities:
• Marketing innovations: e fourth example of types of
innovation is marketing innovations. Marketing innovations
are usually centered on a number of marketing-related
functional elements of the marketing unit of an organization,
and the context of marketing innovation ideas usually
depends on the type of functional activities that comprise a
marketing functional unit—for instance, product
promotion, product packaging, product pricing, market or
place, and product delivery/distribution. at being said,
marketing innovation is de�ned as a process that involves the
generation and development of innovative marketing ideas in
various marketing-strategy strands, such as the
abovementioned marketing functional activities.
• Customer service innovations: Before describing customer
service innovation, it’s important to outline a few aspects of
customer service that are helpful in contextualizing its
innovations:
First, generally, customer service is de�ned as a provision
of a series of activities designed to enhance the level of
customer satisfaction in a unique way, and it usually
involves activities that support the delivery of a product
or service, before, during, and after purchase.
Second, customer service is said to be either provided by
a person or an automated means referred to as self-service
(e.g., by internet or by other technological means).
ird, in most organizations, customer service is a stand-
alone functional unit, just like procurement, �nance,
marketing, production, and IT. In most cases, the
common function of a customer service unit is to
manage certain functional activities of interactions with
customers, such as returns, complaints, and inquiries.
Also related to customer service is the concept of
customer experience. e difference between customer
service and customer experience, according to many
publications, is that in terms of customer service
strategies, companies usually develop customer service
initiatives that are designed to be implemented in speci�c
areas of the organization, whereas customer experience
initiatives are usually aimed at creating an excellent
customer experience across all organizational functions,
channels, and other touchpoints, such as company
products and services and physical contact with
customers. Other touchpoints include infrastructural
facilities, telephone contact, company website
interactions, email interactions, and so forth.
Fourth, customer service varies from company to
company and is largely determined by the type and
nature of an organization. For example, the customer
service activities of supermarkets like Walmart and
Safeway in the United States or Tesco in the United
Kingdom will differ from those of organizations in the
hospitality industry, such as Marriott or Hilton Hotels.
Similarly, the customer service activities of telecom
companies like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, BT, and
Vodafone will differ from the customer service
components of airline companies like Delta, Virgin,
American Airways, and British Airways.
Given what customer service entails, customer service
innovations can be contextualized as follows:
First, customer service innovations result from innovative
ideas that are developed and implemented in customer
service–related activities designed to support the delivery
of product offerings or service offerings, before, during,
and after purchase. In other words, customer service
innovations can be described in three categories: before-
purchase customer service innovations, during-purchase
customer service innovations, and after-purchase
customer service innovations.
Second, customer service innovations are aimed at
constantly delivering service or product support in a
unique way compared with other competitors on the
market, and consequently, they contribute to attracting
and retaining customers, thereby adding commercial
value to the company.
ird, the context of customer service innovation differs
from company to company depending on the value
chain and business model. For instance, customer service
innovations for a manufacturing company like 3M
would be different from those of a service company like
GEICO.
Fourth, depending on the organization’s policy on
innovation systems, some customer service innovations
can be categorized as follows: (1) customer service
innovations, which are customer service-related
innovations implemented in speci�c customer service
areas, and (2) customer experience innovations, which are
implemented across all organizational functional units,
channels, and other touchpoints and are designed to
continually enhance the quality of all interactions
between the company and its customers.
• Innovations aimed at support functional units: When
describing the term types of innovation, it has been noted that
in addition to the innovations that are generated in the
organization’s core functional units, there are also types of
innovations aimed at back-office activities or support
functional units. Because these types of innovation are
usually aimed at cost savings and enhancing efficiency, they
are often referred to as cost-saving innovations or back-office
process innovations. It’s also important to know that cost-
saving innovations have little effect on the bottom line of an
organization compared with innovations in the core areas of
the organization’s value chain, on which an organization
relies for revenue, growth, and competitiveness.
Educating Workforces about Types of Innovation e main takeaway from the foregoing discussion is that, generally, there are
different types or forms of innovation, and these are translated in the context
of the organization’s value chain and business model. at said, how do you
educate workforces about the organization’s types of innovation?
Two aspects are important. First, the leadership must ensure that all the
critical functional activities of the organization’s value chain are translated and
institutionalized in the types of innovation embraced by the organization.
Second, workforces across all functional units must be educated about the
organization’s types of innovation in simple language using effective
communication techniques. ere are a number of reasons why translating an
organization’s types of innovation is an absolute necessity.
First, study after study has revealed that people in organizations have
misconception about innovation. In many cases, people think that innovation
is just about products, and such a misconception limits the contribution of
workforces to innovation. us, translating the types of innovation in the
context of the organization’s value chain helps the workforces to understand
that innovation occurs in different forms, and therefore, they can contribute
innovative ideas in different forms. Second, it makes it easy for both the
leadership and workforces to understand or identify the context of innovation
ideas that should be generated, and workforces will thus be able to contribute
to the generation of ideas because they understand the different forms of
innovation in the context of the organization’s business segments and
functional units. ird, it helps to create a diverse innovation pipeline for the
organization, thereby building a sustainable culture of innovation and creating
sources of revenue for the organization. Fourth, it is helpful in determining
innovation performance across the organization because innovation
performance will be measured according to the types of innovation developed
over a period.
Example e earlier discussion on the topic of aligning the meaning of innovation with
the various functional units of an organization used the example of DM
Personal Care Products, a �ctitious company that manufactures a variety of
personal care products. Let’s return to this example and assume we now need
to translate and institutionalize types of innovation in the context of the value
chain at DM Personal Care Products. e �rst step is to identify all functional
units (core and back-office) of the company. e second step is to translate and
institutionalize types of innovations in line with the nature of the core and
support functional units and business segments of DM Personal Care
Products. Worksheets 8-6 through 8-10 demonstrate how to translate or
contextualize the functional units and business segments of DM Personal Care
Products into types or forms of innovation. e core functional units are the
product-development department, manufacturing department, marketing
department, and customer service department, and the �ve support functional
units are the procurement department, HR department, �nance and
accounting department, IT department, and corporate affairs department. e
third step is to identify appropriate and effective techniques, channels, or
methods for communicating with and educating workforces about the
organization’s context of types of innovation. A good example of
communication techniques is brochures that use creative illustrations.
Worksheet 8-6. Example of categories of types of product innovations
Product category Types of product innovations
Body lotions Body-lotion product innovations
Skin cleansing Skin-cleansing product innovations
Hair care Hair-care product innovations
Hand washing Hand-washing product innovations
Worksheet 8-7. Example of categories of types of manufacturing-
processes innovations
Manufacturing-processes category Types of manufacturing-processes innovations
Body-lotion manufacturing processes Body-lotion manufacturing-processes innovations
Skin-cleansing manufacturing processes Skin-cleansing manufacturing-processes innovations
Hair-care manufacturing processes Hair-care manufacturing-processes innovations
Hand-washing manufacturing processes Hand-washing manufacturing-processes innovations
Worksheet 8-8. Example of categories of types of marketing
innovations
Marketing unit Types of innovations
Product pricing Pricing innovations
Product promotion Product-promotion innovations
Product delivery (usually a stand-alone unit in
large corporations)
Product-delivery and product-distribution innovations
New markets Innovations for new markets
Packaging Packaging innovations
Worksheet 8-9. Example of categories of types of customer service
innovations
Before-purchase customer service innovations
During-purchase customer service innovations
After-purchase customer service innovations
Worksheet 8-10. Example of categories of types of innovations in
support functional units
Support functional unit Types of innovations
Procurement department Innovations in procurement processes
HR department Innovations in HR processes
Finance and accounting department Innovations in accounting processes
IT department Innovations in IT processes
Corporate affairs department Innovations in corporate affairs processes
Innovation Degree
e preceding section looked at the aspect of where innovation
occurs or the context in which innovation occurs (i.e., types of
innovation). is section looks at how innovation occurs in any
form or type of innovation. How innovation occurs is referred to as
innovation degree, and as stated earlier, innovation degree is one of
the two conjoint concepts of the dimensionality of innovation.
Definition It is important to understand that innovative ideas create or add
value in varying degrees or extents. us, innovation degree can be
de�ned as the perception of the extent of the newness or novelty of
an innovative idea.
is de�nition entails two vital points:
• First, innovations could be improvements to existing
organizational functional activities, such as improvements in
products, services, marketing strategy, customer service,
procurement, HR, accounting, IT, and so forth.
• Second, some innovations are totally or completely new to
the world.
• e point is that whether innovations are improvements or
are completely new, the common factor is that an innovation
or innovative idea must always be novel; it is the extent of
the novelty that differs.
Categories of Innovation Degree e common categories of the extent of the newness of innovations or
innovative ideas are radical and incremental. ese are described as follows:
Radical innovation: is is the highest extent or range of the perceived newness
or novelty of an innovative idea in any type of innovation. In most cases,
radical innovations tend to have the following characteristics once launched on
the market or implemented in the organization:
• First, radical innovations are usually aimed at completely or totally
replacing an existing product, service, process, marketing strategy, or
customer service element and result in a whole new way of providing a
solution to a problem.
• Second, in a number of cases, radical innovations are a game changer;
that is, they transform or disrupt traditional establishments on the
market or in the organization, existing products or services, or other
aspects of a business model (e.g., processes, marketing, and customer
service) in a big way. For instance, think of how Apple’s iPod
transformed the way we listened to music when it was launched in 2001
and how it disrupted the existence of Sony’s Walkman. Also, think of
how Amazon’s online bookselling services have transformed the industry
for brick-and-mortar bookstores. ink of how AI innovations like
Amazon’s Echo are transforming how we live and work. ink of how
automated teller machines (ATMs) transformed the banking experience
—they allow customers to withdraw cash and deposit cash or checks at
any time. In other words, radical innovations are usually a complete
departure from the current state because everything (100 percent of it)
is totally new.
• ird, when implemented, radical innovations often become the talk of
the market. In some cases, radical innovations can create a market
frenzy; for instance, the iPhone created such a frenzy when it was
launched in 2007.
Incremental innovation: Generally, this is de�ned as the extent of the newness
or novelty of an innovative idea in which innovative changes or improvements
are created or implemented in the existing functional activities of an
organization, such as products, services, processes, marketing strategy, and
customer service, as well as cost-saving innovations in back-office functional
activities. e following are some of the characteristics of incremental
innovations:
• First, incremental innovations are aimed at continually satisfying
customer needs or solving problems that constantly pop up as a result of
loss of effectiveness, efficiency, or competitiveness in the organization’s
existing functional activities. Consider the following example of
incremental innovation:
Example Nike launched its Flyknit running shoes in 2012 as an incremental
improvement of its Air Pegasus+ 28 model. e Flyknit is manufactured using
a computerized weaving technology that knits the entire upper part of the shoe
in a single piece that is then attached to the sole. In contrast, the Air Pegasus+
28 model needed to have about thirty-�ve pieces assembled before it was
attached to the sole.
e Flyknit is aimed at generating a number of bene�ts for this category of
Nike’s product segment, such as the following:
e new model has thirty-�ve fewer pieces to assemble than the Air
Pegasus+ 28.
e production of the Flyknit will be much quicker than that of the
Air Pegasus+ 28.
e Flyknit will be produced with less labor than the Air Pegasus+
28, thereby generating larger pro�t margins.
• Second, the newness in incremental innovations varies in range or
extent, from minor innovative improvements and changes to very big
novel changes to an existing product, service, process, marketing
strategy, or customer service element. In other words, incremental
innovations range from small innovative changes, to moderate
innovative changes, to big innovative changes. is book uses the
following three categories of incremental innovations:
Small incremental innovations
Medium incremental innovations
Big incremental innovations
Figure 8-5 provides a simple diagrammatic depiction of the three ranges of
incremental innovations.
Figure 8-5. Range of incremental innovations
• ird, incremental innovations result in small monetary contributions
to the organization’s bottom line, but in certain cases, incremental
innovations can generate breakthrough performance in terms of
meeting market needs and providing large monetary contributions to
the organization. A good example of a large game-changing incremental
innovation is the iPhone, which has proved to be a disruptive and major
breakthrough, selling more than one billion units, and has contributed
hugely to making Apple the most valuable company in the world,
worth more than $700 billion at the time of writing this book. ink of
how Uber has transformed ride-sharing services. Uber’s ride-sharing
model is another example of a big incremental innovation.
Figure 8-6 shows the ascendancy pattern of the categories of
innovation degree.
Figure 8-6. Pattern of innovation degrees
Importance of Understanding Innovation Degree It is important for workforces to understand the concept of innovation degree
for the following reasons:
First, because every innovative idea is perceived to have a particular
extent of novelty, that is, incremental or radical, it is difficult for
workforces to generate meaningful innovative ideas if they do not
understand the aspect of innovation degree because the extent of
newness of the innovative idea is a vital aspect that affects the decision-
making process for any type of innovation.
Second, the broad range of choices for the extent of newness of
innovative ideas helps workforces to understand that an innovative idea
does not always have to be transformational or have a huge impact and
that any extent of innovative idea is �ne as long as it can �x the
problem and has the potential to generate bene�ts for the organization.
Such knowledge encourages workforces to try to generate innovative
ideas in the functional activities of the organization in which they feel
con�dent.
ird, it helps in formulating innovation goals across functional units in
that when setting innovation goals, it is necessary to state the extent of
novelty—that is, whether the innovation that one desires to generate is
radical or incremental. For instance, in the planning goal “to generate
four radical innovative ideas related to procurement between February
and March of 2018,” the word radical denotes the degree of the
innovative idea.
Fourth, understanding innovation degree is vital in determining
innovation performance across the organization at the corporate,
functional-unit, and individual levels. For instance, whether you are
determining the number of innovation ideas generated, the number of
innovation ideas undergoing development, the number of innovations
launched, or the amount of revenue generated or cost savings gained (as
described in part III, chapters 9 to 15), it’s important to state the
innovation degree of the particular innovation launched, generated, or
undergoing development. For example, in determining the number of
ideas for innovative products generated at Farmers Insurance over a
particular period, you would say, “e number of radical innovative
home-insurance ideas generated between January and March of 2018.”
Educating Workforces about Innovation Degree Given the importance of the concept of innovation degree to innovation
ideation and innovation management as a whole, it is important for the
organizational leadership to educate workforces about what innovation degree
entails and how the categories of innovation degree are aligned with the
organization’s value chain and business model. e publicity and education
should be done using simple language, catchphrases, and visual illustrations
that are communicated across the organization using effective techniques.
Bottom line ere are three takeaways from this chapter. First, unless workforces are
engaged in innovation, the organization’s efforts to scale innovation
throughout the whole company will remain a rhetorical exercise. Second,
instilling innovation in the hearts and minds of workforces is not a natural
occurrence; it requires consistent implementation of programs, activities, and
approaches aimed at building workforce engagement in advancing innovation
across functional units. ird, for leaders to instill innovation in the hearts and
minds of workforces it is essential for them (the leaders) to understand and
possess innovation engagement skills. at is, by grasping what these skills
entail and how to apply them to help workforces build passion and emotional
interest for innovation.
PART III
INNOVATION MANAGEMENT SKILLS
Overview In the introduction of the book, we stated that the purpose of the book is
threefold:
i. To explain what leadership for innovation entails in the context of
leading employee-driven innovation
ii. To describe the three essential innovation skill sets required for leading
employee-driven innovation
iii. To explain how to apply the three essential innovation skill sets to build
a climate for innovation and make innovation systematic and ongoing
across functional units
We have so far looked at two of the three categories of innovation skill sets
for leading workforce innovation—that is, we’ve covered the innovative
thinking skill set and how leaders can translate their innovative thinking skills
to lead innovation across the organization, and we’ve covered the innovation
engagement skill set, which involves approaches and techniques for engaging
workforces in owning the process of creating a culture of innovation.
Part III looks at the third category of innovation skill sets essential for
creating a culture of innovation across the organization: innovation
management skills. is part looks at what these skill sets entail and how to apply them.
First and foremost, what are innovation management skills? Generally,
organizations operate through a structure of systems designed speci�cally to
deliver the mission of an organization and, ultimately, realize the company’s
vision. In terms of creating a culture of innovation, remember that you cannot
create a culture of innovation across the organization using traditional, non-
innovation-oriented management tools. is means that if innovation is to be
made a permanent and ongoing habitual process across functional units, it is
vital to implement organization-wide innovation-support systems. In the
introduction of this book, we stated that the model of leadership for
innovation in large part involves the application of various innovation-related
tools to make innovation systematic. Systematizing innovation means aligning
innovation with the systems of all the functional units of an organization. For
example, if company X has the functional units of R&D, production, HR,
�nance, IT, procurement, marketing, and customer service, systemizing
innovation means developing and implementing innovation-oriented
strategies, policies, and procedures in the context of each of the eight
functional units of company X. However, innovation-oriented systems can be
implemented only if the organizational leaders have the skills and abilities to
do so. is is where innovation management skills come in. As we shall see,
innovation management skills involve the ability to formulate and implement
innovation-support systems. What are innovation-support systems? ese are
the innovation-support strategies, policies and procedures, structures, and
technologies aimed at contributing to advancing the culture of innovation
across the organization. In this section of the book, we look at examples of
innovation management skills and tools and how to apply them to implement
innovation-support systems across the organization.
Aspects of Innovation Management Skills To explain the context of innovation management skills, part III �rst covers
the following pertinent aspects; (1) context of innovation management skills
(2) de�nition of innovation management skills (3) importance of innovation
management skills and (4) expression of innovation management skills. Details
of these are as follows:
1. Context of Innovation Management Skills
e term innovation management skills is based on the generic meanings
of the terms leadership and management. In an organizational context, it is said that leadership is considered an art focused on winning the hearts
and minds of followers, whereas management, in a generic sense, is
thought of as a science in which a series of logical steps is followed to
implement decisions and functional activities across the organization.
Part II of the book described the importance of innovation engagement
skills in leading workforce innovation and explained how to engage the
hearts and minds of workforces to advance innovation across functional
units, and the introduction of the book noted how the three innovation
skill sets (i.e., innovative thinking skills, innovation engagement skills,
and innovation management skills) for leading innovation can be
likened to three pieces of a puzzle, in which each piece plays a vital role
in holding the puzzle together. Like the other two skill sets, the
innovation management skill set plays a vital role because to cultivate
innovation throughout the organization, it is an indispensable necessity
to implement innovation-oriented strategies, policies, and procedures
across all functional units; otherwise, the leadership’s mission of creating
an innovation-driven organization risks not being realized.
2. Definition of Innovation Management Skills
What are innovation management skills? ese are the abilities that
enable organizational leaders to formulate and implement innovation-
support strategies, policies, and procedures in each functional unit of an
organization with the purpose of making innovation systemic and
helping to create a culture of innovation. In short, innovation
management skills are innovation-system-building abilities and
competencies applied in the different functional contexts of the
organization to make innovation permanent and habitual.
3. Importance of Innovation Management Skills
Two reasons why innovation management skills are important in
leading workforce innovation are as follows:
i. Leaders will be ill-equipped if they do not have the ability to create
innovation-support systems. In order to understand the signi�cance of innovation management skills, it is necessary to recap the two
innovation skill sets discussed earlier. e discussion of innovation
engagement skills in part II emphasized the importance of instilling
innovation engagement in the hearts and minds of workforces if
those workforces are to contribute toward advancing innovation
across functional units. Part I emphasized the vital role that
innovative thinking skills play in role modeling and in�uencing the
innovation performance of workforces. Make no mistake: each of
these two categories of innovation skill sets (i.e., innovative thinking
skills and innovation engagement skills) is essential to building and
sustaining a culture of innovation across functional units. However,
these two skill sets can do only so much, and in the absence of
innovation management skills, organizational leaders will fall short
of the full abilities needed to build a culture of innovation across the
organization. Said differently, an organization could have
workforces with innovative thinking potential and the most
inspirational innovation leadership, but if the organization lacks
appropriate and adequate innovation-oriented organizational
systems, the organization risks having a meaningless, or
unactionable, degree of innovation potential. is can be
interpreted as a situation where an organization has a high level of
innovation potential but lacks the ability to optimally actualize the
potential into an innovation pipeline to drive organizational growth
and competitiveness.
us, the importance of each of the three categories of
innovation skill sets is context speci�c in that each ful�lls a speci�c
role of innovation-leadership capacity in organizational leaders.
at said, in order to make innovation permanent and habitual
across functional units, the leadership needs to cultivate capabilities
in all three categories of innovation skills.
ii. Traditional management models are not effective. Many analysts and studies have observed that most conventional management models
are not designed to drive innovation across the functional units of
an organization. For instance, at a conference on innovation held at
Harvard Business School in December 2007, panelists felt that
traditional management practices have little to contribute to
cultivating innovation throughout the organization. Many panelists
at this conference felt that the current traditional management
models are stacked against innovation performance. Similar
observations have been made by other communities and experts in
the �eld of innovation management. For instance, a 2010 report by
the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business
(compiled by its Task Force on Business Schools and Innovation)
observed that business schools across the globe must equip their
students with innovation management–oriented tools if the
students are to contribute toward advancing innovation in the
world of work. In the corporate world, experts have argued that if
innovation is to be fostered in organizations, the roles and practices
of management should be applied in the context that fosters
innovation.
ere is no doubt that these observations about the
ineffectiveness of traditional management models to advance
innovation are accurate. Consider traditional HR models, for
instance; most of them, if not all, cannot be used to advance
innovation. For example, you cannot identify innovation talent,
evaluate the innovation performance of workforces, undertake
innovation-talent-succession planning, or design an HR innovation-
support strategy using traditional HR models. Similarly, accounting
professionals cannot audit or report on the innovation performance
of an enterprise using traditional accounting models, just like you
cannot use traditional marketing models to design a marketing-
related innovation strategy or traditional procurement models to
design a procurement-related innovation strategy.
e introduction of this book provided an illustration of the role
of every functional unit in implementing innovation-support
initiatives to contribute to the organization’s mission of building an
innovation-driven organization. What this means is that
organizational leaders have to develop innovation management
abilities to implement initiatives in the context of their functional
duties and activities. For instance, a director in charge of a
marketing unit should have the ability to create marketing-related
innovation goals, marketing-related innovation-challenge questions,
assessment and development processes for marketing-related
innovation ideas, marketing-related innovation strategies, and a
system for measuring marketing-related innovation performance
across all components or subunits of the marketing department,
such as product pricing, product packaging, product promotion,
and product delivery. Similarly, a chief HR officer is expected to
build abilities to develop and implement various HR-related
innovation-support strategies, such as strategies and policies for
recruitment of innovation talent, a framework for workforce
innovation-performance evaluation, a framework for innovation-
talent-succession planning, an innovation-goal-setting framework
for the whole organization, and a framework for translating the
dimensions of innovation into an organizational value chain and
business model and implementing an organization-wide
innovation-performance framework. e same is expected of other
heads of functional units and divisions depending on the
organization’s value chain and business model.
4. Expression of Innovation Management Skills
Like any innovation skill, innovation management skills should be
applied and expressed in the context of the functional-unit activities of
an organization. How is this done? e following example offers a
simple illustration of how innovation management skills can be
expressed in each of the functional units of DM Personal Care
Products, the �ctitious company introduced earlier that manufactures a
variety of personal care products.
Example e �rst step is to outline the core and support (back-office) functional units
of DM Personal Care Products. As in the earlier examples, let’s assume the
company has the following functional units:
Core functional units Product-development unit, with the following segments:
Body-lotions segment
Skin-cleansing segment
Hair-care segment
Hand-washing segment
Manufacturing-processes department
Marketing department, with the following units:
Pricing unit
Product-promotion unit
Product-delivery unit
New-markets unit
Packaging unit
Customer service department
Support functional units Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
e second step is translation of the innovation management skills and
innovation management functional duties or activities to �t the context of each
functional unit.
Worksheets III 1–9 show how innovation management skills and
innovation management activities can be expressed in the context of each of
the core and support functional units of DM Personal Care Products.
Worksheets 1–4 provide some examples of innovation management activities
and descriptions of innovation management skills for the core functional units.
Worksheets 5–9, introduced in the following subsection, provide some
examples of innovation management activities and descriptions of innovation
management skills for the support functional units.
Worksheet III–1. Examples of innovation management activities and
innovation management skills in the product-development functional
unit
Segments Innovation management activities Innovation management skills
• Body lotions • Skin cleansing • Hair care • Hand washing
• Creating innovation-performance job duties and responsibilities in each of the four product segments
• Developing and implementing strategies for product innovation in each of the four product segments
• Creating goals for product innovation in each of the four product segments
• Generating innovation-challenge questions in each of the four product segments
• Designing, implementing, and sustaining an effective system for management of innovation ideas for each of the four product segments (i.e., frameworks that include assessment and analysis processes, design processes, innovation-development processes, etc.)
• Structuring and reporting innovation performance in each of the four product segments
• Developing and implementing any other innovation-support systems and practices in each of the four product segments
• Ability to create innovation- performance job duties and responsibilities in each of the four product segments
• Ability to develop and implement strategies for product innovation in each of the four product segments
• Ability to create goals for product innovation in each of the four product segments
• Ability to generate innovation- challenge questions in each of the four product segments
• Ability to design, implement, and sustain an effective system for management of innovation ideas for each of the four product segments (i.e., frameworks that include assessment and analysis processes, design processes, innovation-development processes, etc.)
• Ability to structure and report innovation performance in each of the four product segments
• Ability to determine, develop, and enact, on an ongoing basis, any other innovation-support systems and practices deemed necessary in each of the four product segments
Worksheet III–2. Examples of innovation management activities and
innovation management skills in the manufacturing-processes
functional unit
Segments Innovation management activities Innovation management skills
• Body lotions • Skin cleansing • Hair care • Hand washing
• Creating innovation-performance job duties and responsibilities for manufacturing processes in each of the four product segments
• Developing and implementing strategies for manufacturing- processes innovation in each of the four product segments
• Creating goals for manufacturing- processes innovation in each of the four product segments
• Generating and creating manufacturing-processes innovation-challenge questions in each of the four product segments
• Ability to create innovation- performance job duties and responsibilities for manufacturing processes in each of the four product segments
• Ability to develop and implement strategies for manufacturing- processes innovation in each of the four product segments
• Ability to create goals for manufacturing-processes innovation in each of the four product segments
• Ability to generate manufacturing- processes innovation-challenge questions in each of the four product segments
• Designing, implementing, and sustaining an effective system for the management of manufacturing- processes innovation ideas for each of the four product segments (i.e., frameworks that include assessment and analysis processes, design processes, innovation-development processes, etc.)
• Structuring and reporting manufacturing-processes innovation performance in each of the four product segments
• Developing and implementing any other manufacturing-processes innovation-support systems and practices in each of the four product segments
• Ability to design, implement, and sustain an effective system for the management of manufacturing- processes innovation ideas for each of the four product segments (i.e., frameworks that include assessment and analysis processes, design processes, innovation-development processes, etc.)
• Ability to structure and report manufacturing-processes innovation performance in each of the four product segments
• Ability to determine, develop, and enact, on an ongoing basis, any other manufacturing-processes innovation-support systems and practices deemed necessary in each of the four product segments
Worksheet III–3. Examples of innovation management activities and
innovation management skills in the marketing functional unit
Marketing functional component
Innovation management activities Innovation management skills
Product promotion
• Creating innovation-centered product-promotion duties and responsibilities for each of the product segments
• Developing and implementing innovative promotional strategies for various product platforms
• Creating innovative promotional goals for each of the product segments
• Generating innovative product- promotion innovation-challenge questions in each of the product segments
• Designing, implementing, and sustaining an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting innovative promotional ideas
• Structuring and reporting innovative promotional initiatives and activities undertaken for various product segments
• Ability to create innovation- centered product-promotion duties and responsibilities for each of the product segments
• Ability to develop and implement innovative promotional strategies for various product platforms
• Ability to create innovative promotional goals for each of the product segments
• Ability to generate innovative product-promotion innovation- challenge questions in each of the product segments
• Ability to design, implement, and sustain an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting innovative promotional ideas
• Ability to structure and report innovative promotional initiatives and activities undertaken for various product segments
Product pricing • Creating innovation-centered product-pricing duties and responsibilities for each of the product segments
• Developing and implementing product-pricing innovation strategies for various product platforms
• Creating product-pricing innovation goals for each of the product segments
• Generating product-pricing innovation-challenge questions in each of the product segments
• Designing, implementing, and sustaining an effective framework
• Ability to create innovation- centered product-pricing duties and responsibilities for each of the product segments
• Ability to develop and implement product-pricing innovation strategies for various product platforms
• Ability to create product-pricing innovation goals for each of the product segments
• Ability to generate product-pricing innovation-challenge questions in each of the product segments
• Ability to design, implement, and sustain an effective framework for
for assessing, analyzing, and enacting product-pricing innovation ideas
• Structuring and reporting product- pricing innovation initiatives and activities undertaken for various product segments
assessing, analyzing, and enacting product-pricing innovation ideas
• Ability to structure and report product-pricing innovation initiatives and activities undertaken for various product segments
Packaging • Creating innovation-centered product-packaging duties and responsibilities for each of the product segments
• Developing and implementing product-packaging innovation strategies for various product platforms
• Creating product-packaging innovation goals for each of the product segments
• Generating product-packaging innovation-challenge questions in each of the product segments
• Designing, implementing, and sustaining an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting product-packaging innovation ideas
• Structuring and reporting product- packaging innovation initiatives and activities undertaken for various product segments
• Ability to create innovation- centered product-packaging duties and responsibilities for each of the product segments
• Ability to develop and implement product-packaging innovation strategies for various product platforms
• Ability to create product-packaging innovation goals for each of the product segments
• Ability to generate product- packaging innovation-challenge questions in each of the product segments
• Ability to design, implement, and sustain an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting product-packaging innovation ideas
• Ability to structure and report product-packaging innovation initiatives and activities undertaken for various product segments
New markets • Creating duties and responsibilities centered on new-market development for the company’s product platforms
• Developing and implementing strategies for new-market development for various product platforms
• Creating goals for new-market development for each of the product segments
• Generating innovation-challenge questions for new-market development for each of the product segments
• Ability to create duties and responsibilities centered on new- market development for the company’s product platforms
• Ability to develop and implement strategies for new-market development for various product platforms
• Ability to create goals for new- market development for each of the product segments
• Ability to generate innovation- challenge questions for new-market development for each of the product segments
• Designing, implementing, and sustaining an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting ideas for new-market development
• Structuring and reporting initiatives and activities for new-market development undertaken for various product segments
• Ability to design, implement, and sustain an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting ideas for new-market development
• Ability to structure and report initiatives and activities for new- market development undertaken for various product segments
Product delivery • Creating innovation-centered product-delivery duties and responsibilities for each of the product segments
• Developing and implementing product-delivery innovation strategies for various product platforms
• Creating goals for product-delivery innovation for each of the product segments
• Generating product-delivery innovation-challenge questions in each of the product segments
• Designing, implementing, and sustaining an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting ideas for product-delivery innovation
• Structuring and reporting initiatives and activities for product-delivery innovation undertaken for various product segments
• Ability to create innovation- centered product-delivery duties and responsibilities for each of the product segments
• Ability to develop and implement product-delivery innovation strategies for various product platforms
• Ability to create goals for product- delivery innovation for each of the product segments
• Ability to generate product-delivery innovation-challenge questions in each of the product segments
• Ability to design, implement, and sustain an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting ideas for product-delivery innovation
• Ability to structure and report initiatives and activities for product-delivery innovation undertaken for various product segments
Worksheet III–4. Examples of innovation management activities and
innovation management skills in the customer service functional unit
Functional unit Innovation management activities Innovation management skills
Customer service • Creating customer service innovation-performance duties and responsibilities centered on the company’s business model
• Developing and implementing strategies for customer service innovation centered on the company’s business model
• Creating goals for customer service innovation in the context of the company’s business model
• Generating customer service innovation-challenge questions in the context of the company’s business model
• Designing, implementing, and sustaining an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting ideas for customer service innovation
• Structuring and reporting initiatives and activities for customer service innovation undertaken in the context of the company’s business model
• Ability to create customer service innovation-performance duties and responsibilities centered on the company’s business model
• Ability to develop and implement strategies for customer service innovation centered on the company’s business model
• Ability to create goals for customer service innovation in the context of the company’s business model
• Ability to generate customer service innovation-challenge questions in the context of the company’s business model
• Ability to design, implement, and sustain an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting ideas for customer service innovation
• Ability to structure and report initiatives and activities for customer service innovation undertaken in the context of the company’s business model
Expression of Innovation Management Skills in the Context of
Support Functional Units As indicated earlier, the support functional units of DM Personal Care
Products are as follows:
Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
is section illustrates how innovation management functional activities
and skills can be expressed. e context of innovation management skills in
support functional units involves two aspects:
First is the ability to develop and implement innovation-support
initiatives aimed at creating a climate for innovation across functional
units, especially in the core units of the organization on which growth
and the survival of the organization depend.
Second is the ability to develop and implement innovation management
initiatives focused on encouraging the generation of cost-saving
innovation ideas in support functional units.
Given the role of support functional units in advancing workforce
innovation, organizational leaders should ensure that they understand the
application of innovation management skills in the context of the activities of
their organization’s support functional units. For illustration purposes,
worksheets III–5 to III–9 outline how innovation management skills can be
expressed in the context of the support functional units of DM Personal Care
Products.
Worksheet III–5. Expressing innovation management activities and
innovation management skills in the context of the procurement
support functional unit
Support unit Innovation management activities Innovation management skills
Procurement • Creating procurement innovation- performance duties and responsibilities
• Developing and implementing strategies for procurement innovation, including cost-saving initiatives
• Creating goals for procurement innovation
• Generating procurement innovation-challenge questions
• Structuring and reporting initiatives and activities for procurement innovation
• Designing, implementing, and sustaining an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting ideas for procurement innovation
• Ability to create procurement innovation-performance duties and responsibilities
• Ability to develop and implement strategies for procurement innovation, including cost-saving initiatives
• Ability to create goals for procurement innovation
• Ability to generate procurement innovation-challenge questions
• Ability to structure and report initiatives and activities for procurement innovation
• Ability to design, implement, and sustain an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting ideas for procurement innovation
Innovative procurement cost-saving management activities • Creating innovative procurement
cost-saving duties and responsibilities
• Creating innovative procurement cost-saving goals
• Designing, implementing, and sustaining an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting innovative procurement cost-saving ideas
Innovative procurement cost-saving management skills • Ability to create innovative
procurement cost-saving duties and responsibilities
• Ability to create innovative procurement cost-saving goals
• Ability to design, implement, and sustain an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting innovative procurement cost-saving ideas
Worksheet III–6. Expressing innovation management activities and
innovation management skills in the context of the HR support
functional unit
Support unit Innovation management activities Innovation management skills
Human resources (HR)
• Creating duties and responsibilities for HR innovation-performance support
• Developing and implementing strategies for HR innovation- performance support, such as the following:
Strategy for recruitment of innovation talent Strategy for workforce innovation-performance appraisal and reward Framework for innovation- talent-succession planning Strategy for innovation-talent development Strategy for workforce diversity
• Creating goals for HR innovation- performance support
• Generating innovation-challenge questions related to HR innovation-performance support
• Structuring and reporting initiatives and activities for HR innovation- performance support
• Ability to create duties and responsibilities for HR innovation- performance support
• Ability to develop and implement strategies for HR innovation- performance support, such as the following:
• Strategy for recruitment of innovation talent
• Strategy for workforce innovation- performance appraisal and reward
• Framework for innovation-talent- succession planning
• Strategy for innovation-talent development
• Strategy for workforce diversity • Ability to create goals for HR
innovation-performance support • Ability to generate innovation-
challenge questions related to HR innovation-performance support
• Ability to structure and report initiatives and activities for HR innovation-performance support
Innovative HR cost-saving management activities • Creating innovative HR cost-saving
duties and responsibilities • Creating innovative HR cost-saving
goals • Designing, implementing, and
sustaining an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting innovative HR cost-saving ideas
• Innovative HR cost-saving management skills
• Ability to create innovative HR cost-saving duties and responsibilities
• Ability to create innovative HR cost-saving goals
• Ability to design, implement, and sustain an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting innovative HR cost-saving ideas
Worksheet III–7. Expressing innovation management activities and
innovation management skills in the context of the �nance and
accounting support functional unit
Support unit Innovation management activities Innovation management skills
Finance and accounting
• Creating duties and responsibilities for �nance and accounting innovation- performance support
• Developing and implementing strategies for �nance and accounting innovation- performance support
• Creating goals for �nance and accounting innovation- performance support
• Creating innovation-challenge questions for �nance and accounting innovation- performance support
• Ability to create duties and responsibilities for �nance and accounting innovation- performance support
• Ability to develop and implement strategies for �nance and accounting innovation- performance support
• Ability to create goals for �nance and accounting innovation- performance support
• Ability to create innovation- challenge questions for �nance and accounting innovation- performance support
• Structuring and reporting initiatives and activities for �nance and accounting innovation-performance support
• Finance and accounting innovative cost-saving activities
• Creating duties and responsibilities centered on innovative cost savings in �nance and accounting
• Creating goals for �nance and accounting innovative cost savings
• Designing, implementing, and sustaining an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting innovative ideas for �nance and accounting cost savings
• Ability to structure and report initiatives and activities for �nance and accounting innovation-performance support
• Finance and accounting innovative cost-saving skills
• Ability to create duties and responsibilities centered on innovative cost savings in �nance and accounting
• Ability to create goals for �nance and accounting innovative cost savings
• Ability to design, implement, and sustain an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting innovative ideas for �nance and accounting cost savings
Worksheet III–8. Expressing innovation management activities and
innovation management skills in the context of the IT support
functional unit
Support unit Innovation management activities Innovation management skills
Information technology (IT)
• Creating duties and responsibilities for IT innovation-performance support
• Developing and implementing strategies for IT innovation- performance support, including collaborative efforts with other functional units to advance innovation through IT initiatives
• Creating goals for IT innovation- performance support
• Generating innovation-challenge questions for IT innovation- performance support
• Structuring and reporting initiatives and activities for IT innovation-performance support
IT innovative cost-saving activities • Creating duties and
responsibilities centered on innovative cost savings in IT- related job positions
• Creating goals for IT innovative cost savings
• Designing, implementing, and sustaining an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting ideas for IT innovative cost savings
• Ability to create duties and responsibilities for IT innovation-performance support
• Ability to develop and implement strategies for IT innovation- performance support, including collaborative efforts with other functional units to advance innovation through IT initiatives
• Ability to create goals for IT innovation-performance support
• Ability to generate innovation- challenge questions for IT innovation-performance support
• Ability to structure and report initiatives and activities for IT innovation-performance support
IT innovative cost-saving skills • Ability to create duties and
responsibilities centered on innovative cost savings in IT- related job positions
• Ability to create goals for IT innovative cost savings
• Ability to design, implement, and sustain an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting ideas for IT innovative cost savings
Worksheet III–9. Expressing innovation management activities and
innovation management skills in the context of the corporate affairs
functional unit
Functional unit Innovation management activities Innovation management skills
Corporate affairs department
• Creating duties and responsibilities for corporate affairs innovation-performance support
• Developing and implementing strategies for corporate affairs innovation-performance support, including collaborative efforts with other functional units to advance innovation
• Creating goals for corporate affairs innovation-performance support
• Generating innovation-challenge questions for corporate affairs innovation-performance support
• Structuring and reporting initiatives and activities for corporate affairs innovation- performance support
• Ability to create duties and responsibilities for corporate affairs innovation-performance support
• Ability to develop and implement strategies for corporate affairs innovation-performance support, including collaborative efforts with other functional units to advance innovation
• Ability to create goals for corporate affairs innovation- performance support
• Ability to generate innovation- challenge questions for corporate affairs innovation-performance support
• Ability to structure and report initiatives and activities for corporate affairs innovation- performance support
Corporate affairs innovative cost- saving activities • Creating duties and
responsibilities centered on innovative cost savings in corporate affairs
• Creating goals for innovative cost savings in corporate affairs
• Designing, implementing, and sustaining an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting ideas for innovative cost savings in corporate affairs
Corporate affairs innovative cost- saving skills • Ability to create duties and
responsibilities centered on innovative cost savings in corporate affairs
• Ability to create goals for innovative cost savings in corporate affairs
• Ability to design, implement, and sustain an effective framework for assessing, analyzing, and enacting ideas for innovative cost savings in corporate affairs
Examples of Innovation Management Skills Chapters 9–15 provide examples of innovation management skills and abilities
and describe how these abilities can be expressed. However, remember that the
expression and application of innovation management abilities are context
speci�c in terms of the functional units or business segments of the
organization. Also, the innovation management abilities cited are not meant to
be exhaustive but to provide some examples.
Structure Part III is divided into seven examples of innovation management abilities that
are presented along with examples of how some of these abilities can be applied
and translated to the speci�c functional units and business segments of an
organization. e seven examples are presented in form of chapters as follows:
Chapter 9: Ability to Engage in Innovation-Oriented Planning
Activities
Chapter 10: Ability to Identify Areas for Innovation Focus
Chapter 11: Ability to Create and Implement Innovation-Performance
Job Descriptions and Job Speci�cations
Chapter 12: Ability to Create Innovation-Challenge Questions
Chapter 13: Ability to Formulate Innovation Goals
Chapter 14: Ability to Design and Implement an Effective
Management System for Innovation Ideas
Chapter 15: Ability to Measure and Report Innovation Performance
T
CHAPTER 9
Ability to Engage in Innovation-Oriented Planning
Activities
he �rst example of innovation management skills is innovation-oriented
planning ability. What does innovation-oriented planning ability entail? In
all management skills, one of the basic and vital abilities required of any
organizational leader is planning. In fact, many management publications
often describe planning as the �rst and most important function of
management needed at every leadership level of the organization. In leading
workforce innovation, innovation-oriented planning ability is not only critical
but obligatory because most of the innovation-related activities involve a great
deal of planning—hence the importance of organizational leaders’ abilities to
undertake various innovation-oriented planning activities. To help clarify the
expression and application of innovation-oriented planning abilities, this
section covers the following aspects: (1) de�nition of innovation-oriented
planning, (2) expression of innovation-oriented planning abilities, and (3)
illustration of innovation-oriented planning.
1. Definition of Innovation-Oriented Planning Innovation-oriented planning is a process that involves creating formats for
organizing and implementing the innovation-related functional activities
required to achieve desired functional innovation goals that ultimately
contribute to overall corporate innovation goals.
2. Expression of Innovation-Oriented Planning Abilities
Where are innovation-oriented planning abilities expressed? As stated a
number of times, innovation is not reserved for speci�c functional units or
professionals; it’s a diverse process of activities that can be undertaken in the
different functional contexts of an organization. is means that innovation-
oriented planning abilities should be expressed across all the functional units of
an organization. Consider the functional units of DM Personal Care Products:
Product-development functional unit
Manufacturing-processes functional unit
Marketing functional unit
Customer service functional unit
Procurement functional unit
HR functional unit
IT functional unit
Finance and accounting functional unit
Corporate affairs functional unit
e leadership would build innovation planning–related skill capabilities
and levels in line with the planning demands of the innovation activities and
processes of each of the functional units of DM Personal Care Products. In
certain cases, some functional units and activities will require complex and
high-level innovation-oriented planning abilities.
3. Illustration of Innovation-Oriented Planning Worksheet 9-1 provides a simple format for creating an innovation-oriented
action plan for developing and enacting activities to educate workforces about
the meaning of innovation in the context of the organization’s value chain and
business model.
Worksheet 9-1. Example of action plan to educate teams about the
meaning of innovation
T
CHAPTER 10
Ability to Identify Areas for Innovation Focus
he second example of innovation management skills is the ability to
identify, prioritize, and structure functional-unit areas where innovation
should be focused. Recall that one of the premises on which this book is
based is that many organizations now view innovation as every employee’s job.
To make it easy for workforces to understand where they should focus their
innovation-ideation efforts, it is helpful for the leadership to outline priority
areas for innovation. Worksheet 10-1 provides an example of a simple table
that can be used for outlining priority areas on which to focus the generation
of innovation ideas.
Worksheet 10-1. Outlining priority areas for innovation
Priority areas for generating innovative ideas Value of the functional activity/business segment or product component
Name of functional activity/business segment or product component
Name of functional activity/business segment or product component
Name of functional/business segment or product component
Name of functional/business segment or product component
Date when the outline was done:
Name and position title of the head of the functional unit:
Value Note that in worksheet 10-1, the table includes a column on the value that
each functional activity or business segment brings to the table in terms of
contributing to the growth and competitiveness of the organization and the
overall delivery of the organization’s mission. is is important because by
understanding the value of each business segment or functional unit/activity,
workforces will be able to focus their ideation efforts on areas perceived to be
of high or considerable value to the organization’s growth, competitiveness,
and mission. In other words, they will generate innovation ideas with the
potential to enhance the value of only the outlined areas for innovation.
e following examples assume we want to outline the areas on which
innovation should be focused at DM Personal Care Products, the �ctitious
company introduced earlier that manufactures a variety of personal care
products.
Steps e �rst step is to outline the core and support functional units of DM
Personal Care Products, as follows:
Core functional units Product-development unit, with the following segments:
Body-lotions segment
Skin-cleansing segment
Hair-care segment
Hand-washing segment
Manufacturing-processes department (as mentioned earlier, the
manufacturing-processes department comprises the same segments as
the product-development unit)
Marketing department, with the following units:
Pricing unit
Product-promotion unit
New-markets unit
Product-delivery unit
Packaging unit
Customer service department
Support functional units Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
e second step is creating tables for listing areas where innovation will be
focused in both core and support functional units, as shown in the following
example worksheets.
For illustration purposes, worksheet 10-2 is created for the product-
development unit.
Worksheet 10-2. Example of how to outline priority areas in product-
development unit
Body-lotions segment: List of product categories for the body-lotions segment
Description of the value that each product category aims to deliver
Product category A
Product category B
Product category C
Product category D
Date when the outline was done:
Name and position title of the head of the product segment:
Similar worksheets would be created for the other three product segments:
the skin-cleansing, hair-care, and hand-washing segments.
e manufacturing-processes unit has the following categories:
Body-lotions manufacturing-processes category
Skin-cleansing manufacturing-processes category
Hair-care manufacturing-processes category
Hand-washing manufacturing-processes category
For illustration purposes, worksheet 10-3 is created for the manufacturing-
processes unit.
Worksheet 10-3. Example of how to outline priority areas in
manufacturing-processes unit
Body-lotions manufacturing-processes category: List of product segments for the body-lotions
manufacturing-processes category
Description of the value that each manufacturing-processes segment aims to
deliver
Body-lotions manufacturing-processes segment A
Body-lotions manufacturing-processes segment B
Body-lotions manufacturing-processes segment C
Body-lotions manufacturing-processes segment D
Date when the outline was done:
Name and position title of the head of the product category:
Similar worksheets would be created for the other three manufacturing-
processes categories.
e marketing department has the following functional units:
Pricing unit
Product-promotion unit
Product-delivery unit
New-markets unit
Packaging unit
ese functional units are presented in �ve worksheets, as shown in
worksheets 10-4 through 10-8.
Worksheet 10-4. Example of how to outline priority areas in pricing
subunits
Pricing unit: List of pricing subunits of the marketing functional unit
Description of the value that each of the pricing subunits of the marketing unit aims to deliver
Pricing subunit A
Pricing subunit B
Pricing subunit C
Pricing subunit D
Date when the outline was done:
Name and position title of the head of the pricing unit:
Worksheet 10-5. Example of how to outline priority areas in product-
promotion subunits
Product-promotion unit: List of the product- promotion subunits of the marketing functional
unit
Description of the value that each of the product- promotion subunits of the marketing unit aims
todeliver
Product-promotion subunit A
Product-promotion subunit B
Product-promotion subunit C
Product-promotion subunit D
Date when the outline was done:
Name and position title of the head of the product-promotion unit:
Worksheet 10-6. Example of how to outline priority areas in product-
delivery subunits
Product-delivery unit: List of the product- delivery subunits of the marketing functional unit
Description of the value that each of the product- delivery subunits of the marketing unit aims to
deliver
Product-delivery subunit A
Product-delivery subunit B
Product-delivery subunit C
Product-delivery subunit D
Date when the outline was done:
Name and position title of the head of the product-delivery unit:
Worksheet 10-7. Example of how to outline priority areas in new-
markets subunits
New-markets unit: List of the new-markets subunits of the marketing functional unit
Description of the value that each of the new- markets subunits of the marketing unit aims to
deliver
New-markets subunit A
New-markets subunit B
New-markets subunit C
New-markets subunit D
Date when the outline was done:
Name and position title of the head of the new-markets unit:
Worksheet 10-8. Example of how to outline priority areas in packaging
subunits
Packaging unit: List of the packaging subunits of the marketing functional unit
Description of the value that each of the packaging subunits of the marketing unit aims to
deliver
Packaging subunit A
Packaging subunit B
Packaging subunit C
Packaging subunit D
Date when the outline was done:
Name and position title of the head of the packaging unit:
e customer service unit is the last functional unit of the core units or
departments of DM Personal Care Products. Normally, customer service
subunits are structured according to the size and business model of an
organization. e leadership should ensure that customer service priority areas
for innovation are outlined in simple terms.
Worksheet 10-9 provides an example of how the customer service priority
subunits can be outlined simply to make it easy for workforces to generate
innovative ideas.
Worksheet 10-9. Example of how to outline priority areas in customer
service subunits
Customer service functional unit: List of the customer service subunits
Description of the value that each of the customer service subunits aims to deliver
Customer service subunit A
Customer service subunit B
Customer service subunit C
Customer service subunit D
Date when the outline was done:
Name and position title of the head of the customer service unit:
Support Units: How Do You Identify and Prioritize Areas in Support
Functional Units to Focus Innovation? As stated before, innovation ideas in support functional units are normally
generated for cost-saving purposes. us, the goal here is to illustrate how to
outline priority areas for cost-saving innovation ideas in the support functional
units of DM Personal Care Products, which are as follows:
Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
For illustration purposes, a sample worksheet for the procurement unit is
shown in worksheet 10-10.
Worksheet 10-10. Example of how to outline priority areas in
procurement subunits
Procurement functional unit: Identify and list the procurement subunits to focus generation of
cost-saving innovation ideas
Describe the value that each procurement subunit aims to deliver
Procurement subunit A
Procurement subunit B
Procurement subunit C
Procurement subunit D
Date when the outline was done:
Name and position title of the head of the procurement unit:
Similar worksheets could be used for the other four support functional
units listed previously.
T
CHAPTER 11
Ability to Create and Implement Innovation-
Performance Job Descriptions and Job
Specifications
he third example of innovation management skills is the ability to create
and implement innovation-performance job descriptions and job
speci�cations. Remember that many organizations are now making
innovation every employee’s job. However, it’s important to bear in mind that
innovation performance in organizations does not take place in a vacuum; it’s
enacted by workforces in the form of performance by undertaking speci�c
innovation-related tasks. is means that if employees are to effectively execute
innovation-related tasks and duties, it is a must that organizational leaders
integrate innovation-related duties and responsibilities in the job descriptions
of the employees. If innovation-performance duties are not stated or speci�ed
in employees’ job descriptions, the innovation performance of workforces is
left to chance, with the hope that they’ll execute innovation-related activities
based on the encouragement and instructions of the leadership. Such an
expectation is dead on arrival! is approach will give zero results in terms of
workforces contributing to the innovation performance of the organization.
ere’s so much innovation-talent potential that is being hindered from being
actualized because of, in large part, lack of innovation-performance guidelines
in the form of job descriptions. However, creating these innovation-
performance duties requires abilities to do so by the leadership, and this is
where this section comes into play.
e question is, How do you formulate innovation-performance job
descriptions and job specifications? is chapter answers that question and covers
the following topics:
1. Generic de�nitions of job description and job specification
2. De�nition of innovation-performance job descriptions and job
specifications
3. How to formulate innovation-performance job descriptions and job
speci�cations
1. Generic Definitions of Job Description and Job Specification Job description:, A job description is generally a list of duties performed
for a particular job.
Job specification: A job speci�cation is the knowledge, skills, and
abilities, along with the associated education, training, and experience,
required to successfully perform the duties outlined in a job description.
2. Definition of Innovation-Performance Job Descriptions and Job
Specifications Innovation-performance job descriptions and job specifications are de�ned as
follows:
i. Innovation-Performance Job Descriptions
An innovation-performance job description is an outline of
innovation-related duties and responsibilities. ere are three categories
of innovation-performance duties and responsibilities: innovative
thinking–related duties and responsibilities, innovation engagement–related
duties and responsibilities, and innovation management–related duties and
responsibilities. ese are outlined as follows:
Innovative thinking–related duties and responsibilities: ese are
duties and responsibilities that are centered on the identi�cation of
problems/needs and opportunities and the generation of innovative
ideas/solutions to deal with the identi�ed challenges and add
commercial value to the organization.
Note that speci�c duties and responsibilities vary by organization
and by functional unit. In terms of functional units, innovative
ideas can be generated in either core or support functional units.
Some of the core functional units could include the product-
development unit, manufacturing-processes unit, market-strategy-
development unit, and customer service unit. Support functional
units could include HR, IT, procurement, �nance and accounting,
corporate affairs, and so forth. Also bear in mind that innovative
ideas generated in support functional units are mainly centered on
cost-saving ideas.
Innovation engagement–related duties and responsibilities: ese are
innovation-performance duties and responsibilities that involve the
application of various organizational resources to design and
implement initiatives on a regular basis that are aimed at educating
workforces about innovation through informative and inspirational
messages using different communication approaches and
techniques.
Innovation management–related duties and responsibilities: ese are
innovation-performance duties and responsibilities that are focused
on the continual design and implementation of various frameworks,
strategies, policies, procedures, and action plans that contribute to
managing, systemizing, and advancing innovation performance
across the functional units of the organization.
ii. Innovation-Performance Job Specifications
Innovation-performance job speci�cations are the characteristics,
abilities, knowledge, and experience needed to perform innovation
performance–related duties and responsibilities.
Categories ere are three categories of innovation-performance job
speci�cations: innovative thinking, innovation engagement, and
innovation management. Brief details of each are as follows:
Innovative thinking job specifications: ese are the characteristics,
knowledge, abilities, and experience required to perform innovative
thinking–related duties and responsibilities.
Innovation engagement job specifications: ese are the characteristics,
knowledge, abilities, and experience required to perform innovation
engagement–related duties and responsibilities.
Innovation management job specifications: ese are the
characteristics, knowledge, abilities, and experience required to
perform innovation management–related duties and responsibilities.
iii. How to Formulate Innovation-Performance Job Descriptions and
Job Specifications Worksheets 11-1 and 11-2 can be used to create innovation-
performance job descriptions and job speci�cations.
Worksheet 11-1. Innovation-performance job description
Name of department: Position title:
Categories of innovation-performance duties and responsibilities
Innovative thinking–related duties and responsibilities
Innovation engagement–related duties and responsibilities
Innovation management– related duties and
responsibilities
Worksheet 11-2. Innovation-performance job speci�cation
Name of department: Position title:
Categories of innovation-performance job specifications
Innovative thinking abilities Innovation engagement abilities
Innovation management abilities
R
CHAPTER 12
Ability to Create Innovation-Challenge Questions
ecall that part I of this book de�ned innovation as a process that involves four aspects: (i) identifying a need or problem, (ii) generating an
innovative idea to �x the identi�ed problem, (iii) transforming the
innovative idea into a solution not seen on the market before, and (iv)
converting the solution to monetary value. e relevant part for this section is
the �rst aspect of identifying needs or problems. If the goal is to implement
organization-wide innovation, it is important that workforces have the tools
for identifying different contexts of problems and needs. However, developing
such tools requires speci�c skills. us, the fourth example of the innovation
management skill set is the ability to create and implement innovation-
challenge questions across the organization. is chapter covers the following
aspects: (1) the de�nition of innovation-challenge questions, (2) the importance of innovation-challenge questions, and (3) how to manage innovation-
challenge questions across functional units.
1. e Definition of Innovation-Challenge Questions Innovation-challenge questions are pinpointing exploratory questions
formulated to reveal speci�c organizational or community problems/needs or
business opportunities requiring innovative solutions.
In other words, innovation-challenge questions are innovation-related
questions or challenges that are strategically formulated, on a continual basis,
to reveal a speci�c need, problem, or opportunity in the context of the
organization’s value chain or business model to encourage and invoke
workforces to generate innovative ideas that speci�cally target the
characteristics of the identi�ed need, problem, or business opportunity.
Framework for Innovation-Challenge Questions In order to leverage innovation-challenge questions in terms of ensuring that
the practice contributes to making innovation everyone’s job in the
organization, it is important for the leadership to create a simple framework
for managing the practice of innovation-challenge questions across functional
units. Practice in this sense means the continual formulation of innovation-
challenge questions across the functional units or business segments of an
organization.
2. e Importance of Innovation-Challenge Questions Why are innovation-challenge questions important in making innovation every
employee’s job? e following are three reasons:
i. It helps to guide and stimulate workforces to generate focused and
pinpointed innovative ideas. Because innovation-challenge questions
reveal speci�c organizational or community problems/needs or business
opportunities that require innovative solutions, they encourage
workforces to generate innovative ideas with a high degree of accuracy
to meet the characteristics of the identi�ed need, problem, or business
opportunity in the context of the business segments or functional units
of the organization.
ii. Innovation-challenge questions encourage workforces to realize
innovative thinking potential. Getting workforces to participate in the
ideation processes of the organization is not an easy undertaking
because innovation is not an expected practice for most organizations,
and organizational attitudes toward innovation have, over the years, led
many people to misconstrue innovation as the responsibility of certain
functional units and professionals because organizations have consigned
or designated innovation to these speci�c units. us, if organizational
leaders desire to successfully scale innovation organization-wide, it is
important to adopt a range of tools and practices aimed at helping
workforces to progressively build their innovative thinking abilities.
One such practice is creating a framework for formulating innovation-
challenge questions on a continual basis. is is because innovation-
challenge questions will potentially encourage and help workforces
across functional units to build, over time, the attitude of participating
in generating innovation ideas and, eventually, make innovative
thinking habitual.
iii. It promotes the continual �ow of different types and degrees of
innovative ideas. e fact that innovation-challenge questions are aimed
at ensuring the continual identi�cation of problems/needs and
generation of innovative ideas means that they contribute to building a
pipeline for the continual �ow of different types and degrees of
innovative ideas across the organization’s value chain and business
segments, which ultimately contributes to advancing innovation-led
growth and competitiveness.
3. How to Manage Innovation-Challenge Questions across
Functional Units In order to leverage innovation-challenge questions so that the practice
contributes to making innovation a responsibility of everybody across
functional units, the leadership should build the capability to ensure that
there’s continual formulation of innovation-challenge questions in every
functional unit of an organization. is involves creating a framework aimed at
making the practice of innovation-challenge questions sustainable.
e question is, How do you ensure that there is a continual flow of
innovation-challenge questions across all core and support functional units of the organization? One of the approaches is the formation of a committee, such as
an innovation-challenge-questions committee (ICQC), whose role is to coordinate and oversee the creation of innovation-challenge questions across all
the core and support functional units of an organization. e ICQC should
also be empowered to create various subcommittees. e role of the subcommittees is to formulate innovation-challenge questions in the context of
functional units or business segments on a regular basis, as and when needs,
problems, and other opportunities related to particular functional units or
business segments emerge.
Note that the composition and operational aspects of the committees
should be sanctioned and fully supported by the CEO and the top leadership
of the organization.
Roles of ICQC and Subcommittees Once the main committee and subcommittees are established, their role is to
ensure that they regularly brainstorm approaches for sustaining the continual
formulation and phrasing of effective innovation-challenge questions in all the
functional units or business/product segments of the organization.
Formulation of effective innovation-challenge questions means generating
innovation questions that have the potential to contribute toward advancing
innovation in the organization through their ability to stimulate the generation
of innovative solutions from workforces.
ere are a number of approaches and measures committees can take to
enable continual generation and formulation of effective innovation-challenge
questions. e following are some of them:
i. Formulating frameworks for aligning innovation-challenge questions
across all functional units and business/product segments
ii. Formulating innovation-challenge questions that contribute to
broadening the organization’s business-model identity
iii. Ensuring that good innovation-challenge questions are formulated
iv. Creating databases of innovation drivers
v. Conducting periodic review of the innovation-challenge questions
vi. Collaborating and conferring with various heads of functional units
vii. Creating good innovation-challenge-questions worksheets
Each of these aspects is outlined as follows:
i. Formulating frameworks for aligning innovation-challenge questions across
all functional units and business/product segments: One of the approaches that can be engaged by the ICQC is to ensure that respective
subcommittees regularly generate and formulate innovation-challenge
questions that correlate with the activities of the particular functional
units or business/product segments that the committees are responsible
for. e ICQC should also ensure that the formulation of innovation-
challenge questions is cascaded down to every component of the
functional unit or business/product segment that has been identi�ed as
critical. e question is, How do you cascade innovation-challenge
questions? All organizations are structured in functional units or
departments. And these functional units are further broken down into various small components. us, cascading innovation-challenge
questions means formulating thoughtful innovation-centered questions for all the critical functional activities, business segments, or product
components of an organization. e term thoughtful innovation-centered
questions implies formulating innovation-challenge questions that reveal the inner need, problem, or business opportunity of a particular
component or context. In order to realize this goal, the leadership
should ensure that the organization’s ICQC facilitates (through
subcommittees) the formulation of frameworks for cascading
innovation-challenge questions across all functional units and business
segments.
Illustration Let’s assume we wish to create a framework for cascading innovation-
challenge questions across the functional units of DM Personal Care
Products. e �rst step is to identify the core and support functional
units of DM Personal Care Products, as follows:
Core functional units Product-development unit, with the following segments:
Body-lotions segment
Skin-cleansing segment
Hair-care segment
Hand-washing segment
Manufacturing-processes department
Marketing department, with the following units:
Pricing unit
Product-promotion unit
Product-delivery unit
New-markets unit
Packaging unit
Customer service department
Support functional units
Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
e second step is to align various core and support functional unit
activities to the innovation-challenge-questions framework.
As an example, the following steps show how to create a simple framework
for aligning innovation-challenge questions in the body-lotions segment of the
product-development unit of DM Personal Care Products:
Steps 1. Identify a product type within the body-lotions segment; for instance,
let’s assume lotion X is a type of lotion manufactured by DM Personal
Care Products
2. Identify all the critical components of lotion X (i.e., from the value
aspects of the lotion to packaging) on which the innovation-challenge
questions will be focused
3. Identify the number of innovation-challenge questions to be formulated
within a particular period
Figure 12-1 charts these steps.
Note: e innovation-challenge questions should be formulated
periodically in the context of each of the product components of lotion X.
e same process would be replicated for the other core functional units of
DM Personal Care Products (i.e., manufacturing processes, marketing, and
customer service).
Support Functional Units In terms of support functional units, innovation occurs in the context of cost
savings. us, the innovation-challenge questions should be formulated in the
form of cost-saving innovation-challenge questions in the context of the
activities of each support functional unit. e support units for DM Personal
Care Products are as follows:
Procurement
HR
Finance and accounting
IT
Corporate affairs
ii. Formulating innovation-challenge questions that contribute to broadening
the organization’s business-model identity: Effective innovation-challenge questions should not only enhance the innovation performance of the
organization’s existing business model but also contribute to corporate
growth. us, the top leadership should ensure that ICQCs not only
focus on incremental innovation-challenge questions that encourage the
generation of small incremental innovative ideas but also on the
formulation of innovation-challenge questions that contribute toward
broadening the business identity of the organization. is could be
done by formulating innovation-challenge questions that seek to
explore business spaces for new business models. Many companies have
achieved tremendous growth as a result of venturing into nontraditional
business opportunities. A good example is Apple, Inc. Over the years,
Apple has been leveraging its innovation capabilities to broaden its
identity in nontraditional areas such as music, smartphones, and
smartwatches. 3M is another company that leverages its innovation
capabilities to constantly explore business opportunities outside its
traditional spaces. At an annual shareholders’ meeting on May 30,
2011, George Buckley, 3M’s chairman, president, and CEO, told
shareholders that the new innovation heyday for 3M was now, citing
simultaneous growth in multiple businesses across the company, and
noted that 3M had always relied on exploring new innovative business
opportunities outside its traditional spaces. In highlighting growth in
multiple markets, Buckley described new opportunities in fast-growing
segments like software and electronics, as well as advances in core and
traditional areas such as abrasives, adhesives, industrial tape, and office
products. And the third example is Nokia, which began its operations as
a paper mill company in 1865. In 1912, Nokia added manufacturing of
electrical cable to its business model; in 1967, it expanded to paper,
rubber, and cable; in 1982, it installed the digital telephone switch, the
DX200; in 1987, it launched the Mobira Cityman, the company’s �rst
nonbulky mobile phone; and �nally, in 1991, the �rst-ever Global
System for Mobile communication (GSM) call was made using Nokia
equipment.
Conversely, however, some companies are struggling to survive
because they have de�ned themselves too narrowly, instead of thinking
of how they can broaden their business identity with their resources.
iii. Ensuring that good innovation-challenge questions are formulated: Understanding the meaning of innovation-challenge questions and
knowing areas where the innovation-challenge questions should be
formulated is one thing; however, generating or creating innovation-
challenge questions that can effectively elicit innovative solutions from
workforces is another. So one of the approaches is for the organizational
leadership to ensure that every innovation-challenge question that is
formulated and publicized to workforces is of good quality in terms of
the ability to elicit effective innovative solutions. at said, the question
would be, What are the characteristics of good innovation-challenge
questions? Here are some suggestions: • Questions should be focused and pinpointed in terms of bringing
out the need, problem, or opportunity that requires innovative ideas
• Questions should use simple and plain language
• Ensure that there is only one innovation-challenge question per
need, problem, or opportunity
• Questions should be preceded by a brief outline of the factors
in�uencing the need for innovative ideas in a particular functional
unit or business/product segment. Some of the drivers of innovation
could include the following:
Part of company strategy to realize the company vision
through innovation performance
Customer need or problem
Complaints from customers
Product recalls
Intense competition
Disruptive industry trends/practices
Transforming or broadening the organization’s business
model
Market trends and consumer demands
Cost-saving measures
Global trends
Government vision, policy, or regulation
Disasters
Epidemics
iv. Creating databases of innovation drivers: As stated in the preceding point, there are many diverse factors (both internal and external) that
in�uence innovation in organizations. For instance, one of the factors
in�uencing innovation in organizations is disruptive industry trends or
changes in industry practices. In relation to this is Nokia’s case. On
February 11, 2011, Nokia announced that it would migrate from its
mobile operating system Symbian (Symbian OS). In his speech to
Nokia staff in March 2011, former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop explained
his decision to dump Symbian OS as being based on the fact that Apple
and Google had changed the industry from handset focused to software
focused and that Nokia’s Symbian OS had fallen too far behind to have
any hope of catching up. us, a change in industry practices, as in the
Nokia case, is one of the major in�uencing factors of innovation in
many companies because a company will have to innovate to replace the
disrupted offering with one that can compete against the market trends.
Also, note that factors that in�uence innovation differ from
organization to organization and from sector to sector. For instance,
innovation at Dow, an energy company, is in�uenced by a host of
factors that are different from those in�uencing a company in the
�nancial sector like Bank of America, a technology company like Dell, a
telecom company like AT&T, a hospitality company like Marriott, an
airline company like Southwest Airlines, and so forth. at said,
innovation drivers are a key resource to in�uencing innovation in
organizations, and therefore, it’s critical for any organization that has
made innovation a key part of its growth and competitiveness to
constantly keep tabs on the various innovation drivers that can be
leveraged to advance innovation. ere are many approaches that
organizations can use to keep track of the various forces in the business
environment. In relation to innovation-challenge questions, this book
suggests creating some form of database for storing various aspects and
contexts of factors in�uencing innovation across the organization. e
ICQC should ensure that innovation-challenge-questions
subcommittees across functional units create databases of various
innovation drivers within the context of the areas the subcommittees are
responsible for. e databases should be updated regularly to re�ect the
trends, needs, and problems of each particular functional unit or
business/product segment. e trends and needs, as stated earlier, are
used as the basis for formulating innovation-challenge questions, which
in turn stimulate the generation of innovative ideas by workforces.
v. Conducting periodic reviews of the innovation-challenge questions: e �fth measure is for the ICQC to not only coordinate the formulation of
innovation-challenge questions but also to ensure that, over time,
existing innovation-challenge questions are regularly reviewed and
updated to re�ect current factors that are in�uencing innovation in the
organization and, in some cases, include future scenarios likely to affect
the components of the functional units, a particular product, or the
organization.
vi. Collaborating and conferring with various heads of functional units: As mentioned, the role of ICQCs is to ensure that they regularly come up
with innovation-challenge questions that have the potential to stimulate
workforces across functional units to generate innovative ideas on a
regular basis. One of the approaches in ensuring that this objective is
realized is for committees to regularly collaborate and confer with
various heads of functional units on a number of aspects related to
innovation-challenge questions, including brainstorming and discussing
ideas about the various needs, problems, and opportunities of the
organization’s functional units that could be used to formulate
innovation-challenge questions. Committees could also use the
collaborative interactions with heads of functional units to obtain
information on the innovation goals of functional units and then use
this information when formulating innovation-challenge questions for
the respective functional units and components.
vii. Creating good innovation-challenge-questions worksheets: In order to ensure that the intended purposes of innovation-challenge questions are
realized, the organizational leadership should ensure that the ICQC and
all the subcommittees understand the importance of creating good
innovation-challenge-questions worksheets. Good innovation-
challenge-questions worksheets are those with sufficient questioning
characteristics that will help elicit effective innovative ideas correlating
to particular needs or problems highlighted in the innovation-challenge
questions.
e questions would then be, How do you create worksheets for
formulating innovation-challenge questions on a regular basis? What aspects
should be included in the innovation-challenge-questions worksheet so that the right innovation-challenge questions are formulated to effectively elicit innovative ideas or solutions from workforces? e following are some of the aspects to take into account when creating innovation-challenge-
questions worksheets:
• Include a provision for the type of innovation-challenge questions
of the functional unit for which the innovation-challenge-questions
worksheet is meant. Part II of this book described innovation
dimensions as the main ways in which innovation occurs or is
implemented and noted that there are two aspects that make up
innovation dimensions: types of innovation and innovation degree.
It was also stated that in order to understand types of innovation,
the �rst step is to understand that innovation is implemented across
the business categories and functional units of an organization by
being translated into types of innovation. us, in order to guide
workforces on the types of innovation-challenge questions, it is
important that the innovation-challenge-questions worksheet has a
provision for the type of innovation-challenge questions that the
worksheet is meant for.
• Include a provision indicating the speci�c functional-unit
component or business/product segment for which the innovation-
challenge questions are meant. For instance, indicate a particular
product or service segment if the innovation-challenge-questions
worksheet is meant for a particular product or service segment, and
if the innovation-challenge-questions worksheet is meant for a
particular marketing component, state the name of the component.
And similarly, if the innovation-challenge-questions worksheet is
meant for a manufacturing processes–related component or
customer service–related component, indicate this on the
worksheet.
• Include a provision specifying the innovation degree—that is,
whether the worksheet is meant for incremental or radical
innovation-challenge questions.
• Include a provision describing the factors in�uencing the need for
innovative solutions in the functional unit or business/product
segment.
• You could also include a provision for the time frame within which
innovative ideas that are targeted at solving particular problems,
meeting particular needs, or exploring business opportunities shall
be collected. For instance, a provision could note, “Submission of
innovative ideas for [functional unit or product category here]
innovation-challenge questions is between January and April of
2018.”
Example 1 In this example, a �ctitious scenario is used to create an innovation-challenge-
questions worksheet. Environmental Solutions, a �ctitious company that
specializes in developing innovative environmental solutions, is approached by
a government agency responsible for regulating forestry activities to help the
agency come up with an innovative solution for taking forest inventories.
Current System Currently, the foresters from the government agency take inventories of trees
by hiking through representative plots and recording each tree. ey
extrapolate from those samples to get the general sense of the land. e bigger
and more diverse the forest, the more plots that must be sampled.
e Problem is method has frustrated staff in the government agency because the system
is inefficient and not very effective. For instance, workers are unable to gather
information from ground sampling alone, and in addition, the system is very
time consuming and uses a lot of workforce power.
Application of Innovation-Challenge Questions Let’s assume that Environmental Solutions has a director responsible for
operations. As a starting point, the operations director creates an ICQC and
tasks the committee with two goals: (1) to create a forest inventory innovation-
challenge-questions worksheet and (2) to formulate (using the worksheet)
innovation-challenge questions in the context of a forest inventory, which in
turn will stimulate the generation of innovative ideas for creating the forest
inventory system.
Worksheet 12-1 provides an example of a forest inventory innovation-
challenge-questions worksheet that could be used in this scenario.
Worksheet 12-1. Innovation-challenge-questions for Forest Inventory
Unit
Type of innovation-challenge questions: Forest inventory innovation-challenge questions
Product or service segment: Forest Inventory Unit
Name of innovation-challenge-question committee: Forest Inventory Committee
Date when the innovation-challenge questions were publicized to workforces: March 15, 2018
e worksheet is divided into two parts: part I is for radical innovation-challenge questions, and part II is for incremental innovation-challenge questions.
Part I Innovation degree: Radical innovation-challenge questions
Describe factors influencing the need for the generation of radical innovative ideas for the Forest Inventory Unit
Context of the radical innovation-challenge questions: Forest Inventory Unit
e current system is inefficient and not very effective. e Forest Inventory Unit is unable to get information from ground sampling alone. e current system also involves a lot of work.
Radical innovation-challenge question: What
radical forest inventory solution/method would help the Forest Inventory Unit to undertake the inventory tasks in the following list?
1. Tally the sizes of the trees in a more efficient and effective manner
2. Tally the number of trees in a more efficient and effective manner
3. Tally the species of the trees in a more efficient and effective manner
4. Locate the ideal mushroom habitat
5. Complete items 1–4 with less manpower
6. Establish a system that will also result in the creation of detailed inventories to help maximize timber yields
Part II Innovation degree: Incremental innovation-challenge questions
Describe factors influencing the need for the generation of incremental innovative ideas for the Forest Inventory Unit
Incremental innovation-challenge questions
No consideration for this category No consideration for this category
Time frame for submission of forest inventory innovative ideas from Environmental Solutions after publication of the forest inventory innovation-challenge questions: One month (March 15–
April 15, 2018)
Innovation-challenge-questions status report: At the end of the submission time frame, the committee should submit a status report noting the following: • Number of forest inventory innovation-challenge questions formulated within the prescribed time
period • Number of forest inventory innovative ideas generated as a result of the forest inventory
innovation-challenge questions publicized to Environmental Solutions staff
Names and positions of subcommittee members:
Example 2 is second example illustrates how to apply the innovation-challenge-
questions worksheet to the core and support functional units of DM Personal
Care Products, which are outlined as follows:
Core functional units Product-development unit, with the following segments:
Body-lotions segment
Skin-cleansing segment
Hair-care segment
Hand-washing segment
Manufacturing-processes department
Marketing department, with the following units:
Pricing unit
Product-promotion unit
Product-delivery unit
New-markets unit
Packaging unit
Customer service department
Support functional units Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
Worksheets 12-2 through 12-7 show how the innovation-challenge-
questions worksheets can be formulated for the context of each of the core and
support functional units.
Worksheet 12-2. Type of innovation-challenge questions in product-
development unit
Product segment: Body-lotions segment
Name of innovation-challenge-question subcommittee: Body-Lotions ICQC Subcommittee
Date when the innovation-challenge questions will be publicized to workforces: February 1, 2018
Indicate challenge questions according to innovation degree: part I is for radical product innovation-challenge questions, and part II is for incremental product innovation-challenge questions
Part I: Radical product innovation-challenge questions
Describe factors influencing the need for the generation of radical product innovation ideas in the body-lotions segment
Formulate radical product innovation- challenge questions in the context of the components of the body-lotions segment
Part II: Incremental product innovation-challenge questions
Describe factors influencing the need for the generation of incremental product innovation ideas in the body-lotions segment
Formulate incremental product innovation- challenge questions in the context of the components of the body-lotions segment
Time frame for submission of innovative ideas: e period within which innovation ideas aimed at solving problems, meeting needs, or exploring business opportunities revealed in the particular innovation-challenge questions shall be collected. For instance, “Submission of innovative ideas for the innovation-challenge questions for the product-development functional unit is between January and April of 2018.”
Innovation-challenge-questions status report: At the end of every quarter of the year, each subcommittee should submit a status report stating the following:
• Number of innovation-challenge questions formulated over a particular period • Number of innovation-challenge questions that stimulated generation of innovation ideas from
workforces is information can be obtained from the respective committees responsible for collecting innovation ideas from workforces.
Note: Subcommittees should create frameworks for storing the innovation-challenge questions for which they are responsible.
Names and positions of subcommittee members:
Worksheet 12-2 could also be applied to the other three product segments:
• Skin-cleansing segment
• Hair-care segment
• Hand-washing segment
Worksheet 12-3. Type of innovation-challenge questions in
manufacturing-processes department
Manufacturing-processes segments: Align the innovation-challenge-questions worksheet to each of the manufacturing-processes segments, that is: • Body-lotions manufacturing-processes segment • Skin-cleansing manufacturing-processes segment • Hair-care manufacturing-processes segment • Hand-washing manufacturing-processes segment
Name of innovation-challenge-question subcommittee: Manufacturing-Processes ICQC Subcommittee
Date when the innovation-challenge questions will be publicized to workforces: February 1, 2018
Indicate challenge questions according to innovation degree: part I is for radical manufacturing- processes innovation-challenge questions, and part II is for incremental manufacturing-processes innovation-challenge questions
Part I: Radical manufacturing-processes innovation-challenge questions
Describe factors in�uencing the need for the generation of radical manufacturing-processes innovative ideas
Formulate radical manufacturing-processes innovation-challenge questions in the context of each of the four manufacturing-processes segments outlined in this worksheet
Part II: Incremental manufacturing-processes innovation-challenge questions
Describe factors in�uencing the need for the generation of incremental manufacturing-processes innovative ideas
Formulate incremental manufacturing-processes innovation-challenge questions in the context of each of the four manufacturing-processes segments outlined in this worksheet
Time frame for submission of innovative ideas: e period within which innovation ideas aimed at solving problems, meeting needs, or exploring business opportunities revealed in the particular innovation-challenge questions shall be collected. For instance, “Submission of innovative ideas for the innovation-challenge questions for the manufacturing-processes functional unit is between January and April of 2018.”
Innovation-challenge-questions status report: At the end of every quarter of the year, each subcommittee should submit a status report stating the following: • Number of innovation-challenge questions formulated over a particular period • Number of innovation-challenge questions that stimulated generation of innovation ideas from
workforces is information can be obtained from the respective committees responsible for collecting innovation ideas from workforces.
Note: Subcommittees should create frameworks for storing the innovation-challenge questions for which they are responsible.
Names and positions of subcommittee members:
Worksheet 12-4. Type of innovation-challenge questions in Marketing
department—pricing unit
Marketing unit: Pricing unit
Name of innovation-challenge-question subcommittee: Pricing ICQC Subcommittee
Date when the innovation-challenge questions will be publicized to workforces: February 1, 2018
Indicate challenge questions according to innovation degree: part I is for radical pricing innovation-challenge questions, and part II is for incremental pricing innovation-challenge questions
Part I: Radical pricing innovation-challenge questions
Describe factors influencing the need for the generation of radical pricing innovation ideas in the body-lotions segment
Formulate radical pricing innovation-challenge questions in the context of the body-lotions segment
Part II: Incremental pricing innovation-challenge questions
Describe factors influencing the need for the generation of incremental pricing innovation ideas for existing products
Formulate incremental innovation-challenge questions in the context of pricing for existing products
Time frame for submission of innovative ideas: e period within which innovation ideas aimed at solving problems, meeting needs, or exploring business opportunities revealed in the particular innovation-challenge questions shall be collected. For instance, “Submission of innovative ideas for the innovation-challenge questions for the pricing unit is between January and April of 2018.”
Innovation-challenge-questions status report: At the end of every quarter of the year, each subcommittee should submit a status report stating the following: • Number of innovation-challenge questions formulated over a particular period
• Number of innovation-challenge questions that stimulated generation of innovation ideas from workforces
is information can be obtained from the respective committees responsible for collecting innovation ideas from workforces.
Note: Subcommittees should create frameworks for storing the innovation-challenge questions for which they are responsible.
Names and positions of subcommittee members:
is worksheet format could also be applied to three of the four remaining
marketing units:
• Product-promotion unit
• Product-delivery unit
• Packaging unit
You will notice that the new-markets unit is not included in this list. e
reason is that the worksheet for this unit is formulated differently. Whereas
worksheet 12-4 uses the terms radical and incremental innovation-challenge
questions to express the degree of newness of a marketing innovative idea,
worksheet 12-5 characterizes the extent of new markets as new unserved
markets and new-market segments. ese two terms are de�ned as follows:
• New unserved market denotes a completely new geographical area not served by the organization or its competitors; this is covered in part I of
worksheet 12-5
• New-market segment means a segment within an existing wider market already served by the company and its competitors; this is covered in
part II of worksheet 12-5
e other aspect to bear in mind is that new-market ideas are usually
generated for the organization’s existing products.
Worksheet 12-5. Type of innovation-challenge questions in new-
markets unit
Marketing unit: New-markets unit
Name of innovation-challenge-question subcommittee: New-Markets ICQC Subcommittee
Date when the innovation-challenge questions will be publicized to workforces: February 1, 2018
Innovation degree takes two forms when formulating innovation-challenge questions for new markets: part I is for new-unserved-market innovation-challenge questions, and part II is for new- market-segment innovation-challenge questions
Part I: New-unserved-market innovation-challenge questions
Describe factors influencing the need for the generation of new-unserved-market innovative ideas for particular existing products
Formulate new-unserved-market innovation- challenge questions in the context of a particular existing product
Part II: New-market-segment innovation-challenge questions
Describe factors influencing the need for the generation of new-market-segment innovative ideas for particular existing products
Formulate new-market-segment innovation- challenge questions in the context of a particular existing product
Time frame for submission of innovative ideas: e period within which innovation ideas aimed at exploring new-market opportunities for existing products revealed in innovation-challenge questions shall be collected. For instance, “Submission of innovative ideas for the innovation-challenge questions for new-market ideas for [name of product] is between January and April of 2018.”
Innovation-challenge-questions status report: At the end of every quarter of the year, each subcommittee should submit a status report stating the following:
• Number of innovation-challenge questions formulated over a particular period • Number of innovation-challenge questions that stimulated generation of innovation ideas from
workforces is information can be obtained from the respective committees responsible for collecting innovation ideas from workforces.
Note: Subcommittees should create frameworks for storing the innovation-challenge questions for which they are responsible.
Names and positions of subcommittee members:
As noted earlier, customer service innovations can be categorized in three
contexts:
• Before-purchase customer service innovations
• During-purchase customer service innovations
• After-purchase customer service innovations
is means that the innovation-challenge-questions worksheets ought to be
formulated in the context of the above categories; worksheet 12-6 provides an
example.
Worksheet 12-6. Type of innovation-challenge questions in customer
service unit
Functional unit: Customer service
Name of innovation-challenge-question subcommittee: Before-Purchase Customer Service ICQC Subcommittee
Date when the innovation-challenge questions will be publicized to workforces: February 1, 2018
Indicate challenge questions according to innovation degree: part I is for radical before-purchase customer service innovation-challenge questions, and part II is for incremental before-purchase customer service innovation-challenge questions
Part I: Radical before-purchase customer service innovation-challenge questions
Describe factors influencing the need for the generation of radical before-purchase customer service innovative ideas
Formulate radical before-purchase customer service innovation-challenge questions
Part II: Incremental before-purchase customer service innovation-challenge questions
Describe factors influencing the need for the generation of incremental before-purchase customer service innovation ideas
Formulate incremental before-purchase customer service innovation-challenge questions
Time frame for submission of innovative ideas: e period within which innovation ideas aimed at solving problems, meeting needs, or exploring business opportunities revealed in the particular innovation-challenge questions shall be collected. For instance, “Submission of innovative ideas for the innovation-challenge questions for the customer service unit is between January and April of 2018.”
Innovation-challenge-questions status report: At the end of every quarter of the year, each subcommittee should submit a status report stating the following: • Number of innovation-challenge questions formulated over a particular period
• Number of innovation-challenge questions that stimulated generation of innovation ideas from workforces
is information can be obtained from the respective committees responsible for collecting innovation ideas from workforces.
Note: Subcommittees should create frameworks for storing the innovation-challenge questions for which they are responsible.
Names and positions of subcommittee members:
Worksheet 12-6 could also be applied to the other two categories of
customer service innovations:
• During-purchase customer service innovations
• After-purchase customer service innovations
Support Functional Units is section illustrates how to create innovation-challenge questions in support
units. Recall that innovation in support (back-office) functional units is normally implemented for cost-saving purposes. us, the innovation-
challenge questions for support functional units should be focused on cost
savings and phrased in the context of the activities of the support functional
unit.
Worksheet 12-7 provides an example of the innovation-challenge-questions
worksheet applied to the procurement support functional unit of DM Personal
Care Products; worksheets for the other support functional units would follow
a similar format.
Worksheet 12-7. Type of innovation-challenge questions in
procurement department
Name of innovation-challenge-question subcommittee: Procurement ICQC Subcommittee
Date when the innovation-challenge questions will be publicized to workforces: February 1, 2018
List of critical procurement functional components
Factors influencing the need for the generation of particular procurement innovative ideas
Procurement innovation- challenge questions
Time frame for submission of innovative ideas: e period within which innovation ideas aimed at providing solutions for procurement cost-saving innovation-challenge questions shall be collected. For instance, “Submission of innovative ideas for the innovation-challenge questions for the procurement functional unit is between January and April of 2018.”
Innovation-challenge-questions status report: At the end of every quarter of the year, each subcommittee should submit a status report stating the following: • Number of innovation-challenge questions formulated over a particular period • Number of innovation-challenge questions that stimulated generation of innovation ideas from
workforces is information can be obtained from the respective committees responsible for collecting innovation ideas from workforces.
Note: Subcommittees should create frameworks for storing the innovation-challenge questions for which they are responsible.
Names and positions of subcommittee members:
Worksheet 12-7 could also be replicated for the other four support
functional units
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
G
CHAPTER 13
Ability to Formulate Innovation Goals
oal setting is one of the most common and vital organizational practices.
It is equally as vital when it comes to scaling innovation performance
across functional units. at said, the �fth example of innovation
management skills is the ability to create various contexts of innovation goals
across functional units.
e question is, How do you create various categories of innovation goals across
core and support functional units? To answer this question, chapter 13 looks at
the following aspects: (1) the de�nition of innovation goals, (2) the importance of organizational leaders’ possession of innovation goal-setting abilities, (3)
guidelines for creating innovation goals in core and support functional units,
and (4) how to create functional-unit innovation goals.
1. e Definition of Innovation Goals Innovation goals are statements expressing the desired future state of
innovation performance to be attained within a speci�ed period in the context
of the speci�ed level of the organization (i.e., individual level, departmental
level, corporate level).
2. e Importance of Organizational Leaders’ Possession of
Innovation Goal-Setting Abilities Why is it important for organizational leaders to possess innovation goal-
setting abilities? e following are four reasons:
i. Innovation goal setting motivates workforces to generate innovative ideas. In whatever context of performance activities, performance goal setting
plays a vital role in driving performance. In fact, numerous behavioral
philosophies have linked goal setting to motivation to perform and the
realization of the purpose of a particular performance activity. One
often-quoted theory is Aristotle’s philosophy of �nal causality-at is,
action caused by a purpose. In other words, goal setting can incite action. And in an article by Dr. Edwin Locke, an organizational-behavior
philosopher, that was published in a 1968 issue of the Journal of
Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, Locke argues that employees are motivated when they have clear performance goals and
are provided feedback about their performance. e question then is,
How does this description apply to innovation goals? Although the context of this description is generic, the concepts can also be linked to
innovation goal setting. is is so because innovation performance is
driven by certain factors—such as revenue or pro�t goals, market-share
goals, customer satisfaction goals, functional-unit-performance goals,
and so forth—that incite employees to set individual innovation goals
and consequently stimulate them to generate innovative ideas to meet
their particular innovation-performance goals and ultimately contribute
to the functional-unit goals for innovation and overall goals for
corporate innovation. us, setting goals for functional-unit innovation
contributes to inciting and motivating workforces to generate
innovative ideas, and in turn, these ideas fuel the advancement of
innovation across the organization.
ii. Employees and teams will understand what is expected of them in terms of
contributing to innovation. Related to the �rst point, goal-setting theory suggests that one of the effective tools for making progress on goals is
ensuring that participants in a group with a common goal are clearly
aware of what is expected from them as a whole. In terms of innovation,
innovation goal setting contributes to ensuring that teams across
functional units are clearly aware of the role of their functional units in
advancing innovation. is means that teams will not only understand
but will also internalize what is expected of them as individuals and also
as part of the larger team in advancing the innovation performance of
the functional unit.
iii. Determining or measuring innovation performance involves, in large part,
setting and reviewing innovation goals. Part II of this book de�ned
dimensions of innovation as ways in which innovation occurs (where and how) across the value chain and noted that understanding this is vital to
determining the occurrence of innovation in a particular organization’s
functional context. What this means is that determining or measuring
innovation performance involves setting and reviewing innovation
goals. Hence, organizational leaders must understand what innovation
goals are and know how to formulate or set innovation goals for various
contexts.
iv. Harnessing the power of innovation goals requires knowledge of all
categories of innovation goals. e ultimate aim of all categories of innovation goals is to contribute toward realizing the organizational
vision of creating an innovation-driven enterprise; however, whether
this is achieved depends on how the leadership uses the innovation goal-
setting process. For instance, one of the categories of innovation goals is
workforce innovation ideation goals. ese are innovation goals set by teams or individual employees. is category of innovation goals is
critical to achieving goals for functional-unit innovation, and likewise,
goals for functional-unit innovation are critical to achieving corporate-
level innovation goals. It’s therefore important that leaders understand
what each category of innovation goals entails and how to set such
goals; otherwise, it will be difficult to use the innovation goal-setting
process to advance innovation across the organization. Hence the need
for organizational leaders to possess abilities to formulate innovation
goals in different contexts.
Illustration Figure 13-1 provides an example of a simple corporate innovation goal-setting
�owchart.
Figure 13-1. Goal-setting flowchart
3. Guidelines for Creating Innovation Goals in Core and Support
Functional Units In any goal-setting process, certain aspects need to be taken into consideration.
is section suggests some guidelines that can be applied when creating
functional-unit innovation goals in both core and support functional units, as
follows:
i. Review the following aspects:
Organizational vision
Corporate innovation goals
ii. Review and describe factors driving innovation performance in the
particular functional unit. iii. Ensure that the leadership creates the right types of worksheets for
different categories and contexts of innovation goals.
4. How to Create Functional-Unit Innovation Goals Let’s return to the example of DM Personal Care Products and assume we wish
to create a worksheet for formulating radical and incremental innovation goals
for core and support units based on the value chain and business model of the
company. e speci�c steps in the process are described next.
Steps e �rst step is to outline the core and support functional units:
Core functional units Product-development unit, with the following segments:
Body-lotions segment
Skin-cleansing segment
Hair-care segment
Hand-washing segment
Manufacturing-processes department
Marketing department, with the following units:
Pricing unit
Product-promotion unit
Product-delivery unit
New-markets unit
Packaging unit
Customer service department
Support functional units Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
e second step is outlining, in summary form, the organization’s corporate
goals. See table 13-1 for �ve example categories of corporate innovation goals.
Table 13-1. Categories of corporate innovation goals
Category of innovation goals Description of goals
Corporate innovation- support goal
To implement three to four different innovation-support initiatives (in all categories: innovative thinking, innovation engagement, and innovation management) across all functional units and business segments between January and March of 2018
Innovation-ideation goal To generate 10 percent more innovative ideas across the organization between January and March of 2018 than during the same period in 2017
Innovation-idea- development goal
To have 6 percent more innovation ideas undergoing development between January and March of 2018 than during the same period in 2017
Innovation-launch goal To launch or implement 4 percent more innovations between January and March of 2018 than during the same period in 2017
Monetary innovation goals
Percentage of revenues Percentage of savings Percentage of sales from new markets
1.5 percent of the overall revenue should come from product innovations launched in the last six months
2 percent of the overall savings should come from cost-saving innovations implemented in the last six months
2.5 percent of overall sales (from existing products) should come from new markets discovered in the last six months
e third step is creating worksheets for outlining the innovation goals in
each functional unit. Worksheets 13-1 through 13-5 are for the core functional
units, and worksheets 13-6 through 13-10 are for the support functional units.
e worksheets have two parts: part I is for radical innovation goals, and part
II is for incremental innovation goals. Each notes important aspects that
should be included in the worksheet.
Worksheet 13-1. Innovation goals for the product-development
department
Radical and Incremental Product-Innovation-Goals Worksheet
Name of functional unit: Product-development department
Name of segment: Body-lotions segment
Date: Head of segment:
Part I Radical Product Innovation Goals
Centered on three aspects: • Number of radical product innovation ideas to be generated • Number of radical product innovation ideas to be undergoing development • Number of radical product innovations to be launched
Number of radical product innovation ideas for body- lotions segment to be generated over a particular period
Number of radical product innovation ideas for body- lotions segment to be undergoing development over a particular period
Number of radical body- lotions innovations to be launched over a particular period
For instance: • To generate �ve radical
(completely new to the world) product innovation ideas in the body-lotions segment between January and March of 2018
• To ensure that the unit has three radical product innovation ideas in the body-lotions segment undergoing development between January and March of 2018
• To launch two radical product innovations in the body-lotions segment between January and March of 2018
Number of radical product innovation goals set:
Review date:
Part II Incremental Product Innovation Goals
Centered on three aspects: • Number of incremental product innovation ideas to be generated • Number of incremental product innovation ideas to be undergoing development • Number of incremental product innovations to be launched
Number of incremental product innovation ideas for body-lotions segment to be generated over a particular period
Number of incremental product innovation ideas for body-lotions segment to be undergoing development over a particular period
Number of incremental body- lotions innovations to be launched over a particular period
For instance: • To generate six incremental
product innovation ideas for improving the existing body- lotion products between January and March of 2018
• To ensure that the unit has four incremental product innovation ideas for improving the existing body-lotion products undergoing development between January and March of 2018
• To launch three incremental product innovations in the body-lotions segment between January and March of 2018
Number of incremental product innovation goals set:
Review date:
Similar worksheets would be created for the other three product segments:
Skin-cleansing segment
Hair-care segment
Hand-washing segment
Worksheet 13-2. Innovation goals for the manufacturing-processes
department
Radical and Incremental Manufacturing-Processes Innovation Goals
Name of functional unit: Manufacturing-processes department
Name of segment: Body-lotions manufacturing-processes segment
Date: Head of segment:
Part I Radical Manufacturing-Processes Innovation Goals
Centered on three aspects: • Number of radical manufacturing-processes innovation ideas to be generated • Number of radical manufacturing-processes innovation ideas to be undergoing development • Number of radical manufacturing-processes innovations to be implemented
Number of radical manufacturing-processes innovation ideas to be generated in the body-lotions segment over a particular period
Number of radical manufacturing-processes innovation ideas for the body- lotions segment to be undergoing development over a particular period
Number of radical manufacturing-processes innovations to be implemented over a particular period
For instance: • To generate �ve radical
(completely new to the world) product innovation ideas in the body-lotions segment between January and March of 2018
• To ensure that the unit has three radical product innovation ideas in the body-lotions segment undergoing development between January and March of 2018
• To launch two radical product innovations in the body-lotions segment within a development budget of $2.5 million per radical innovation idea between January and March of 2018
Number of radical manufacturing-processes innovation goals set:
Review date:
Part II Incremental Manufacturing-Processes Innovation Goals
Centered on three aspects: • Number of incremental manufacturing-processes innovation ideas to be generated • Number of incremental manufacturing-processes innovation ideas to be undergoing development • Number of incremental manufacturing-processes innovations to be implemented
Number of incremental manufacturing-processes innovation ideas to be
Number of incremental manufacturing-processes innovation ideas for the body-
Number of incremental manufacturing-processes innovations to be
generated in the body-lotions segment over a particular period
lotions segment to be undergoing development over a particular period
implemented over a particular period
For instance: • To generate six incremental
product innovation ideas for improving the existing body- lotion products between January and March of 2018
• To ensure that the unit has four incremental product innovation ideas for improving the existing body-lotion products undergoing development between January and March of 2018
• To launch three incremental product innovations in the body-lotions segment between January and March of 2018
Number of incremental manufacturing-processes innovation goals set:
Review date:
Similar worksheets would be created for the other manufacturing processes
in the other three segments:
Skin-cleansing manufacturing processes
Hair-care manufacturing processes
Hand-washing manufacturing processes
Worksheet 13-3. Innovation goals for the marketing department
Radical and Incremental Marketing Innovation Goals
Name of functional unit: Marketing department
Name of unit: Pricing unit
Date: Head of unit:
Part I Radical Pricing Innovation Goals
Centered on three aspects: • Number of radical pricing innovation ideas to be generated • Number of radical pricing innovation ideas to be undergoing development • Number of radical pricing innovations to be implemented
Number of radical pricing innovation ideas to be generated for existing products over a particular period
Number of radical pricing innovation ideas to be undergoing development for existing products over a particular period
Number of radical pricing innovations to be implemented for existing products over a particular period
For instance: • To generate �ve radical
pricing innovation ideas between January and March of 2018
• To have three radical pricing innovation ideas undergoing development between January and March of 2018
• To launch two radical pricing innovations between January and March of 2018
Number of radical pricing innovation goals set:
Review date:
Part II Incremental Pricing Innovation Goals
Centered on three aspects: • Number of incremental pricing innovation ideas to be generated • Number of incremental pricing innovation ideas to be undergoing development • Number of incremental pricing innovations to be implemented
Number of incremental pricing innovation ideas to be generated for existing products over a particular period
Number of incremental pricing innovation ideas to be undergoing development for existing products over a particular period
Number of incremental pricing innovations to be implemented for existing products over a particular period
For instance: • To generate �ve incremental
pricing innovation ideas
• To have three incremental pricing innovation ideas undergoing development
• To launch two incremental pricing innovations between January and March of 2018
between January and March of 2018
between January and March of 2018
Number of incremental pricing innovation goals set:
Review date:
Similar worksheets could also be created for three of the four remaining
marketing units:
• Product-promotion unit
• Product-delivery unit
• Packaging unit
Once again, as in chapter 12 on creating an innovation-challenge-questions
framework, you’ll notice that the new-markets unit is not included in the list.
is is because different terminology is used when it comes to setting new-
market goals, and thus, a different worksheet format is needed. When creating
goals for new-market ideation, the extent of newness for new-market
innovative ideas is expressed as new unserved markets and new-market
segments (rather than radical vs. incremental innovations). is is illustrated in
worksheet 13-4. Also, see chapter 12 for the interpretation of the two terms
new unserved market and new-market segment.
Worksheet 13-4. New-market ideation goals
Name of functional unit: Marketing department
Name of unit: New-markets unit
Date: Head of unit: Category of products: Existing products
Part I New-Unserved-Market Ideation Goals
Centered on three aspects: • Number of new-unserved-market ideas to be generated • Number of new-unserved-market ideas to be undergoing development • Number of new-unserved-market ideas to be launched
Number of new-unserved- market ideas to be generated
Number of new-unserved- market ideas to be undergoing development
Number of new-unserved- market ideas to be launched
For instance: • To generate �ve new-
unserved-market ideas for the company’s existing products between January and March of 2018
• To have three new- unserved-market ideas undergoing development between January and March of 2018
• To launch two new- unserved-market ideas between January and March of 2018
Number of new-unserved-market ideation goals set:
Review date:
Part II New-Market-Segment Ideation Goals
Centered on three aspects: • Number of new-market-segment ideas to be generated in an already-existing larger market • Number of new-market-segment ideas to be undergoing development • Number of new-market-segment ideas to be launched
Number of new-market- segment ideas to be generated
Number of new-market- segment ideas to be undergoing development
Number of new-market- segment ideas to be launched
For instance: • To generate �ve new-market-
segment ideas for the company’s existing products between January and March of 2018
• To have three new-market- segment ideas undergoing development between January and March of 2018
• To launch two new-market- segment ideas between January and March of 2018
Number of new-market-segment ideation goals set:
Review date:
As when creating innovation-challenge-questions worksheets, the format
used for creating customer service innovation goals is in the context of the
following three categories:
• Before-purchase customer service innovations
• During-purchase customer service innovations
• After-purchase customer service innovations
Worksheet 13-5 provides an example of how to formulate innovation goals
for the customer service department.
Worksheet 13-5. Innovation goals for the customer service department
Radical and Incremental Customer Service Innovation Goals
Name of functional unit: Customer service department
Category of customer service: Before-purchase customer service
Date: Head of unit:
Part I Before-Purchase Radical Customer Service Innovation Goals
Centered on three aspects: • Number of before-purchase radical customer service innovation ideas to be generated • Number of before-purchase radical customer service innovation ideas to be undergoing
development • Number of before-purchase radical customer service innovations to be launched
Number of before-purchase radical customer service innovation ideas to be generated over a particular period
Number of before-purchase radical customer service innovation ideas to be undergoing development over a particular period
Number of before-purchase radical customer service innovations to be launched over a particular period
For instance: • To generate �ve before-
purchase radical customer service innovation ideas between January and March of 2018
• To have three before- purchase radical customer service innovation ideas undergoing development between January and March of 2018
• To launch two before- purchase radical customer service innovations between January and March of 2018
Number of before-purchase radical customer service innovation goals set:
Review date:
Part II Before-Purchase Incremental Customer Service Innovation Goals
Centered on three aspects: • Number of before-purchase incremental customer service innovation ideas to be generated • Number of before-purchase incremental customer service innovation ideas to be undergoing
development • Number of before-purchase incremental customer service innovations to be launched
Number of before-purchase incremental customer service innovation ideas to be generated over a particular period
Number of before-purchase incremental customer service innovation ideas to be undergoing development over a particular period
Number of before-purchase incremental customer service innovations to be launched over a particular period
For instance: • To generate �ve before-
purchase incremental customer service innovation ideas between January and March of 2018
• To have three before- purchase incremental customer service innovation ideas undergoing development between January and March of 2018
• To launch two before- purchase incremental customer service innovations between January and March of 2018
Number of before-purchase incremental customer service innovation goals set:
Review date:
Support Units: Creating Innovation Goals for Support Functional Units Part I of the book discussed in detail the role of support functional units in
advancing the culture of innovation across the organization by developing and
implementing different forms of innovation-support initiatives within the
context of the activities of the support functional units. In addition, recall that
the innovation-support initiatives are mainly aimed at advancing innovation in
the core functional units on which the organization’s growth and
competitiveness depend. With that in mind, the innovation goal-setting
approach for support functional units is categorized into two contexts: (1)
innovation-support goals and (2) cost-saving innovation goals.
e two types of innovation goals for support functional units are de�ned
as follows:
i. Innovation-support goals: ese are types of innovation goals that are intended for developing and implementing various innovation-support
initiatives aimed at creating a climate of innovation in all the functional
units of the organization.
ii. Cost-saving innovation goals: ese are types of innovation goals intended for generating and developing radical and incremental cost-
saving innovation ideas in support functional units over a particular
period.
To continue our example, we next need to formulate innovation-support
goals and cost-saving innovation goals in the context of the support functional
units of DM Personal Care Products, as follows:
Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
Worksheets 13-6 through 13-10 show how to formulate innovation goals
for these support units. Each worksheet is divided into two parts: part I is for
innovation-support goals, and part II is for cost-saving innovation goals.
Worksheet 13-6. Innovation goals for the procurement department
Worksheet 13-7. Innovation goals for the HR department
Worksheet 13-8. Innovation goals for the �nance and accounting
department
Worksheet 13-9. Innovation goals for the IT department
Worksheet 13-10. Innovation goals for the corporate affairs
department
A
CHAPTER 14
Ability to Design and Implement an Effective
Management System for Innovation Ideas
s I was writing this book, I was also working on a small invention idea
called the CT Holder, as mentioned earlier. I contracted a renowned US
invention consulting �rm to conduct a detailed analysis and provide me
with speci�c advice regarding the investment potential of the CT Holder. My
conversations with the consulting �rm grew beyond the CT Holder project. I
would chat with the team that was assigned to assess the CT Holder project,
generally, about product development and the importance of an effective idea-
assessment process and why most invention ideas or innovation ideas do not
make it on the market: once launched on the market, they fail to meet
customer expectations and become a �op. Further, study after study has
observed the importance of an effective innovation-idea management system
for not only the success of innovation ideas but also, overall, for building a
sustainable climate for innovation. For instance, a report titled “Literature
Review of Idea Management”(by Anna Rose Vagn Jensen) published in proceeding of NordDesign Conference, in 2012 by Aalborg University,
Denmark, outlines various studies and reports on idea management. erefore,
this area is a must-have ability for organizational leaders who want to play a
role in not only making innovation a key part of the organization’s business
strategy but also every employee’s job. So the sixth example of innovation
management skill is the ability of organizational leaders to design, implement,
and sustain an effective innovation-idea management system across functional
units
Usually, innovation-idea management systems have lots of moving parts.
is book tries to simplify the framework as much as possible by dividing the
topic into the following aspects: (1) the de�nition of innovation-idea
management system, (2) the importance of innovation-idea management systems, (3) innovation-idea management committees, and (4) aspects of the
innovation-idea management framework.
1. e Definition of Innovation-Idea Management System An innovation-idea management system is de�ned as an organizational process
that involves creating tools, techniques, and procedures for assessing and
developing, on a continual basis, innovative ideas into solutions that
contribute monetary value to the organization.
2. e Importance of Innovation-Idea Management Systems Why is the innovation-idea management system important? e following are
three reasons:
i. Unless they are assessed and developed, innovation ideas are worthless.
It’s often said that human progress depends on ideas. Although the
accuracy of this statement is indisputable—clearly, human progress has
always been driven by ideas—it’s important to bear in mind that unless
they are developed, ideas cannot bring about human progress. In short,
raw ideas cannot bring about human advancement. To harness ideas to
bring about human development, ideas have to be developed, and at the
core of an idea-development exercise is an effective assessment process
to ensure that only ideas with a high potential for generating the
intended results are developed. In relation to the context of an
organization, one could say that although the growth of any
organization depends on ideas, unless they are developed into
something that adds value to the organization’s cause, innovation ideas
by themselves cannot grow or advance an organization. As the old
saying goes, “Clever business ideas that cannot be commercialized are
nothing more than dead trees.” is concept underpins the importance
of building effective innovation-idea-development systems for
developing ideas into solutions to �x problems/needs and contribute
monetary value, growth, and competitiveness to an organization.
From the foregoing discussion, we can see how important it is for
leaders to possess the ability to design and manage an innovation-idea
management system because innovation performance and the culture of
innovation depend on the ability to translate the innovative ideas into
the intended results. What this means is that without the ability and
institutional capability to translate the ideas, the whole mission of
advancing innovation will be rendered unattainable because innovative
ideas represent the core lifeline for innovation performance.
ii. It is difficult to determine the investment potential of innovation ideas.
Without an effective innovation-idea management system, an
organization would end up developing ideas that have little or no
potential to make it on the market. For instance, as mentioned earlier,
there is a cliché around Silicon Valley, California, that only one out of
one hundred patented invention products makes it on the market,
indicative of the fact that many ideas fail to make it. Numerous other
factors contribute to the success or failure of an innovation on the
market, but if we were to rate the signi�cance of the innovation-idea
management system to innovation success on, say, a scale of 1 to 5, with
5 being the highest in signi�cance, we would put it at 5 to denote its
importance. at’s how vital an innovation-idea management system is.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in November 2015 on the role of CFOs in fostering innovation, Deloitte chief innovation officer
John Levis emphasized the importance of an effective innovation-idea
management process in sustaining an innovation culture in an
organization. “Coming into this role,” Levis said, “I expected the
biggest challenge to be generating new ideas because being an
innovative company requires generating a lot of new ideas on a
sustainable basis. I was completely wrong about that; we had no
problem with ideation. Instead,” he said, “the real challenge was
�guring out a process to evaluate the many ideas being proposed so that
the truly top-shelf ideas could be advanced.” is and many other
reasons underscore the importance of organizational leaders having the
necessary abilities and competencies to design and implement an
innovation-idea management system.
iii. e system could be harnessed as a motivating factor for workforces to
generate innovation ideas. A number of studies and analysts have
pointed out that one of the reasons for workforces’ lack of ability to
innovate is because many organizations do not have effective
innovation-idea management systems. e impact of a lack of an
effective innovation-idea management system is that it discourages
workforces from participating in generating innovation ideas. Multiple
reports and analysts have observed that no matter how much you
encourage workforces to innovate, they will not be forthcoming if an
organization does not have an effective innovation-idea management
procedure. e foregoing underpins how vital innovation-idea
management skills are to innovation leadership and management.
3. Innovation-Idea Management Committees Developing a system aimed at scaling ideation across all functional units
requires approaches that will help to effectively manage the large volumes of
diverse ideas from workforces across the organization, especially huge
organizations with hundreds of thousands of employees. One approach is for
the top leadership to ensure that the organization has a corporate-wide
innovation-idea management system that encourages the participation of
workforces in the generation of innovative ideas and also ensures that
workforces get involved in managing the innovation-idea management system.
One of the approaches for ensuring the participation of workforces in
managing the innovation-idea pipeline of the organization is the formation of
various innovation-idea management committees, whose composition should be as diverse as possible in terms of seniority of employees and functional
representation.
What Are Innovation-Idea Management Committees? Innovation-idea management committees are collaborative groups established
within an organization to contribute toward establishing and sustaining an
efficient and effective organization-wide innovation-idea management system
so that the organization can have a �t-for-purpose system for receiving,
assessing, developing, and launching/implementing innovative ideas that add
meaningful commercial value to the organization.
Implementation Plan for Creating Committees e starting point for establishing innovation-idea management committees is
�guring out who will be responsible for establishing the committees. e CEO
and other C-suite executives should form a task force to be charged with the
responsibility of creating various innovation-idea management committees
across functional units and divisions. For instance, the task force could be
referred to as the task force for creating innovation-idea committees (TCIIC).
For credibility purposes and to show top-leadership support, the chairperson of
the task force should be nominated by the CEO and his or her C-suite
executives. In terms of functions, the top leadership could be responsible for
outlining terms of reference and detailing the functions of the TCIIC. Some of
the functions could include the following:
Creating an action plan for establishing various innovation-idea
management committees
Ensuring that the TCIIC constantly collaborates and confers with the
innovation-idea management committees to ensure that each of the
groups has put in place their respective structures and functions within
the scope of their objectives
Reporting periodically to the CEO and the top leadership of the
organization regarding the following:
• Status of formation of various innovation-idea management
committees
• How far each of the committees has progressed in drafting its
functions
Creating a consolidated manual containing the following aspects:
• e structure of all the innovation-idea management committees of
the organization
• e functions of each innovation-idea management committee
• An outline and visual illustration of various procedures and
processes pertaining to the organization’s innovation-idea
management system
Illustration: Creating Innovation-Idea Management Committees Suppose we wish to come up with a task force for creating various innovation-
idea management committees in the core and support functional units of DM
Personal Care Products, the �ctitious company introduced earlier. e �rst
step is to outline the functional units and the business segments, as follows:
Core functional units Product-development unit, with the following segments:
Body-lotions segment
Skin-cleansing segment
Hair-care segment
Hand-washing segment
Manufacturing-processes department
Marketing department, with the following units:
Pricing unit
Product-promotion unit
Product-delivery unit
New-markets unit
Packaging unit
Customer service department
Support functional units Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
e second step is to create an action plan for establishing various
innovation-idea management committees across functional units. Worksheet
14-1 is a sample worksheet for creating an action plan to establish innovation-
idea management committees. e worksheet is divided into two parts: part I
is for the activities to create committees responsible for formulating innovation-
idea submission and innovation-idea self-assessment procedures, and part II is for creating committees for each of the �ve stages of the innovation-development
process, listed as follows:
Innovation-idea reception
Innovation-idea assessment
Innovation development
Innovation launch/implementation
Post-launch/post-implementation evaluations
Worksheet 14-1. Example of action plan for creating innovation-idea
management committees
Part I
Objectives: To create a committee responsible for designing two procedures: • Innovation-idea submission process • Innovation-idea self-assessment process
Activities to be undertaken
Actionable time frame for commencement and completion of each activity
Team responsible for undertaking the task
Output: Expected work to be produced as a result of the activities
To create a committee responsible for formulating the innovation-idea submission and innovation-idea self- assessment processes
[Note appropriate time frame]
Task force for creating innovation-idea committees
Formation of the innovation-idea submission and self- assessment processes committee
Part II
Objective: To create committees for each of the �ve stages of the innovation-development process, as follows: • Innovation-idea reception committees • Innovation-idea assessment committees • Innovation-development committee • Innovation-launch committee • Post-launch/post-implementation-evaluations committee
Activities to be undertaken
Actionable time frame for commencement and completion of each activity
Team responsible for undertaking the task
Output: Expected work to be produced as a result of the activities
To create the innovation-idea reception committee
[Note appropriate time frame]
Task force for creating innovation-idea committees
Formation of the innovation-idea reception committee
To create the product innovation-idea assessment committees
[Note appropriate time frame]
Task force for creating innovation-idea committees
Formation of respective product innovation- idea assessment committees
To create manufacturing- processes innovation-
[Note appropriate time frame]
Task force for creating innovation-idea committees
Formation of respective manufacturing- processes innovation-
idea assessment committees
idea assessment committees
To create marketing- strategy innovation-idea assessment committees
[Note appropriate time frame]
Task force for creating innovation-idea committees
Formation of respective marketing-strategy innovation-idea assessment committees
To create customer service innovation-idea assessment committees
[Note appropriate time frame]
Task force for creating innovation-idea committees
Formation of respective customer service innovation-idea assessment committees
To create innovation- development committees
[Note appropriate time frame]
Task force for creating innovation-idea committees
Formation of respective innovation- development committees
To create innovation- launch/implementation committees
[Note appropriate time frame]
Task force for creating innovation-idea committees
Formation of respective innovation- launch/implementation committees
To create post- launch/post- implementation- evaluation committees
[Note appropriate time frame]
Task force for creating innovation-idea committees
Formation of post- launch/post- implementation- evaluation committees
Innovation-idea management committees for support functional units Earlier, we indicated that innovation ideas in support functional units are aimed at cost-saving purposes. us, there should be a committee or committees to exclusively deal with cost-saving innovation ideas for support functional units. e formation of a cost-saving innovation-idea management committee or committees should be included in the action plan as follows:
Activity to be undertaken
Actionable time frame for commencement and completion of activity
Team responsible for undertaking the task
Output: Expected work to be produced as a result of the activity
To create innovation- idea management committees (and subcommittees) for support functional units
[Note appropriate time frame]
Task force for creating innovation-idea committees
Formation of innovation-idea management committees (and subcommittees) for support functional units
Innovation-idea management committees (and subcommittees) could be formed for each of the support functional units (e.g., HR, procurement, IT, etc.).
Functions of Innovation-Idea Management Committees As previously stated, one of the roles of the TCIIC is ensuring that all the
various committees have clear functional roles. is necessitates the following:
All innovation-idea management committees should collaborate with
the TCIIC when formulating committee functions.
All the proposed functions of each committee and other guidelines
pertaining to the innovation-idea management process across the
organization should be compiled into a manual to guide workforces
about the organization’s innovation-idea management system. e
manual should be written and illustrated in simple and clear language
that all workforces can understand. As a sign of involvement and
support from the top leadership, the manual should be reviewed and
approved for use by the CEO of the organization.
Disbanding the Task Force for Creating Innovation-Idea Committees Once the essential aspects of the organization’s innovation-idea management
framework are up and running in terms of the respective committees and the
creation of the manual (i.e., describing the structure and functions of
committees and the processes and procedures of the organization-wide
innovation-idea management system), the TCIIC can be disbanded. Once
disbanded, a mechanism should be put in place to ensure that the innovation-
idea management system is continually effective. One such mechanism of
ensuring effective continuity is to have periodic reviews and evaluations of the
organization’s innovation-idea management system. In addition, performance
reviews of all the innovation-idea management committees will need to be
undertaken from time to time. An ad hoc committee could be established to
undertake such reviews. e frequency of reviews should be stated in the
organization’s innovation-idea-management-system manual. e periodic
review of the innovation-idea management system could take place every three,
six, or twelve months depending on what the leadership deems �tting. Also,
reasons or factors that would trigger periodic reviews should be outlined in the
manual.
4. Aspects of the Innovation-Idea Management Framework
In order to build a sustainable and effective innovation-idea management
system, the CEO and the C-suite executives should ensure that the
organization implements the right framework. e question then would be,
What kind of aspects should one include in the organization’s innovation-idea management framework to make it implementable and effective?
is section suggests a number of tools and techniques that can contribute
to developing and sustaining an effective and replicable crosscutting
innovation-idea management system. e framework is based on the
following: (1) experience from my CT Holder invention idea-assessment
process, (2) experience from training and consulting engagements with a
number of organizations in various countries, and (3) inquiries and
information gathered from some US companies.
Aspects included in the framework are as follows:
i. Innovation-idea preliminary self-assessment
ii. Innovation-idea submission process
iii. Innovation-development process, which includes the following aspects:
Stage 1: Innovation-idea reception procedure
Stage 2: Innovation-idea assessment process
Stage 3: Innovation-development pipeline
Stage 4: Innovation launch or implementation
iv. Post-launch/post-implementation evaluation
Figure 14-1 provides a simple summary of the components or stages of the
innovation-idea management framework.
Figure 14-1. Innovation-idea management framework
Each of the aspects is described in more detail as follows:
i. Creating the preliminary innovation-idea self-assessment process:
What is the preliminary innovation-idea self-assessment? It is a tool
that employees can apply to conduct an initial assessment of an
innovation idea they have generated to determine whether the idea is
innovative enough and has investment potential before submitting it
for further assessment.
e preliminary innovation-idea self-assessment is one of the vital
components or stages of the innovation-idea management for the
following �ve reasons:
First, it helps workforces to understand what constitutes an
innovative idea—because not every idea is innovative. By
subjecting their ideas to the initial self-assessment, they will
understand the characteristics of an innovative idea because the
self-assessment has embedded checkpoints that are useful for
determining whether an idea is indeed innovative.
Second, it gives workforces an initial indication of whether an
innovation idea has the potential to be developed into an
innovation and is therefore worth pursuing—that is, whether the
idea is actionable in the sense that it can actually be developed
with the organization’s resources.
ird, it helps in preventing innovation-idea management
committees from being inundated with noninnovative ideas or
ideas with insigni�cant investment potential, thereby freeing space
and time for potential innovation ideas.
Fourth, it contributes to sustaining an efficient idea-assessment
process because most ideas that will be received or submitted for
assessment will have gone through an initial vetting process,
therefore cutting down on delays for releasing the idea-assessment
results (in terms of ideas that have progressed to the next stage)
determined by various idea-assessment committees.
Fifth, as mentioned earlier, it is often said that only one out of one
hundred invention ideas makes it on the market, so conducting an
initial assessment of innovative ideas encourages workforces to
submit ideas that have a chance of being progressed and
considered for further development.
Aspects to Include When Creating Criteria for the Preliminary Innovation-Idea Self-Assessment Process To ensure that the preliminary innovation-idea self-assessment process is �t for
its purpose, it’s important to include relevant aspects that will help workforces
have an initial indication of whether an idea is, indeed, innovative and has
investment potential. e following are some of the questions that could be
included in the preliminary innovation-idea self-assessment:
What purpose will the innovation idea uniquely ful�ll that is not being
ful�lled by the existing products, services, processes, marketing
strategies, or customer service functions?
What gap does the innovation idea seek to �ll that the existing
products, services, processes, marketing strategies, and customer service
functions are not addressing effectively?
What problem does the innovation idea seek to �x that the market has
failed to identify or is not �xing effectively?
If it’s a cost-saving innovation idea to be implemented in any of the
organization’s support functional units, what costs does the innovation
idea seek to save?
What improvements does the innovation idea seek to contribute?
How will the innovation idea contribute to the monetary goals of the
organization?
Is the innovation idea environmentally friendly?
What safety risks does the innovation idea pose? How will the risks be
mitigated?
Development time line: Will the innovation idea take a reasonable time
to implement or bring to the market, or does it potentially have a
longer time line?
Worksheet 14-2 is an example of a preliminary innovation-idea self-assessment
worksheet.
Worksheet 14-2. Preliminary innovation-idea self-assessment
Functional purpose: What functional purpose will the innovation idea fulfill?
Need: What need or problem does the innovation idea seek to solve that is not being addressed effectively by the organization?
Problem: What problem does the innovation idea seek to �x that the market has failed to identify or is not �xing effectively?
Monetary value: How will the innovation idea contribute to the monetary goals of the organization? Is the return worth the investment? Is the cost of investment reasonable?
Environment: Is the innovation idea environmentally friendly?
Safety issues: What safety risks does the innovation idea pose? How will the risks be mitigated?
Development time line: Will the innovation idea take a reasonable time to implement or bring to the market?
Name(s) and department(s) of employee(s) who generated the innovation idea:
Date of the initial idea self-assessment:
Note: An earlier suggestion was to create committees to exclusively deal
with cost-saving innovation ideas for support functional units; similarly,
preliminary innovation-idea self-assessment processes for cost-saving
innovation ideas generated in support functional units could also be created.
ii. Innovation-Idea Submission Process
e second stage is innovation-idea submission, which is de�ned as a
stage designed for workforces to outline an innovation-idea proposal
and, once the idea is outlined, submit it to the respective committee for
further assessment.
What purpose does the innovation-idea submission serve? According
to my experience with organizations, one of the most common
innovation-capability weaknesses in many organizations is the lack of an
appropriate process that workforces can use to submit their innovation
ideas to the relevant system for determination. And analysts in idea
management have often cited the lack of a submission process as one of
the factors responsible for the lack of meaningful ideation in many
companies. Certainly, employees wouldn’t have much incentive to
generate innovation ideas if an organization had no clear process for
submitting such ideas. e following are three reasons why the
innovation-idea submission process is important:
First, it provides workforces with a convenient and orderly
procedure for submitting innovation ideas to the organizational
leadership.
Second, it encourages workforces to generate innovation ideas
because they know there is a system to attend to their ideas.
ird, it encourages workforces to submit ideas that speci�cally
focus on meeting a need or solving a problem innovatively.
Worksheet 14-3 provides a sample innovation-idea submission worksheet.
Worksheet 14-3. Innovation-idea submission
What is the category of the innovation idea? Choose one of the following:
Product/service
Process (manufacturing or service production processes)
Market strategy
Customer service
(Check appropriate box.)
What type of innovation idea is it? Examples of classifying innovation ideas For the service segments of an insurance company, the types of innovation ideas could be categorized as follows:
• Home-insurance services (home-insurance
innovation ideas)
• Business-insurance services (business-insurance
innovation ideas)
• Travel-insurance services (travel-insurance
innovation ideas)
• Motor vehicle–insurance services (motor
vehicle–insurance innovation ideas)
Process innovation: service-production-process innovation ideas, service-delivery innovation ideas, etc.
Marketing innovation: promotion innovation ideas, pricing innovation ideas, packaging innovation ideas, etc.
Customer service innovation: innovation ideas focused on customer service segments
Describe your innovation idea. What is it?
What need or problem does your innovation idea seek to �x?
What innovation degree is the idea (radical or incremental)?
How will the innovation idea �x the identi�ed need or problem?
What bene�ts will your innovation idea contribute to the organization and/or its clients and the community?
What advantage(s) does the innovation idea have over existing ideas?
How will the innovation idea contribute or add commercial value to the organization?
Name(s) and department(s) of employee(s) who have sponsored the innovation idea:
Date of submission:
What are the comments and decision of the relevant idea assessment committee? Options:
Proceed for further assessment Reject Put on hold
ere are two things to bear in mind regarding creating innovation-
idea submission worksheets:
First, the committee responsible for creating idea-submission
worksheets could create different submission worksheets for
each functional unit or type of innovation.
Second, the committee could also create two types of
submission worksheets—that is, one for assessing revenue
generation–focused innovation ideas and one for assessing cost-
saving innovation ideas for support functional units.
e next question is, What factors should one take into account when
formulating the preliminary innovation-idea self-assessment and innovation-idea submission processes? Five considerations that should be taken into account are as follows:
Type and nature of the organization’s industry: Some industries, such as pharmaceuticals, food, and cosmetics, have rigorous
innovation-idea assessment processes because the nature of the
industry demands very high safety standards and effectiveness.
Because of this, innovation-idea assessment processes (especially
for pharmaceutical products) are rigorous, and it often takes
years before a new product is on the market. According to a
statement by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
when a company develops a drug, it undergoes about three and
a half years of laboratory testing before an application is made
to the FDA to begin testing the drug in humans, and that’s just
part of the lengthy FDA review and clearance process. e
purpose of the lengthy review process is to prevent companies
from launching potentially injurious and dangerous products.
For instance, in 2005, the drug maker Biogen and Elan
introduced a drug for multiple sclerosis called Tysabri. Within
three months of the drug’s launch on the market, two deaths
were linked to the drug, and the drug was pulled from the
market. As a result of the two deaths, Biogen and Elan was
plunged into a crisis.
Type of innovation idea: As stated before, there are different types of innovation ideas. us, based on the differences among
the types of innovation, there are certain factors that need to be
considered when formulating preliminary innovation-idea self-
assessment and innovation-idea submission processes so that
the processes can be effective for the different types of
innovation ideas.
Degree of perceived risk in return on investment: e core purpose of pursuing any innovation idea is to realize the expected
monetary-value return. However, in order to realize the return,
the company needs to invest the level of resources
commensurate with the type and degree of the innovation idea.
us, the risk aspect should be included in the preliminary
innovation-idea self-assessment and innovation-idea submission
processes and phrased in a manner aimed at effectively eliciting
the required risk aspects from the innovation idea under
assessment.
Level of regulation: is point is similar to the �rst one. Naturally, every industry is regulated in one way or another,
and industry regulation takes many forms. Also, as stated in the
�rst point, the intensity of regulation depends on the nature of
the industry. Because of their nature, some industries have
multiple layers of regulation. at is, some industries are
subjected to sectoral regulatory regimes promulgated by a
government authority, as well as self-regulation approaches by
industry associations. e point here is that when formulating
preliminary innovation-idea self-assessment and innovation-
idea submission processes, the innovation-idea assessment
factors that are adopted to be included in the assessment
process should take into account the rigorous regulatory nature
of the industry.
Degree of innovation idea: e context of this point is that the extent of newness of the innovation idea plays a role when
formulating innovation-idea assessment factors. For example,
because of the level of investment that is usually required to
develop radical innovation ideas, radical ideas tend to be
subjected to a rigorous set of assessment factors. Conversely,
incremental innovation ideas are not usually subjected to the
same assessment factors and level of scrutiny as radical
innovation ideas. us, the innovation degree must be taken
into account when formulating innovation-idea assessment
factors.
iii. Creating the Innovation-Development Process
e third component of the innovation-idea management system is the
innovation-development process. What is an innovation-development
process? It is a procedure that involves assessing innovation ideas and
making decisions for progressing innovative ideas from conception
through development to the full launch or implementation of an
innovation.
In other words, an innovation-development process is an integration
of assessment and development stages and activities used to develop or
translate an innovative idea into an innovation.
e second question would be, Where does the innovation-
development process begin? As outlined earlier, the process starts with preliminary self-assessment by employees. Once employees take their
innovation ideas through a preliminary innovation-idea self-assessment
process and are convinced that their ideas could be considered for
further strategic development, the next step is submitting the
innovation ideas to the relevant committee for a painstaking due-
diligence process and onward development of an innovation.
e most common name used to describe the process of developing
ideas into innovations is called the stage-gate model. e model was created by Dr. Robert Cooper of McMaster University in Canada.
Adopted by many companies around the globe, the stage-gate model is
a technique in which an idea-development process is divided into stages
separated by what are referred to as gates. And each gate has criteria or factors used by a steering committee to progress the idea to the next
stage of development.
is book suggests an innovation-development process that
comprises the following components or stages:
1. Innovation-idea reception procedure
2. Innovation-idea assessment process
3. Innovation project teams
4. Guidelines for creating innovation project teams
5. Innovation-development stage
6. Innovation launch/implementation
Each of these components is described in the following subsections.
1. Innovation-Idea Reception Procedure e innovation-idea reception procedure is the �rst component of the
innovation-development process. What does it involve? Once an employee
describes his or her innovation idea using the innovation-idea submission
worksheet, the next stage involves submitting the worksheet to an innovation-
idea reception committee (IIRC) for determination and onward progression. Because handling “raw ideas” or unpatented innovation ideas is one of the
most delicate tasks, with potential legal and rights-ownership implications, the
CEO and top leadership of the organization, through relevant committees or
offices, should ensure that the IIRC is supported with the formulation of guidelines for managing the innovation-idea reception procedure. Given the
intricacies of ownership implications, the organization’s legal team should be
involved in drafting the ownership and con�dentiality guidelines, which
should eventually be approved by the organization’s C-suite leadership and the
board and adopted as part of the innovation-idea management policy. Some of
the aspects that could be included in the innovation-idea reception procedure
are as follows:
Certificate of idea submission: is should be written in the form of a guidelines manual and issued to all workforces. e document should
outline the various processes involved in the organization’s innovation-
development process.
Confidentiality statement: is statement should be phrased in a way that informs and guides workforces about the level of con�dentiality
they are expected to exercise pertaining to any idea under consideration
and the expiry of such con�dentiality. e con�dentiality statement
should be signed by both parties (the employee[s] and the receiving
party, in this case, the IIRC).
Idea-ownership acknowledgment statement: e purpose of this statement is for workforces to acknowledge that innovation ideas submitted for
assessment and eventual development will remain the property of the
organization unless under certain circumstances, such as the following:
• If the idea is withdrawn from the innovation-development process
by the employee(s) who generated the idea or by the organization
• If the idea does not make it through the innovation-idea assessment
procedure or does not qualify for idea storage (for future consideration)
Figure 14-2 provides an example of a simple innovation-idea reception
process, with the following steps: (See figure 14.2 on next page.) Step 1: Ideas are received and sorted according to the types of
innovation ideas
Step 2: Ideas are stored in the innovation-idea database facilities
Step 3: Ideas are conveyed to respective innovation-idea assessment
committees for further determination
Innovation-Idea Database What is an innovation-idea database? It is a kind of idea-storage facility for
innovation ideas awaiting transmission to respective innovation-idea
assessment procedures. To enable easy management of the database, it should
be designed in a simple manner. One of the aspects to bear in mind when
designing the database is categorizing it according to types of innovation ideas
and degree of innovation ideas. e IIRC, whose composition should have a representation of the top
leadership, should be responsible for the storage of ideas. e organization’s IT
functional unit should be responsible for the establishment of the innovation-
idea database, under the supervision of a senior executive. is task could also
be outsourced.
Uses of Innovation-Idea Database e uses of the innovation-idea database may vary depending on the type of
framework that the leadership prefers to adopt. In most cases, the innovation-
idea database serves three purposes: (1) storing innovation ideas awaiting
assessment, (2) storing rejected ideas, and (3) storing ideas that have been put
on hold for future consideration.
Worksheet 14-4 is a sample of an action plan worksheet for creating an
innovation-idea database.
Figure 14-2. Innovation-dea reception process
Worksheet 14-4. Action plan for creating innovation-idea database
Objective: To create an innovation-idea database for three purposes: (1) storing innovation ideas awaiting assessment, (2) storing innovation ideas that have been put on hold for future consideration, and (3) storing rejected ideas
Activities: List of activities leading to creating the innovation- idea database
Time frame: e actionable time line when each activity shall be conducted
Who: Individuals or subcommittee who will be responsible for undertaking each activity
Output: A completed innovation-idea database
Evaluation: Identify the dates for conducting evaluations to determine how this action plan is progressing.
Date: Date: Date: Date:
State aspects that will be evaluated on this date.
State aspects that will be evaluated on this date.
State aspects that will be evaluated on this date.
State aspects that will be evaluated on this date.
2. Innovation-Idea Assessment Process e second component of the innovation-development process is the
innovation-idea assessment process, which is de�ned as a stage or component of the overall innovation-development process that consists of a series of factors
used as criteria for determining the innovative and investment potential of
ideas submitted by workforces.
Who should conduct the innovation-idea assessment process? e recommended method is that it should be undertaken by innovation-idea assessment
committees categorized by type of innovation idea. Numerous aspects are involved in the innovation-idea assessment process:
Formation of innovation-idea assessment committees
Formation of special ad hoc assessment committees
Ensuring that innovation-idea assessment processes are effective
Functions of innovation-idea assessment committees
Factors to include in the innovation-idea assessment process
Aspects to consider when creating idea-progression valves
Action plans for creating innovation-idea assessment processes
Creating schedules for assessing innovation ideas
Reviewing and updating the innovation-idea assessment process
Aspects to consider when creating the innovation-idea assessment
process Each of the above is described in the following subsections.
Formation of innovation-idea assessment committees As indicated earlier, one way of systemizing innovation across the
organization is ensuring that the top leadership leads in implementing
systems that not only encourage and allow participation of workforces
through generation of innovation ideas but also ensure that a large
portion of workforces take part in managing the system that contributes
to sustaining the organization’s innovation pipeline. One of the
approaches for accomplishing this is the formation of diverse
innovation-idea assessment committees across functional units.
e CEO should ensure that the organization has simple and clear
guidelines on how the innovation-idea assessment committees shall be
created, and the guidelines should emphasize diversity in composition.
Some of the innovation-idea assessment committees could include
the following:
• Product innovation-idea assessment committee (and perhaps also
subcommittees to assess different types of product innovation ideas)
• Process innovation-idea assessment committee (perhaps numerous
committees for various process innovation ideas depending on the
nature of the processes of an organization, e.g., multiple process
innovation-idea assessment committees for the various process units
of a large manufacturing company)
• Marketing innovation-idea assessment committee (perhaps also
various subcommittees for assessing different marketing strategy-
related ideas, e.g., new-market innovation ideas, promotion
innovation ideas, pricing innovation ideas, and product-delivery
innovation ideas)
• Customer service innovation-idea assessment committee (and
perhaps subcommittees for various customer service innovation-idea
components)
• Cost-saving innovation ideas in support functional units, such as:
HR cost-saving innovation ideas
Procurement cost-saving innovation ideas
IT cost-saving innovation ideas
Accounting innovation ideas
Formation of special ad hoc assessment committees Special ad hoc assessment committees could also be established for
innovation ideas that are highly technical and complex and that require
particular expertise and competencies to determine their innovative and
investment potential.
Ensuring that innovation-idea assessment processes are effective e innovation-idea assessment process is the fulcrum of any
innovation-idea management system and, ultimately, the innovation
performance of an organization. us, ensuring that the innovation-
idea assessment processes are efficient and effective is vital. Why? Let’s
take a look at a basic perspective. It’s common knowledge that all
businesses are created by ideas, right? But once established, businesses
require continual generation and development of ideas across the value
chain to thrive and survive; otherwise, the business will go belly-up. In
fact, it’s often said, “e difference between success and failure in
business is the ability to generate and translate ideas into value that
sustains an organization on a long term basis.” While acknowledging
the importance of ideas, it is also important for the leadership to
understand that although businesses rely on ideas, not every idea will
grow and prosper in a business. It’s only ideas with innovative and
investment potential that contribute to the sustainable growth and
prosperity of a business. is is the reason why it’s important for the
leadership to ensure that the innovation-idea assessment processes are
efficient and effective so that the innovation ideas that are generated
across the organization are continually developed into different types
and degrees of innovations that will ultimately contribute to realizing
the innovation-led growth and prosperity of the organization. Recall
that only one out of one hundred inventions succeeds on the market.
is reinforces the importance of establishing an efficient and effective
innovation-idea assessment process to ensure that, as much as possible,
only ideas with a high potential for success are selected for further
development.
Functions of innovation-idea assessment committees e following are examples of the functions of innovation-idea
assessment committees:
• Receiving innovation ideas: Once ideas are collected from workforces by the IIRC, the next stage is submitting the ideas to respective
innovation-idea assessment committees. So the role of idea
assessment committees in this context is to receive ideas for
assessment.
• Creating idea-progression valves: One of the basic functions of each of the innovation-idea assessment committees is to come up with
what this book refers to as idea-progression valves for their respective areas of focus.
What are idea-progression valves? Idea-progression valves are a
set of factors to which an innovation idea is subjected to determine
the extent to which the innovation idea meets a particular threshold
factor or attribute in order to progress to the next progression valve
along the innovation-idea assessment process and, at the end of all
the embedded progression valves, determine whether the idea under
consideration has accumulated sufficient scores or points to warrant further development through the innovation-development process
or gets rejected and stored in the innovation-idea database for future
consideration.
• Assessing and recommending innovation ideas: As indicated previously, one of the vital roles of the innovation-idea assessment committees
is to determine whether an innovation idea meets the set criteria
and quali�es to move on to the next stage for further assessment
and development.
• Adhering to confidentiality and nondisclosure policy: One of the measures that should be aligned with the innovation-development
process is the organization’s con�dentiality and nondisclosure policy
on innovation ideas received from workforces. e policy should
include a number of aspects relating to the con�dentiality of the
innovation ideas, including a requirement that anybody involved in
dealing with the innovation ideas must sign a con�dentiality
statement for his or her respective responsibility regarding
innovation ideas. at includes innovation-idea assessment
committee members.
Factors to include in the innovation-idea assessment process What factors should make up the criteria for assessing innovation ideas?
e innovation-idea assessment process is a vital decision-making
process that begins the journey of turning innovation ideas into
innovations that could potentially transform an organization and also
change the world. As stated earlier, the innovation-idea assessment
process comprises a set of assessment factors referred to as idea-
progression valves by which innovation ideas are evaluated for
progression to the next stage of the idea-development process. In other words, idea-progression valves are a set of criteria that constitute a basis
on which an innovation idea is judged to determine whether the
innovation idea should progress or should be put on hold or rejected.
Illustration: Idea progression valves e word valves in the term idea-progression valves is being used metaphorically, in the sense that similar to how the heart valves of
humans allow blood to �ow in a certain direction, idea-progression
valves constitute a set of factors embedded in the innovation-idea
assessment process, and these factors qualify innovation ideas to move
toward the next “valve” (comprising another set of assessment factors)
for further determination until the innovation idea passes through all
the established idea-progression valves and, ultimately, a decision is
made as to whether the innovation idea quali�es for further
development. us, the factors in the idea-progression valves should be
thoughtful in probing the innovative potential and simple to
understand.
Figure 14-3 provides a simple illustration showing how the idea-progression
valves are embedded in the innovation-idea assessment process.
Figure 14-3. Innovation-idea assessment
e following are some of the factors that could be embedded in the
idea-progression valves:
• Clear-purpose valve: Is the purpose of the innovation idea clearly outlined, in terms of how the idea will �x the problem or meet the
need?
• Marketability-analysis valve: If the innovation idea is a product or service, what is the potential for marketability and demand?
• Cost-of-investment analysis valve: Is the cost of the investment reasonable?
• Return-on-investment analysis valve: Is the return worth the investment?
• Development-time-line valve: Will the innovation idea take a reasonable time to bring to the market, or will it take a long period?
• Safety analysis valve: What safety risks does the innovation idea pose? How will the risks be mitigated?
• Environmental analysis valve: Is the innovation idea environmentally sustainable?
• Patentability analysis valve: Is the innovation idea patentable?
• Context analysis valve: Does the innovation idea fall within the organization’s business model and availability of resources (�nancial,
human, technological, etc.)?
Innovation Quotient What is an innovation quotient in relation to the evaluation of innovation ideas? It is a mechanism used to complement the
determination of the value of innovation potential in ideas. e
innovation quotient is a kind of scorecard in which the innovation idea
must accumulate a minimum score or number of points to qualify for
moving to the next innovation-development stage; the points are then
used to determine the extent to which the innovation idea under
consideration meets the set of factors in the idea-progression valve by
which the innovation idea is being assessed.
Each idea-progression valve has an appropriate score or number of
points to allocate to an innovation idea as the idea moves along the
innovation-idea assessment process. e total score or points
accumulated at the end of assessment by the idea under consideration
are then used to help determine whether the innovation idea quali�es
for further development. e following example clari�es the process.
Example: Formulating an Innovation Quotient e steps in the process of formulating a simple innovation quotient for
idea-assessment purposes are as follows:
• Step 1: List all the criteria factors that have been adopted for evaluating
a particular type of innovation idea. For instance, let’s assume that the procurement functional unit for company X has adopted the following
three factors as criteria for evaluating procurement innovation ideas:
Value proposition
Implementation feasibility
Cost-effectiveness
• Step 2: Create a table of predetermined sets of points or scores, and align them to the criteria factors based on the degree of criticalness of
the factor (i.e., the higher the degree of criticalness, the more points
that should be allocated to that particular factor under consideration).
Table 14-1 provides examples of three criteria factors and the allocation
of rating points per factor.
Table 14-1. Example of innovation-idea assessment criteria
Innovation-idea assessment criteria factors
Allocation of rating points per factor Note: Only one number (from each set of four numbers) should be allocated for each criteria factor, based on the quality of the idea in relation to the criteria factor under consideration
Implementation feasibility 20-25-30-35
Cost-effectiveness 40-45-50-55
Value proposition of the innovation idea
55-60-65-70
Total points awarded:
• Step 3: Create a table indicating the level of innovativeness in one column and a range of ratings in another (see table 14-2). e range of
ratings (from step 2) will be applied to show the level of innovativeness
of the idea and, ultimately, help in determining the innovation value of
the idea under consideration.
Table 14-2. Example of determining range of innovativeness
Level of innovativeness Corresponding range of ratings for each level of innovativeness
Low or not innovative 0–55
Averagely innovative 56–110
Moderately innovative 111–145
Highly innovative 146–160
Exceptionally innovative 161–180
Name of the innovation idea: Level of innovativeness: Range of level of innovativeness: Decision: Given the level of innovativeness, what is the decision? Options:
• Progress to next stage
• Reject
• Put on hold
Note: Because of the contextual differences of innovation ideas, innovation-
idea assessment committees should come up with idea-progression valves in
relation to the type and context of the innovation ideas they are responsible for. For instance, product platforms should have product idea-progression valves in
the context of the particular product platform, as should manufacturing
process, marketing, customer service, and so forth. For innovation ideas that
may require complex and speci�c sets of assessment factors, respective
innovation-idea assessment committees could create subcommittees or ad hoc
committees to speci�cally develop idea-progression valves to deal with certain
innovation ideas. Also, the appropriate committees should periodically review
and modify (when necessary) the sets of assessment factors for their respective
idea-progression valves.
Aspects to consider when creating idea-progression valves What aspects do you need to consider when creating idea-progression
valves? ere are a number to consider when establishing idea-
progression valves or criteria of factors for assessing and determining the
investment potential of an innovation idea. e following are four
aspects:
• e nature of industry: As stated earlier, some industry sectors are subjected to strict and rigorous government regulatory regimes.
us, when establishing innovation-idea assessment frameworks,
the �rst question should be whether the organization operates in an
industry that is tightly or strictly regulated, such as pharmaceuticals,
food, and cosmetics. For an organization that operates in an
industry with strict and rigorous regulatory processes, committees
need to come up with strict, rigorous product innovation-idea
assessment factors that, to some extent, mirror those of government
regulatory regimes. An example of a strictly regulated industry, as
stated earlier, is the pharmaceutical industry. In an interview with
Bloomberg Businessweek, Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, said that developing major
new drugs in the United States is harder than in the past. “Only
16% of drugs under development,” Gordon said, “ever get
regulatory approval. is has led to some companies like Abbott
Laboratories and Johnson & Johnson to rely more on non-drug
businesses, such as medical devices.”
• Size of the organization: In large organizations, innovation-idea management systems are usually �ooded with hundreds of ideas. In
order to cope with such a situation, the top leadership needs to
ensure that the organization establishes lean but efficient and
effective innovation-idea assessment criteria frameworks to cope
with the in�ux of innovation ideas submitted.
• Type of innovation idea: Business segments, business processes, product platforms, or business functional units differ in functional
characteristics, and naturally, the innovation ideas generated in the
various business segments and functional units of the organization
will differ from one another in a number of aspects. is is the basis
for the suggestion that each business segment, product platform, or
functional unit should have its own innovation-idea assessment
criteria that take into account the characteristics of the particular
unit or segment. e main purpose is to ensure that the idea-
progression valves are embedded with criteria factors that take into
account the context of the particular type of innovation idea.
• Degree of innovation ideas: As stated earlier, the degree of innovation, in most cases, will in�uence or guide the characteristics
of the factors that should be included in the innovation-idea
assessment criteria. For instance, a radical product innovation idea
may not be subjected to the same level or extent of assessment that
an incremental product innovation idea is subjected to. In most
cases, radical product innovation ideas are subjected to more
rigorous and exhaustive processes and procedures than are
incremental innovation ideas; this is because of the development
resource demands and risks that accompany radical innovation
ideas.
Action plans for creating innovation-idea assessment processes e CEO should ensure that the task force for creating innovation-idea
committees coordinates and collaborates with various innovation-idea
assessment committees to guarantee that assessment committees come
up with action plans for creating innovation-idea assessment processes.
Worksheet 14-5 is a sample worksheet for creating an action plan for an
innovation-idea assessment process.
Worksheet 14-5. Example of an action plan for product innovation-
idea assessment
As stated earlier, the number of innovation-idea assessment
committees depends on a number of aspects, such as the nature and size
of the organization and also what the top leadership considers as the
right number of committees. Each innovation-idea assessment
committee should come up with an action plan for creating innovation-
idea assessment processes. Normally, the innovation-idea assessment
action plans should be aligned to the particular functional units and
business segments of an organization. For instance, action plans in the
context of the core functional units of DM Personal Care Products
would be stated as follows:
• Action plan for creating product innovation-idea assessment
process
• Action plan for creating manufacturing-processes
innovation-idea assessment process
• Action plan for creating marketing innovation-idea
assessment process
• Action plan for creating customer service innovation-idea
assessment process
Cost-saving innovation-idea assessment committee(s) for support
functional units should come up with versions of action plans for
creating innovation-idea assessment processes for reviewing cost-saving
innovation ideas in those units. For example, action plans in the context
of DM Personal Care Products would be aligned to each support
functional unit as follows:
• Action plan for creating HR cost-saving innovation-idea
assessment process
• Action plan for creating procurement cost-saving innovation-
idea assessment process
• Action plan for creating IT cost-saving innovation-idea
assessment process
• Action plan for creating finance and accounting cost-saving
innovation-idea assessment process
• Action plan for creating corporate affairs cost-saving innovation-
idea assessment process
Creating schedules for assessing innovation ideas One of the aspects that contributes to making innovation-idea
management efficient is ensuring that the leadership creates an orderly
procedure for assessing innovation ideas generated by workforces. And
one of the aspects that contributes to enhancing the efficiency of the
innovation-idea assessment procedure is ensuring that the innovation-
idea assessment committees come up with respective schedules for
assessing innovation ideas and moving them through to the next stage,
which in this framework is referred to as the innovation-development
stage. us, one of the aspects to be undertaken by innovation-idea
assessment committees is to create schedules for considering innovation
ideas submitted within a particular period. e creation of an
innovation-idea assessment schedule is one of the vital activities of the
innovation-idea management system, so the leadership should ensure
that each innovation-idea assessment committee comes up with an
innovation-idea assessment schedule that is �t for the purpose.
Depending on a number of factors, such as the size of the organization,
the number of ideas received, and the nature of the ideas received (in
terms of types and degrees of innovation ideas), the innovation-idea
assessment schedules could be weekly, biweekly, monthly, bimonthly,
quarterly, and so forth.
Reviewing and updating the innovation-idea assessment process Recall that the efficacy of the innovation-idea assessment process is
critical because it contributes to sustaining a �t-for-purpose innovation-
development process. One of the approaches for continually enhancing
the efficiency and capability of innovation-idea assessment processes
across the organization is to ensure that idea-assessment committees are
encouraged to periodically review and update or modify their respective
idea-progression valves, which, as indicated earlier, comprise the
assessment-criteria factors. Periodic reviews are important for a number
of reasons. For instance, periodic reviews contribute to ensuring that at
any given point, every aspect of the assessment-criteria factors is
relevant to the reason it has been included in a particular idea-
progression valve. Worksheet 14-6 is a sample worksheet for creating an
action plan for reviewing and updating idea-progression valves.
Worksheet 14-6. Example of an action plan for reviewing idea-
progression valves
Aspects to consider when creating the innovation-idea assessment process Because the innovation-idea assessment process is one of the critical
components of the innovation-development process, the leadership
should ensure that the assessment-criteria factors and other procedures
that are incorporated in the idea-progression valves for determining
innovative and investable potential of the ideas are effective.
e following are some of the aspects to take into account when
creating organization-wide innovation-idea assessment processes:
Each innovation-idea assessment process should be embedded with
the following:
e right number of idea-progression valves
Different contexts of assessment-criteria factors at each idea-
progression valve to elicit speci�c data about the innovation
idea under consideration
Each innovation-idea assessment committee should come up with a
set of factors that should be applied as criteria for assessing and
determining the innovation potential of the ideas as they progress
along the various stages of the innovation-idea assessment process.
All innovation-idea assessment processes should be approved by the
top leadership of the organization.
e lines of consultation and collaboration between the innovation-
idea assessment committees and innovation-idea reception
committee should be clear.
Depending on the size of the organization and the nature and
number of ideas generated or submitted, innovation-idea assessment
committees could establish subcommittees at various stages of the
innovation-idea assessment process to assess speci�c innovation
ideas.
If subcommittees are created, the functions of such subcommittees
should be clearly de�ned.
For an innovation idea to progress to the next stage for further
assessment and subsequently progress to the innovation-
development stage, the idea must meet the set standard criteria
factors embedded in each idea-progression valve.
e speci�c objectives of the assessment factors at each idea-
progression valve along the innovation-idea assessment process
should be clearly outlined.
If the innovation idea does not accumulate a sufficient score or
number of points along the innovation-idea assessment process and
fails to make it to the next stage for further development, the
innovation idea should be put on hold for future consideration.
ere is no one-size-�ts-all or general standardized number of
innovation-idea assessment stages that should be established in the
innovation-idea assessment process. e number of stages included
depends on certain factors, such as the following:
• e number of innovation-idea assessment stages that the
organization deems effective to determine the investment
potential of the innovation idea before it progresses for
further development
• e nature of the innovation idea: Some ideas may require
only a few assessment stages, whereas others might need
rigorous assessment processes for number of reasons, such as
the following:
Risk levels involved
Doubts on return on investment
Type of innovation
Degree of innovation involved
Government regulatory procedures (e.g., in the
pharmaceutical industry)
3. Innovation Project Teams e third component or stage of the innovation-development process involves
creating innovation project teams. Once innovation ideas are assessed, passed through the idea-progression valves, and recommended for further
development by the respective innovation-idea assessment committees, the
next step involves committees submitting the innovation ideas (the business
case) to the top leadership of the organization for onward implementation of a
series of innovation project activities that will result in the development of an
innovation. What are innovation project teams? An innovation project team is
a group of staff with complementary skills and competencies charged with the
responsibility to undertake speci�c innovation-development tasks and activities
that ultimately result in developing or transforming an innovation idea into an
innovation.
Whose responsibility is it to create the teams? Recall that the top leadership
should ensure that the organization develops a manual outlining all the critical
components of the organization’s innovation-idea management system. One of
the components that should be included in the manual is a section on
guidelines for the creation of innovation project teams. e guidelines should
be applied whenever the leadership is creating an innovation project team. For
every innovation project, the leadership should ensure that the innovation
project team comprises skilled and competent team members who are able to
develop an innovation project charter, which the team will ultimately use to deliver a successful innovation project.
e simple illustration in �gure 14-4 depicts the process of submitting
innovative and investment-potential ideas to the top leadership and the
formation of innovation project teams by the top leadership.
Figure 14-4. Example of a process for submitting innovative ideas
4. Guidelines for Creating Innovation Project Teams e fourth component of the innovation-development process involves
formulating guidelines for creating the innovation project teams. is process
should be considered one of the vital components of the innovation-
development process because it is these guidelines that are applied to create
innovation project teams, and it is the project teams that will ultimately deliver
the end result in the form of an innovation. us, when formulating
guidelines, every aspect should be aimed at contributing toward having a set of
guidelines that are effective in helping to come up with the right project team
that will be able to deliver a successful innovation project within the context of
the innovation idea. at said, a number of factors in�uence the aspects that
should be included in the guidelines for creating innovation project teams.
Some of the factors include the following:
Types of innovation ideas: Innovation ideas are characterized by different dynamics that affect how they are assessed and how they are developed.
is means that the dynamics of a particular type of innovation idea
will in�uence how the innovation ideas in that category are developed.
For instance, the dynamics of product innovation ideas, process
innovation ideas, marketing innovation ideas, customer service
innovation ideas, HR cost-saving innovation ideas, �nance and
accounting cost-saving innovation ideas, and procurement cost-saving
innovation ideas will in�uence the kind of innovation talent that should
constitute a particular innovation project team.
Innovation degree: e extent of innovativeness of an idea, in most cases, in�uences the kind of skills and competencies that the team members
should possess.
e technical complexity of the innovation idea
e scale of the innovation project
e size of budget required to develop the innovation idea into an
innovation
e personnel needed to work on the innovation project, for instance,
number of core and support staff to undertake the innovation-
development project
e life-cycle steps of the innovation-development project
e leader of the innovation project: e appointment of the person to
lead the innovation project (innovation project manager) will also be in�uenced by a number of aspects, for instance, whether it’s the
automatic practice of the organization that the innovator(s) of the idea
should lead the innovation project or whether the decision of who leads
the innovation project shall be determined on a case-by-case basis. Even
in instances where appointment of an innovation project manager is
determined on a case-by-case basis, guidelines should outline factors to
consider when appointing the innovation project manager.
Guidelines on Expectations for Innovation Project Teams In addition to the guidelines for creating innovation project teams, it’s also
important to have a set of guidelines on what is expected of each innovation
project team once formed. e purpose of the guidelines is to ensure that each innovation project team comes up with an innovation project charter in the
context of the innovation project and consequently applies it to manage and
successfully deliver an innovation project.
An innovation project charter (IPC) is an outline of what needs (duties and
responsibilities) to be accomplished and how the innovation project will
proceed. e following are some of the aspects that could be included in the
innovation project charter: Guidelines on creating an innovation project structure
Formulation of tasks and activities that individuals or subcommittees
will be responsible for
Formulation of actionable time lines throughout the innovation-
development process
Clear outline of �nancial resources needed to complete an innovation
project
Guidelines on how to review and evaluate an innovation project
Guidelines on creating innovation project plans
5. Innovation-Development Stage e �fth component of the innovation-development process is the innovation-
development stage. What does this component involve? is component consists of a series of innovation-development stages and
processes for transforming an innovation idea into an innovation. e number
of innovation-development stages varies from organization to organization.
is book recommends the three stages illustrated in �gure 14-5.
Figure 14-5. Example of innovation-development stages
e three stages are interpreted in table 14-3.
Table 14-3. Interpretation of the Innovation-Development Stages
Feasibility process Innovation idea–development process Prototype stage
is stage involves respective innovation project teams undertaking a feasibility review, which is a detailed analysis to determine whether, based on the information provided by the innovation- idea assessment process, the innovation project should move on to the next stage, which is the development stage. e question then is, What criteria are applied to conduct a feasibility review? e same factors that were applied in the innovation-idea assessment processes can be used (some aspects may require more detailed analysis).
is stage involves the innovation- development project teams establishing an innovation-development project plan (i- DPP). e i-DPP should describe, in detail, the following aspects:
• Leadership structure: e top leadership of the organization should ensure that the innovation- development project is under good leadership that is able to put in place clearly de�ned roles so that the team members undertake their speci�c roles effectively and contribute to the development process of transforming the idea into an innovation.
• Tasks: A list of tasks or activities that individuals or subcommittees in the innovation-development project team will undertake should be created by the leadership of the innovation project. e tasks should have milestones that are described as SMART: speci�c, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound.
is stage involves the ultimate delivery of a �nished innovation in the form of a sample or prototype. Once completed, the prototype should undergo extensive testing and evaluation.
• Human resources: e project plan should outline, in detail, the human resources needs in terms of expertise (core and support staff) and the total number of staff required.
• Financial resources: e project plan should include a clear outline of �nancial resources needed to complete the innovation project.
• Time frame: e project plans should include realistic, actionable time frames throughout the innovation- development project. e time frames should be frequently reviewed and updated to help teams stay on task, and the teams should ensure that they are updating the top leadership of the organization with periodic reports about the innovation’s progress.
• e project should be on course: e innovation-development teams should ensure that the innovation project continues to progress within the company’s approved technical and �nancial goals and is constantly aligned to meeting the need or solving the problem for which the idea was generated.
6. Innovation Launch/Implementation e sixth and �nal component of the innovation-development process is the
launch of an innovation on the market or implementation of an innovation in
the organization’s system. In this book, launching an innovation means introducing the innovation on the market for direct procurement by
customers, whereas the implementation of an innovation refers to the application of an innovation for efficiency or customer experience purposes
within an organization’s system.
e innovation-launch component suggested in this book has two stages:
(1) the innovation testing stage and (2) the innovation-launch stage. Figure 14-
6 shows a simple illustration of the two stages, and table 14-4 provides an
interpretation of the stages.
Figure 14-6. Example of innovation launch stages
Table 14-4. Interpretation of the innovation-launch stages
Innovation-testing stage Innovation-launch stage
Whatever the type of innovation (e.g., product innovation, service innovation, process innovation, marketing innovation, customer service innovation, or any type of innovation in the context of the organization’s value chain and functional units), the purpose of the testing stage is to provide validation for the innovation. In this
book, innovation validation is de�ned as a process by which an innovation is proven to meet the essential requirements for the particular purpose the innovation idea was generated for. e factors or criteria used for testing an innovation depend on a number of aspects, such as the following: • e purpose of the innovation or the
problem/need that the innovation is designed to solve or ful�ll
• e type of innovation • e innovation degree • Regulatory procedures • Safety issues us, launch teams should come up with testing guidelines for each innovation. When generating testing guidelines, it is important to include the following aspects:
is is the last stage of the innovation- development process. As stated earlier, the launch/implementation methodology or strategy will largely be determined by the type of innovation (among other aspects). is means that the launch or implementation strategy for, say, product or service innovations will vary from those of process, marketing, or customer service innovations.
e other factor that could determine the
innovation-launch strategy is the innovation
degree. at is, the scale or nature of the launch strategy will be affected by the extent of the
newness of an innovation. For instance, a radical
innovation with high risk in terms of investment could in�uence the need for a robust innovation- launch strategy and a well-thought-out approach to other marketing innovations as compared to a
low-risk incremental innovation. e bottom line is that any innovation-
launch/implementation strategy started by innovation-launch teams should be �t or effective for the purpose for which it is being initiated or adopted.
• e team members involved in testing the innovation should be fully oriented to the problem or need the innovation is designed to solve or ful�ll so that they can fully understand the functional purpose the innovation is supposed to serve.
• Testing of an innovation should be done by those who are able to provide valuable feedback on the initial performance of the innovation.
• e duration of the testing period depends on a number of factors, including the criteria for testing mentioned above.
• e innovation-development project teams should use the feedback from testing to make any needed improvements or changes before launch or implementation.
• e feedback could also be used by other teams that are part of the launch project; for
example, the sales and marketing team could use the feedback to help with the formulation of sales and marketing strategies.
7. Post-Innovation Launch Evaluation So far, we’ve covered three of the components that make up the innovation-
idea management framework suggested in this book: innovation-idea
preliminary self-assessment, innovation-idea submission process, and
innovation-development process. e last component is the post-innovation
launch or implementation evaluation. is component includes three aspects: (1) de�nition of post-innovation launch/implementation evaluation, (2)
importance, and (3) innovation deliverables index.
1. Definition e post-innovation launch/implementation evaluation is de�ned as a
process that involves creating a mechanism for determining the efficacy of
an innovation in delivering value and expected performance in terms of
�xing the problem and achieving the monetary goals set for a particular
innovation.
2. Importance What is the importance of the post-innovation launch or implementation
evaluation? is evaluation is important for a number of reasons:
First, the development process of an innovation involves a signi�cant
amount of resources and time. Chapter 1 de�ned innovation as a process that involves identifying customer needs, generating new ideas
not seen on the market before, turning the ideas into solutions to
address the identi�ed needs, and then converting the solutions into
commercial value for the company in terms of pro�ts, growth, and
competitiveness. is means that regardless of the type of innovation—
whether it’s a product innovation, service innovation, process
innovation, marketing strategy innovation, customer service
innovation, or any other type of innovation in the context of the
organization’s business model—the innovation-development process
for any innovation idea involves a great deal of resource investment to
bring the innovation idea to fruition. us, because of the amount of
resources and time involved in the development process of an
innovation, it is vital that an organization develops a framework for
reviewing and evaluating the performance of an innovation after
launch or implementation.
Second, the post-innovation launch or implementation evaluation
affords an opportunity for identifying some weaknesses in the
innovation’s performance or mistakes in its implementation.
Identifying mistakes provides an essential aid for enacting measures
aimed at protecting the innovation-development and
launch/implementation processes from recurrences of similar mistakes.
ird, launching an innovation on the market or implementing an
innovation in the organization’s system is one thing, but whether the
innovation adds value to the organization is another. us, once an
innovation is launched or implemented, it is good management
practice to determine the operational efficacy and monetary value of
the innovation.
3. Post-Innovation Evaluation Technique: e Innovation Deliverables
Index Given the importance of the post-innovation performance of an
innovation, it is necessary for organizational leaders to develop abilities to
create and implement an effective post-innovation evaluation tool that’s
relevant to the context of the organization’s value chain and business
model. Such a tool should be embedded with aspects for determining the
deliverables of each innovation from the time of launch or implementation
to a speci�ed end point. To create such a tool, the top leadership could
form an ad hoc committee to formulate guidelines for establishing
innovation-evaluation teams across the organization that will be charged
with the responsibility of monitoring the performance of an innovation on
an ongoing basis.
Action Plan Once created, the ad hoc committee should come up with an action plan
for creating a technique for monitoring the performance of an innovation.
Worksheet 14-7 is a simple example of a worksheet that can be used to
develop an action plan for creating a technique for monitoring the
performance of an innovation.
Table 14-5. Action plan for creating technique for monitoring an
innovation
Example An example of a tool for monitoring the performance of an innovation is
the innovation deliverables index. e innovation deliverables index is a simple mechanism designed to monitor and generate data about the
performance of an innovation after launch or implementation. In terms of
the measures on which the performance of a particular innovation is based,
it depends on a number of factors, such as the nature of the industry and
organization and the organization’s mission and policies. Figure 14-7 shows
some of the measures or aspects on which the performance of a particular
innovation can be based.
Figure 14-7. Examples of innovation deliverables
Based on the deliverable metrics shown in �gure 14-7, table 14-6 is an
example of a tool for monitoring performance of an innovation, referred to
as the innovation deliverables index.
Table 14-6. Innovation deliverables index
Names and position titles of the innovation-evaluation team:
Name of the innovation being evaluated:
Date when the evaluation is being conducted: Date when the innovation was launched or implemented:
Financial contribution of the innovation during the period under review
Revenue-generation target: What revenue- generation target was set for the innovation during the period under review?
Revenue contribution: How much revenue has the innovation contributed during the period under review?
Cost-saving target: What cost-saving target was set for the innovation during the period under review?
Cost-saving contribution: How much savings has the innovation contributed during the period under review?
Efficacy of the innovation: What are the comments from users regarding the performance of the innovation in terms of �xing the problem or meeting their needs during the period under review?
Complaints from users: Are there any complaints from users regarding the performance of the innovation? If yes, give a description.
Recalls: Were there any recalls of the innovation during the period under review? If so, describe the defects and remedial action taken.
Checkpoints: Are there any innovation-evaluation checkpoints that need to be modi�ed to enhance the effectiveness of the innovation-evaluation process? If so, state the checkpoints that need modi�cation and give recommendations.
Indicate the date of the next innovation evaluation:
Signatures of the innovation evaluators:
T
CHAPTER 15
Ability to Measure and Report Innovation
Performance
hus far, we’ve covered six examples of innovation management skill sets;
the seventh example is the ability for organizational leaders to design,
implement, and manage, on an ongoing basis, a framework for measuring
and reporting innovation performance in the context of an organization’s value
chain and business model. is book adopts a four-dimensional model for
measuring and reporting innovation performance.
When I conduct training on measuring innovation performance, I
sometimes ask delegates to indicate by a show of hands if their companies have
policies for reporting innovation performance at the functional-unit level,
divisional level, or corporate level. I have never gotten more than �ve hands in
the affirmative out of a group of, say, twenty-�ve to forty. Interestingly, when I
ask the delegates to indicate whether innovation is considered a top-three
priority in their organizations, 90–95 percent of the delegates raise their hands.
A 2009 innovation survey by the Boston Consulting Group, a US-based
consulting �rm, revealed that although 73 percent of companies surveyed
across the globe believe that innovation performance should be tracked as
rigorously as other business elements, only 46 percent of the executives said
their companies actually track innovation performance. And in a 2011 survey
of more than six hundred executives worldwide by the US-based Institute for
Corporate Productivity, many respondents indicated that one of the challenges
they were wrestling with was how to measure and report the innovation
performance of their organizations. Because of the difficulties that many
managers face in measuring and reporting the innovation performance of their
organizations, chapter 15 covers tools that can be used to build essential skills
and knowledge for measuring and reporting innovation performance in
organizations.
Definition First of all, What is innovation-performance measurement? It is a process that
involves reviewing and assessing various innovation performance–related
activities at the functional-unit and corporate levels of an organization and
then determining the extent to which the goals of the various aspects of
innovation activities have been achieved.
Importance Second, Why is it important to measure and report innovation performance? e
following are six reasons:
i. First, the information generated is useful for determining the
innovation-performance status of an organization in terms of whether
the innovation goals, objectives, and targets that were set by various
functional units and the organization as a whole have been achieved.
ii. Second, information generated from the cross-functional innovation-
performance reporting and communication system is useful for
determining, comprehensively, whether the organization’s efforts in
investing in innovation activities across functional units are yielding
results.
iii. ird, the innovation-performance data can be used for making
decisions on the way forward regarding the kind of innovation strategies
that should be developed and implemented.
iv. Fourth, the information generated helps in analyzing variances in
innovation-performance goals and targets. What does this mean? In any
kind of performance, the positive deviation from set goals and targets
indicates better performance. Conversely, negative deviation is generally
a matter of concern because it indicates a shortfall in performance. In
terms of innovation performance, the information elicited from
innovation-performance measurement activities helps in determining
the kind of decisions that should be made arising from variances in
innovation-performance goals and targets, especially in cases of negative
deviations. is section also provides an evaluation tool (referred to as
evaluation worksheets) aimed at eliciting information regarding
innovation-performance deviations.
v. Fifth, similar to the preceding point, measuring innovation helps in
determining the kind of corrective actions that should be undertaken,
because once the deviations in innovation-performance goals and
targets are identi�ed, the next step is developing plans for taking
corrective actions. And if the innovation performance is consistently less
than what is desired, then a detailed analysis of the factors responsible
for such performance must be undertaken.
vi. Sixth, information collected from measuring innovation performance
helps in determining how the company’s innovation performance
measures up against competitors, and such information is vital for the
organization’s innovation-strategy development.
Dimensions of Innovation-Performance Measurement is book suggests four dimensions of innovation-performance measurement:
1. Innovation input measurement
2. Innovation output measurement
3. Innovation-results measurement
4. Innovation impact measurement
Evaluation Worksheet Before we look at each of the four dimensions of innovation-performance
measurement, it is necessary to give a brief description of one of the useful
tools aligned with the innovation-performance measurement model adopted in
this book, the evaluation worksheet. As stated at the beginning of this chapter,
the innovation-performance measurement model suggested in this book is
aimed at providing tools for determining the innovation performance of an
organization in a multidimensional manner. To enhance the effectiveness of
the model, an evaluation worksheet is included for each of the four dimensions
of innovation-performance measurement.
Purpose of the Evaluation Worksheets It is important to bear in mind that the measurement of innovation
performance is not an end in itself. e measurement process merely provides
data for determining whether an innovation activity resulted in accomplishing
a particular purpose or achieving particular goals. us, the worksheets are
used to evaluate the data collected through the measurement process.
Contexts of the Evaluation Worksheets As noted, evaluation worksheets can be used for eliciting and deciphering data
generated in each of the four dimensions of innovation-performance
measurement. us, an evaluation worksheet is included for each of the four
dimensions. e evaluation worksheet is formulated and phrased in the
context of the innovation measurement under consideration. In other words,
each evaluation worksheet is designed to ful�ll a distinct objective in relation
to the particular dimension of innovation-performance measurement, which is
to assess the extent to which the goals and targets for each innovation-
performance dimension under consideration were realized or achieved over a
particular period.
e evaluation worksheets are contextualized in the four dimensions of
innovation-performance measurements as follows:
i. Innovation Input Evaluation Worksheet: is is designed to assess how
various innovation-support initiatives were implemented and also to
determine the extent to which the intended consequences of the
initiatives were realized during the period under review.
ii. Innovation Output Evaluation Worksheet: is is designed to assess the
degree to which innovation output goals and targets were realized.
iii. Innovation-Results Evaluation Worksheet: is is designed to assess the
degree to which the innovations launched or implemented (innovation
goals or targets) were realized.
iv. Innovation Impact Evaluation Worksheet: is is designed to determine
the revenues generated from innovations launched and the savings
gained from cost-saving innovations implemented across the functional
units of the organization.
Checkpoints To ensure that each of the evaluation worksheets ful�lls its purpose, the
following checkpoints should be included in the evaluation worksheets:
i. Determining whether the innovation-support initiatives in various
functional units were well implemented during the period under review
ii. Determining the effectiveness of the innovation-support initiatives in
terms of realizing the intended consequences
iii. Determining whether the innovation-support initiatives resulted in
unintended consequences
iv. Identifying gaps and deviations in the innovation-support initiatives
implemented in various functional units and determining corrective
measures if necessary
v. Determining whether the targeted number of radical and incremental
innovation ideas generated was achieved and providing an explanation
for achieving or missing the target
vi. Determining whether the targeted number of radical and incremental
innovation ideas undergoing development was achieved and providing
an explanation for achieving or missing the target
vii. Determining whether the targeted number of radical and incremental
innovations launched or implemented was achieved and providing an
explanation for achieving or missing the target
viii.Determining whether the targeted revenue from innovations launched
or the targeted savings from cost-saving innovations implemented
across functional units was achieved and providing an explanation for
achieving or missing the targets
e next sections cover how to apply and present each of the four
dimensions of innovation-performance measurement: innovation input
measurement, innovation output measurement, innovation-results measurement,
and innovation impact measurement.
1. Innovation Input Measurement e US publication strategy+business, published by Strategy& (formerly Booz
& Company), has conducted an annual study on the importance of innovation
inputs for more than ten years. e studies have, over the years, consistently
revealed that innovation success depends on the company’s investments in
various innovation-related interventions or inputs. Given how vital innovation
inputs are to creating a climate for innovation and sustaining innovation-led
growth in organizations, it’s important that organizational leaders understand
various types of innovation inputs and know how to create a presentation
format for reporting innovation input metrics in the context of the
organization’s value chain and business model.
Definitions To understand innovation input measurement, it is �rst necessary to de�ne the
terms innovation inputs and innovation inputs measurement.
Definition of Innovation Inputs e basic meaning of the word inputs, according to dictionary de�nitions,
varies depending on the context in which the word is being used. According to
a number of dictionaries, the term inputs means “something that is put in,” “to
put in,” or “an act or process of putting in,” with the view of expecting an
outcome. Translated in the context of innovation, innovation inputs can be
de�ned as various innovation-support systems—such as innovation-related
strategies, innovation-related policies and procedures, innovation-enhancing
technologies, innovation-skill-development programs, and so forth—that the
leadership of an organization implements or invests in across the organization
to create a climate for workforce innovation to realize innovation-led growth
on an ongoing basis.
Definition of Innovation Input Measurement erefore, innovation input measurement is de�ned as a process that involves
determining and measuring innovation-support systems, such as innovation-
support strategies, innovation-support policies and procedures, innovation-
skill-development programs, innovation-enhancing technologies, and many
other initiatives implemented across functional units during the period under
review.
Illustration: How to Report Innovation Input Measurements
is section illustrates how to determine and report innovation input
measurements by presenting innovation-support initiatives implemented over a
particular period in the core and support functional units of the �ctitious
company DM Personal Care Products. To demonstrate this, two types of
sample worksheets are provided, as follows:
Worksheets 15-1 and 15-2 present the innovation-support initiatives
implemented by core and support functional units, respectively, across
the organization during the period under review.
Worksheet 15-3 is the innovation input evaluation worksheet, whose
purpose is to assess how the various innovation-support initiatives
presented in worksheets 15-1 and 15-2 were implemented and also to
determine the extent to which the intended consequences of the
initiatives implemented during the period under review were realized.
e worksheets have been applied to the functional units of DM Personal
Care Products, which are as follows:
Core functional units Product-development unit
Manufacturing-processes department
Marketing department
Customer service department
Support functional units Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
Innovation Inputs Worksheet For illustration purposes, two worksheets are provided: worksheet 15-1
describes the innovation inputs or innovation-support initiatives undertaken
by core functional units, and worksheet 15-2 describes the innovation inputs
undertaken by support functional units. e worksheets are segmented into
three categories of innovation-support initiatives, and two columns are used to
indicate the innovation-support initiatives implemented in the context of each
of the three categories—namely innovative thinking–related initiatives,
innovation engagement–related initiatives, and innovation management–
related initiatives—and the purpose of each innovation-support initiative.
Worksheet 15-1. Innovation-support initiatives of core functional units
undertaken
Objective: To determine innovation-support initiatives implemented in core functional units during the
period under review (e.g., February–May of 2018)
Product-development department: Period under review:
Types of innovation-support initiatives and purposes
Type of innovation-support initiative
State the innovation-support initiative implemented in the context of each of the three categories
State the purpose of each innovation-support initiative
Innovative thinking–related initiatives
Innovation engagement–related initiatives
Innovation management–related initiatives
Date when the assessment was conducted:
Head of department:
Similar worksheets would be created for the other three core functional
units of DM Personal Care Products:
Manufacturing-processes department
Marketing department
Customer service department
Worksheet 15-2. Innovation-support initiatives of support functional
units undertaken
Objective: To determine innovation-support initiatives implemented in support functional units during the
period under review (e.g., February–May of 2018)
Procurement department: Period under review:
Types of innovation-support initiatives and purposes
Type of innovation-support initiative
State the innovation-support initiative implemented in the context of each of the three categories
State the purpose of each innovation-support initiative
Innovative thinking–related initiatives
Innovation engagement–related initiatives
Innovation management–related initiatives
Date when the assessment was done:
Head of department:
Similar worksheets would be created for the other four support functional
units of DM Personal Care Products:
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
Innovation-Support Initiatives by Committees Appointed by the CEO ere are cases where some innovation-support initiatives are implemented by
a committee or committees created to undertake and implement speci�c
innovation-support initiatives across the organization, and in most cases, such
committees are accountable to the CEO. When it comes to reporting these
innovation-support initiatives, they could be reported under the office of the
CEO with speci�c evaluation worksheets created for this purpose.
Innovation Input Evaluation As stated earlier, the purpose of the innovation input evaluation is to identify
the types of innovation-support initiatives undertaken during the period under
review and also to determine the extent to which the intended consequences
(the objectives) of the initiatives were realized.
Assuming we are undertaking innovation input evaluation for the core and
support (back-office) functional units of DM Personal Care Products, the �rst
step is to outline the core and support functional units, as follows:
Core functional units Product-development unit
Manufacturing-processes department
Marketing department
Customer service department
Support functional units Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
e second step is creating simple innovation input evaluation worksheets
that are categorized according to the types of innovation-support initiatives
undertaken. For this illustration, there are three innovation input evaluation
worksheets, as follows:
Worksheet 15-3: Innovative thinking initiatives
Worksheet 15-4: Innovation engagement initiatives
Worksheet 15-5: Innovation management initiatives
Worksheet 15-3. Innovative thinking initiatives
Worksheet 15-4. Innovation engagement initiatives
Worksheet 15-5. Innovation management initiatives
2. Innovation Output Measurement e second dimension of measuring innovation performance is innovation
output measurement.
Definitions To understand innovation output measurement, it is �rst necessary to de�ne
the terms innovation output and innovation output measurement.
Definition of Innovation Output e basic meaning of the word output, according to dictionary de�nitions,
varies depending on the context in which the word is being used. According to
the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the generic de�nition of output is “the
amount of something that is produced depending on the context of what it is.”
Contexts of outputs range from basic things like outputs of corn, rice,
oranges, and tomatoes in an agricultural context to outputs of gold, copper,
and diamonds in a mineral context to the more complex contexts, such as the
work output of a machine in engineering terms or the transmission of
information in an IT context. In economic terms, output is the amount of
goods and services produced, whereas in a telecommunications context, output
entails information retrieved from a network. e point is that the term output
is context speci�c, and the list of contexts of outputs goes on and on.
In the context of measuring innovation, innovation output is de�ned as the
number of innovation ideas generated in the context of the organization’s value
chain and business segments.
e preceding section noted that innovation input measurement involves
assessing various innovation-support initiatives undertaken over a speci�c
period. erefore, the �rst evidence to manifest as a consequence of the
innovation inputs is the generation of innovation ideas by workforces—hence
the characterization of innovation ideas generated as innovation outputs,
because they’re a result of the speci�c innovation initiatives undertaken.
Definition of Innovation Output Measurement Given the context of innovation outputs, innovation output measurement can be
de�ned as a process that involves determining the number of innovation ideas
generated by workforces across functional units as a consequence of the various
innovation-support initiatives implemented by the organization over a
particular period.
Two Perspectives In this book, innovation output is divided into two perspectives: (1) the
number of innovation ideas generated by workforces over a particular period
and (2) the number of innovation ideas undergoing development.
i. Number of Innovation Ideas Generated
It’s important to understand that determining the number of
innovation ideas generated is one of the vital aspects of measuring and
reporting innovation performance. is is because if the information on
innovation ideas generated is poorly determined and presented, it could
potentially negatively affect the quality and accuracy of the data about
the number of innovation ideas generated and consequently affect the
quality of the innovation-performance report. To avoid this, the teams
directly responsible for compiling the organization’s innovation-
performance report need to do it competently by enacting measures
that will contribute to ensuring the quality and accuracy of the data
collected on the innovation ideas generated across functional units.
Some considerations include the following:
Cross-functional collaboration: is entails building and sustaining
the process and spirit of working together with functional leaders
when collecting data on innovation ideas generated across
functional units. e earlier discussion of innovation-idea
management systems suggested an elaborate approach for
establishing various innovation-idea management committees as
part of the corporate strategy for sustaining an effective innovation-
idea management system. It was further stated that collaboration
among functional units is vital in ensuring that an organization has
an effective innovation-idea management system. In relation to
collecting data on the number of innovation ideas generated over a
particular period, it is important that those responsible for writing
innovation-performance reports (especially at the corporate level)
must ensure that they collaborate with all stakeholders involved—
that is, functional units and various innovation-related committees
—to, for instance, ascertain the number of ideas generated in each
functional unit over a particular period.
Designing the right presentation format: is means ensuring that the
right type of format or technique is used to present the number of
innovation ideas generated across functional units. Generally, one of
the purposes of reporting innovation performance in organizations
is to enable every member of the organization’s workforce, from
CEO to the most junior, to understand all aspects of the
organization’s innovation performance. Data presentation therefore
plays a critical role in realizing the purpose of reporting innovation
performance in the organization. us, the data-presentation
format or techniques must ensure that data are presented in a
simple, creative, and interesting manner, without the audiences
across functional units having to work hard to understand the data
presented about the number of innovation ideas and other
dimensions of innovation-performance measurements.
Illustration: How to Present Radical and Incremental Innovation
Ideas is section demonstrates how to determine and present the number of
radical and incremental innovation ideas generated across functional
units in the context of the four core functional units and �ve support
functional units of DM Personal Care Products. e steps in the process
are presented �rst.
Steps First, identify core and support functional units of the company.
Second, structure the presentation format according to the
functional units of the company.
ird, outline the company’s product platforms.
Recall that the core and support functional units of DM Personal Care
Products are as follows:
Core functional units Product-development unit, with the following segments:
Body-lotions segment
Skin-cleansing segment
Hair-care segment
Hand-washing segment
Manufacturing-processes department, (the manufacturing-processes
department comprises the same segments as the product-
development unit)
Marketing department, with the following units:
Pricing unit
Product-promotion unit
New-markets unit
Product-delivery unit
Packaging unit
Customer service department
Support functional units Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
Presentation Format Regarding presentation format, assume that simple charts have been selected
for use in presenting the number of radical and incremental innovation ideas
generated over a particular period in each of the core and support functional
units of DM Personal Care Products. We’ll begin with core functional units
and then move to the support units. Speci�cally, we’ll start with the product-
development unit.
Product-Development Unit e �rst step is to determine the number of product categories and segments
in the product-development unit. e following are the product categories of
the department under consideration:
Body-lotions category
Skin-cleansing category
Hair-care category
Hand-washing category
e second step is to create simple charts for presenting the number of
radical and incremental product innovation ideas generated in each of these
product categories during the period under review. For purposes of illustration,
we’ll assume quarterly review in four segments: Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. For
illustration purposes, innovation ideas in the body-lotions category are referred
to as radical and incremental body-lotion innovation ideas.
e two simple charts in �gures 15-1 and 15-2 show radical and
incremental body-lotion innovation ideas generated in the body-lotions
category in each quarter of 2018. e charts show both the target and actual
numbers of innovation ideas generated.
Similar charts would be created to show the number of radical and
incremental innovation ideas generated in each of the other three product
categories over the same period:
Skin-cleansing category
Hair-care category
Hand-washing category
ere are cases where a product category may have a number of product
segments. In such cases, the number of radical and incremental innovation
ideas generated should be determined per product segment of the particular
product category. For instance, under its new corporate structure (with
Alphabet as parent company), Google has six product categories: Android,
Search, YouTube, Apps, Maps, and Ads. Each of these categories has product
segments, and if we were to determine the number of innovation ideas
generated, we would determine the number of innovation ideas generated in
all product segments of each product category.
Manufacturing-Processes Department Recall that the manufacturing department of DM Personal Care Products has
four main manufacturing-processes categories in line with the four product
categories in the product-development department:
Body-lotions manufacturing-processes category
Skin-cleansing manufacturing-processes category
Hair-care manufacturing-processes category
Hand-washing manufacturing-processes category
As with the product-development unit, two simple charts can be used to
illustrate the number of radical and incremental innovation ideas generated in
these four manufacturing-processes categories in each quarter of 2018. For
illustration purposes, �gures 15-3 and 15-4 show the radical and incremental
innovation ideas generated in the body-lotions manufacturing-processes
category in each quarter of 2018.
Figure 15-1
Figure 15-2
Similar charts would be created to show the number of radical and
incremental innovation ideas generated in each of the other three
manufacturing-processes categories over the same period:
Skin-cleansing manufacturing-processes category
Hair-care manufacturing-processes category
Hand-washing manufacturing-processes category
As in the �rst illustration for the product-development unit, there are
instances where a manufacturing-processes category may have a number of
product-manufacturing segments. In such cases, the number of radical and
incremental innovation ideas generated should be determined per the product-
manufacturing segment of the particular manufacturing-processes category.
Figure 15-3
Figure 15-4
Marketing Department
Recall that this department has �ve main marketing-related functional
subunits, structured as follows:
Pricing unit
Product-promotion unit
Product-delivery unit
New-markets unit
Packaging unit
Similar to the presentation format used for the �rst two functional units,
the two simple charts in �gures 15-5 and 15-6 present the number of radical
and incremental pricing innovation ideas generated for each quarter of 2018.
Figure 15-5
Figure 15-6
Similar charts would be created to illustrate the number of radical and
incremental marketing innovation ideas generated in each of the other four
functional subunits of the marketing department in each quarter of 2018. e
other marketing functional subunits and the type of innovation ideas (in
parentheses) that would be generated in each unit are as follows:
Product-promotion unit (product-promotion innovation ideas
generated for existing products
Product-delivery unit (product-delivery innovation ideas generated
for existing products)
New-markets unit (new-market innovation ideas generated for
existing products)
Packaging unit (packaging innovation ideas generated for existing
products)
Customer Service Department Before we look at how to present the number of customer service innovation
ideas generated, it’s important to reiterate two of the aspects that were
described earlier regarding customer service innovations. First, customer service
innovations are designed to support the delivery of product offerings at
different stages: before purchase, during purchase, and after purchase. Second
is that some customer service innovations (usually referred to as customer
experience innovations) are implemented across all organizational functions and
channels and are designed to continually enhance the quality of interaction
between the company and its customers at all touchpoints.
e importance of understanding this is that the customer service
innovation ideas generated should be presented according to the customer
service components. For illustration purposes, the customer service innovation
ideas generated could be presented according to the following categories:
Customer service innovation ideas designed to support the delivery
of product offerings before purchase
Customer service innovation ideas designed to support the delivery
of product offerings during purchase
Customer service innovation ideas designed to support the delivery
of product offerings after purchase
Customer service innovation ideas aimed at improving the quality
of interaction between the company and its customers at all
touchpoints
Presentation Format Let’s assume we are determining customer service innovation ideas aimed at
supporting the delivery of product offerings before purchase. As in the earlier
examples, the before-purchase innovation ideas can be organized into two
categories: before-purchase radical customer service innovation ideas and before-
purchase incremental customer service innovation ideas.
Figures 15-7 and 15-8 illustrate the number of radical and incremental
customer service innovation ideas generated in each quarter of 2018.
Figure 15-7
Figure 15-8
Similar charts would be created to show the number of radical and
incremental customer service innovation ideas generated in each of the other
three components during the same period:
Customer service innovation ideas designed to support the delivery
of product offerings during purchase
Customer service innovation ideas designed to support the delivery
of product offerings after purchase
Customer service innovation ideas aimed at improving the quality
of interaction between the company and its customers at all
touchpoints
Presenting Radical and Incremental Innovation Ideas Generated
in Support Functional Units As mentioned, support functional units play a vital role in implementing
innovation-support strategies for creating a climate to advance innovation
across functional units. us, in addition to implementing innovation-support
initiatives, organizational leaders should encourage the generation of cost-
saving innovation ideas and other efficiency-related innovation ideas in support
functional units.
erefore, this section shows how to present data on the cost-saving
innovation ideas generated in the �ve support functional units of DM Personal
Care Products:
Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
Figures 15-9 and 15-10 illustrate how to present the number of radical and
incremental cost-saving innovation ideas generated in support functional units
over a particular period. For illustration purposes, the procurement
department is used as an example to show the number of radical and
incremental procurement innovation ideas generated in each quarter of 2018.
Figure 15-9
Figure 15-10
Similar charts would be created to illustrate the number of radical and
incremental cost-saving innovation ideas generated in each of the other four
support functional units in each quarter of 2018. e other support functional
units and the type of innovation ideas (in parentheses) that would be generated
for each support unit are as follows:
HR department (cost-saving HR innovation ideas)
Finance and accounting department (cost-saving accounting
innovation ideas)
IT department (cost-saving IT innovation ideas)
Corporate affairs department (cost-saving corporate affairs innovation
ideas)
ii. Number of Innovation Ideas Undergoing Development
Once the information on the number of radical and incremental
innovation ideas generated has been presented, the next step is to
determine the number, type, and degree of innovation ideas undergoing
development during the period under review. us, the second context
of innovation output measurement involves determining and presenting
the number of radical and incremental innovation ideas undergoing
development in the innovation-development process over a particular
period.
As in previous sections, we’ll use the core and support functional
units of DM Personal Care Products to illustrate how to present the
number of radical and incremental innovation ideas undergoing
development. e presentation begins with the core functional units
and then covers the support functional units, which are as follows:
Core functional units Product-development unit, with the following segments:
Body-lotions segment
Skin-cleansing segment
Hair-care segment
Hand-washing segment
Manufacturing-processes department
Marketing department, with the following units:
Pricing unit
Product-promotion unit
Product-delivery unit
New-markets unit
Packaging unit
Customer service department
Product-Development Department Similar to the previous examples of determining and presenting the
number of ideas generated, the following charts illustrate how to present
the number of radical and incremental innovation ideas undergoing
development in each of the following product categories of the product-
development unit:
Body-lotions category
Skin-cleansing category
Hair-care category
Hand-washing category
Figures 15-11 and 15-12 illustrate the number of radical and incremental
body-lotion innovation ideas undergoing development in each quarter of 2018
(target and actual).
Figure 15-11
Figure 15-12
Similar charts would be created to show the number of radical and
incremental innovation ideas undergoing development in each of the other
three product categories over the same period:
Skin-cleansing category
Hair-care category
Hand-washing category
Manufacturing Department
Similarly, recall that the manufacturing-processes functional unit has four
main manufacturing-processes categories:
Body-lotions manufacturing-processes category
Skin-cleansing manufacturing-processes category
Hair-care manufacturing-processes category
Hand-washing manufacturing-processes category
e simple charts in �gures 15-13 and 15-14 illustrate the number of
radical and incremental body-lotions innovation ideas undergoing
development in each quarter of 2018, (target and actual).
Figure 15-13
Figure 15-14
Similar charts would be created to show the number of radical and
incremental innovation ideas undergoing development in each of the other
three manufacturing-processes categories over the same period:
Skin-cleansing manufacturing-processes category
Hair-care manufacturing-processes category
Hand-washing manufacturing-processes category
Marketing Department e third example shows how to present the number of radical and
incremental marketing innovation ideas undergoing development in
each of the �ve marketing-related functional subunits:
Pricing unit
Product-promotion unit
Product-delivery unit
New-markets unit
Packaging unit
e two charts in �gures 15-15 and 15-16 present the number of radical
and incremental pricing innovation ideas undergoing development in the four
quarters of 2018 (target and actual).
Figure 15-15
Figure 15-16
Similar charts would be created to illustrate the number of radical and
incremental marketing innovation ideas undergoing development in each of
the other four marketing functional subunits:
Product-promotion unit (product-promotion innovation ideas
undergoing development for existing products)
Product-delivery unit (product-delivery innovation ideas
undergoing development for existing products)
New-markets unit (new-market innovation ideas undergoing
development for existing products)
Packaging unit (packaging innovation ideas undergoing
development for existing products)
Customer Service Department e earlier discussion of the presentation format for innovation ideas
generated in the customer service department outlined four aspects to
bear in mind when presenting the number of customer service
innovation ideas generated. Similarly, when presenting the number of
customer service innovation ideas undergoing development, it’s
important to bear in mind how the customer service segments of an
organization are structured. is will enable you to format the
presentation of customer service innovation ideas undergoing
development according to the customer service segments.
e customer service innovation ideas undergoing development
could be categorized as follows:
Customer service innovation ideas undergoing development
designed to support the delivery of product offerings before purchase
Customer service innovation ideas undergoing development
designed to support the delivery of product offerings during purchase
Customer service innovation ideas undergoing development
designed to support the delivery of product offerings after purchase
Customer service innovation ideas undergoing development aimed
at improving the quality of interaction between the company and its
customers at all touchpoints
Presentation Format Let’s assume we are determining the number of customer service innovation
ideas undergoing development aimed at supporting the delivery of product
offerings before purchase.
e two simple charts in �gures 15-17 and 15-18 present the number of
before-purchase radical and incremental customer service innovation ideas
undergoing development in the four quarters of 2018 (target and actual).
Figure 15-17
Figure 15-18
Similar charts would be created for each of the other three customer service
categories:
Customer service innovation ideas undergoing development
designed to support the delivery of product offerings during
purchase
Customer service innovation ideas undergoing development
designed to support the delivery of product offerings after purchase
Customer service innovation ideas undergoing development aimed
at improving the quality of interaction between the company and its
customers at all touchpoints
Determining Radical and Incremental Innovation Ideas
Undergoing Development in Support Functional Units Recall that innovation ideas generated in support functional units are usually
focused on cost savings and efficiency. is section looks at how to determine
and present cost-saving innovation ideas undergoing development in the
support functional units of DM Personal Care Products, which are as follows:
Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
e charts in �gures 15-19 and 15-20 show the number of radical and
incremental procurement innovation ideas undergoing development in each
quarter of 2018 (actual and target).
Figure 15-19
Figure 15-20
Similar charts would be created for each of the other four support
functional units:
HR department (cost-saving HR innovation ideas)
Finance and accounting department (cost-saving �nance and
accounting innovation ideas)
IT department (cost-saving IT innovation ideas)
Corporate affairs department (cost-saving corporate affairs innovation
ideas)
Innovation Output Evaluation Worksheet e beginning of chapter 15 noted that each of the four dimensions of
innovation-performance measurement has an accompanying evaluation
worksheet (e.g., the innovation input evaluation worksheet at the end of the
section on innovation input measurement). us, once you have determined
the number of ideas generated and the number of ideas undergoing
development over a particular period, the next activity is to determine whether
the target number of ideas generated and target number of ideas undergoing
development over a particular period were achieved. at’s where the innovation
output evaluation is applied. e example of the innovation output evaluation
worksheet in this section is divided into two stand-alone worksheets: an
innovation output evaluation worksheet for ideas generated and an innovation
output evaluation worksheet for ideas undergoing development.
Innovation Output Evaluation for Ideas Generated Worksheets 15-6 through 15-8 show examples of the innovation output
evaluation worksheet for assessing whether the target number of innovation
ideas generated was achieved in both the core and support functional units of
DM Personal Care Products over a particular period. For illustration purposes,
the evaluation worksheet is applied to three of the functional units: the
product-development unit (worksheet 15-6), the marketing department
(worksheet 15-7), and the procurement department (worksheet 15-8).
Worksheet 15-6. Example of innovation output evaluation for product
innovation ideas
Worksheet 15-7. Example of innovation output evaluation for
marketing innovation ideas
Worksheets 15-6 and 15-7 show how the evaluation worksheet can be
applied to two different core functional units (product development and
marketing). Similarly, the evaluation worksheet can be applied to the other
core functional units of DM Personal Care Products:
Manufacturing-processes department
Customer service department
Worksheet 15-8 shows how the evaluation worksheet can be applied to the
support functional units of DM Personal Care Products, using the
procurement department as an example.
Worksheet 15-8. Example of innovation output evaluation for cost-
saving procurement innovation ideas
As with the previous two worksheets, worksheet 15-8 can also be applied to
the other support functional units of DM Personal Care Products to assess the
number of cost-saving innovation ideas generated:
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
Innovation Output Evaluation for Ideas Undergoing Development e second type of output evaluation is the innovation output evaluation for
ideas undergoing development.
Just as it is important to assess the number of ideas generated, it is necessary
to assess whether the target or goal of having a particular number of ideas
undergoing development in the core and support functional units of DM
Personal Care Products over a particular period was achieved. Worksheets 15-9
through 15-11 show how the innovation output evaluation worksheet is
applied to assessing the number of innovation ideas undergoing development
over a particular period. For illustration purposes, the evaluation worksheet is
applied to three functional units: the product-development unit (worksheet
15-9), the marketing department (worksheet 15-10), and the procurement
department (worksheet 15-11).
Worksheet 15-9. Example of innovation output evaluation for product
innovation ideas undergoing development
Worksheet 15-10. Example of innovation output evaluation for
marketing innovation ideas undergoing development
e evaluation worksheet format shown in worksheets 15-9 and 15-10 can
similarly be applied to the other core functional units of DM Personal Care
Products:
Manufacturing-processes department
Customer service department
Worksheet 15-11 shows the format of the evaluation worksheet as applied
to one of the support functional units of DM Personal Care Products, the
procurement department.
Worksheet 15-11. Example of innovation output evaluation for cost-
saving procurement innovation ideas undergoing development
As with the previous two worksheets, the evaluation worksheet format
shown in worksheet 15-11 can similarly be applied to the other support
functional units of DM Personal Care Products to assess the number of cost-
saving innovation ideas undergoing development:
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
Having concluded the section on innovation output measurement, we now
turn to innovation-results measurement.
3. Innovation-Results Measurement So far, we’ve looked at two dimensions of measuring innovation performance:
innovation input measurement and innovation output measurement. e third
dimension of measuring innovation performance is innovation-results
measurement.
Definitions To understand innovation-results measurement, it is �rst necessary to grasp the
meaning of the term. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the
word result means “a �nal consequence of a sequence of actions or events
expressed qualitatively or quantitatively.”
In the context of innovation, the interpretation of innovation results is a
series of consequences of innovation management–related actions and
activities. Recall that chapter 14, in the discussion of innovation-idea
management systems, described how innovation ideas go through an
assessment process that leads to the conversion of the innovation ideas into
innovations. e point is that an innovation is essentially the end product or
end result of an innovation idea that has proceeded through a rigorous
development process. So what does the term innovation results mean?
Definition of Innovation Results is book’s de�nition of innovation results is based on two things: �rst, that
innovations are an end product of innovation ideas, and second, that the basic
meaning of the word results is “a �nal consequence of a sequence of actions and
activities.” us, this book de�nes innovation results as a resultant end product
of the innovation-idea assessment and development processes in the context of
a particular type of innovation and innovation degree.
Definition of Innovation-Results Measurement Given the meaning of the term innovation results, this book de�nes innovation-
results measurement as a process that involves determining whether the intended
�nal resultant end product of the development or conversion process of an
innovation idea was realized.
Having covered what innovation results entail, we now turn to the
pertinent aspects of innovation-results measurements, which include the
following:
Aspects to consider when undertaking innovation-results measurement
How to present innovation-results measurement
Formulating an innovation-results evaluation worksheet
Aspects to Consider e earlier discussion of innovation output measurement stated some
important aspects and practices to take into account when compiling an
organization’s innovation-performance report. Similar considerations apply to
innovation-results measurement, although in a different context. e aspects
and practices are as follows:
Collaboration between various innovation-idea management committees,
functional leaders, and teams responsible for compiling innovation-
performance reports: is is helpful in terms of ascertaining the number
of innovations developed and, in some cases, patents obtained during
the period under review.
Presentation format: Generally, one of the purposes of reporting
innovation performance in organizations is to enable every person in
the organization, from the CEO to the most junior employee, to
understand how the organization is faring in all critical elements of its
innovation practices. erefore, using the wrong presentation format
will impair the process of reporting innovation performance. For this
reason, the leadership should ensure that the presentation format used is
simple, creative, and interesting so that audiences across functional
units understand every aspect of the data presented on innovations
launched or implemented.
Illustration: How to Present Innovation-Results Measurement As in previous sections, this section uses the functional units of DM Personal
Care Products to illustrate how to present innovations launched or
implemented.
However, before beginning the example, it’s important to remember some
of the steps mentioned when outlining how to present data on the number of
innovation ideas generated. Similar steps should be observed when
determining innovations launched or implemented. e three steps are as
follows:
Identify the core and support functional units of the company
Select a presentation format for the report that is structured according
to the functional units or divisions of the company
In terms of determining the number of product innovations launched,
categorize the presentation according to the company’s product
platforms
An example of how these steps can be applied to present the innovations
launched or implemented across the functional units of DM Personal Care
Products is presented next.
Outline of Functional Units Recall that the functional units of DM Personal Care Products are as
follows:
Core functional units Product-development unit, with the following segments:
Body-lotions segment
Skin-cleansing segment
Hair-care segment
Hand-washing segment
Manufacturing-processes department
Marketing department, with the following units:
Pricing unit
Product-promotion unit
Product-delivery unit
New-markets unit
Packaging unit
Customer service department
Support functional units Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
Presentation Format As in previous sections, simple charts are used to show how to present the
number of radical and incremental innovations launched or implemented
over a particular period in each of the core and support functional units of
DM Personal Care Products. As with previous examples, the innovation
results of the core functional units are presented �rst, followed by those for
the support units.
Product-Development Department e number of radical and incremental product innovations launched in
the product-development functional unit over a particular period is
presented for each of the four product categories:
Body-lotions category
Skin-cleansing category
Hair-care category
Hand-washing category
Figures 15-21 and 15-22 show the number of radical and incremental
body-lotion innovations launched in each quarter of 2018 (target and actual).
Figure 15-21
Figure 15-22
Similar charts would be created to present the number of radical and
incremental innovations launched in each of the other three product categories
over the same period:
Skin-cleansing category
Hair-care category
Hand-washing category
As stated in the earlier section on determining innovation ideas, in some
instances, a product category may have a number of product segments; in such
cases, the number of radical and incremental innovations launched should be
determined per each product segment of a particular product category.
Manufacturing-Processes Department e second example shows how to present innovation-results measurement for
the manufacturing department. Recall that this functional unit has four main
manufacturing-processes categories:
Body-lotions manufacturing-processes category
Skin-cleansing manufacturing-processes category
Hair-care manufacturing-processes category
Hand-washing manufacturing-processes category
e chapter 8 discussion of process innovations (under the topic of
dimensions of innovation) described processes as a series of behind-the-scenes
actions that are usually out of the view of customers and noted that
organizations have numerous types and contexts of processes structurally
embedded in their core and support functional units depending on the
organization’s nature and size. Recall that examples of core processes include
manufacturing processes, the reservation systems and baggage-tracking
methods in airline companies, and the parcel-tracking systems of couriers,
among others. Also recall that examples of the contexts of process components
in support functional units include procurement processes, accounting
processes, HR processes, and so forth. us, process activities and components
vary from company to company depending on the type and nature of the
company and differ across industries.
Manufacturing processes are the behind-the-scenes series of operations or
collections of technologies and methods that are used, performed, or applied
when making a product in a manufacturing facility. us, manufacturing-
processes innovations can include things like innovative procedures or
technologies aimed at enhancing production processes in terms of the
following: quality of the product, time of production, ability to customize the
production process within a short time, ability to produce at low cost, ability
to produce in large numbers without compromising on quality, and
improvements in packaging methods or assembly methods.
at said, the charts in �gures 15-23 and 15-24 provide an example of how
to present the number of radical and incremental manufacturing-processes
innovations in the manufacturing-processes categories of DM Personal Care
Products. Speci�cally, �gures 15-23 and 15-24 show the number of radical and
incremental body-lotions manufacturing-processes innovations implemented
in each quarter of 2018 (target and actual).
Similar charts would be created to show the number of radical and
incremental innovations implemented in each of the other three
manufacturing-processes categories over the same period:
Skin-cleansing manufacturing-processes category
Hair-care manufacturing-processes category
Hand-washing manufacturing-processes category
In cases where a manufacturing-processes product category has a number of
product segments, the number of radical and incremental manufacturing-
processes innovations implemented should be determined per each product
segment of the particular manufacturing-processes product category.
Marketing Department e discussion of dimensions of innovation in chapter 8 stated that marketing
innovation is a general term that describes the generation and development of
innovative marketing-related ideas. However, marketing is a very wide area,
and the structure of the functional components of the marketing department is
usually determined by the nature and size of the organization. Similarly, the
type of marketing innovation ideas generated usually depends (among other
aspects) on (1) the business model of the organization and (2) how the
organization characterizes and describes the components that make up its
marketing functional unit.
For DM Personal Care Products, recall that the segments or components of
the marketing department are categorized as pricing, product promotion,
product delivery, new markets, and packaging. us, the presentation of types
of marketing innovations is organized according to these marketing functional
components. For illustration purposes, the continuing example will
demonstrate how to present two types of marketing-related innovations:
number of product-promotion innovations launched and number of new markets
discovered.
Figure 15-23
Figure 15-24
Presenting the Number of Radical and Incremental Product-Promotion
Innovations Launched
ere are two categories of product-promotion innovations. Category 1 is
revenue-focused product-promotion innovations—that is, product-promotion
innovations that result in attracting revenue for the company. Category 2 is cost
saving–focused product-promotion innovations—that is, product-promotion
innovations that are aimed at cutting product promotion–related costs.
Presentation Format e charts in �gures 15-25 through 15-26 show product-promotion
innovations launched in categories 1 and 2.
Figures 15-25 and 15-26 show the number of radical and incremental
revenue-focused product-promotion innovations (category 1) launched in each
quarter of 2018 (target and actual).
Figure 15-25
Figure 15-26
Figures 15-27 and 15-28 show the number of radical and incremental cost
saving–focused product-promotion innovations (category 2) implemented in
each quarter of 2018 (target and actual).
Figure 15-27
Figure 15-28
Similar charts (for revenue-generation or cost saving–focused innovations)
would be created to present the number of radical and incremental marketing
innovations implemented over a particular period in three of the other four
units of the marketing department:
Product-delivery unit
Pricing unit
Packaging unit
Absent from this list is the new-markets unit; because of the different
format used for presenting the results of this unit, it is covered separately in the
following subsection.
New-Markets Unit: How Is Innovation Characterized in the
Context of New Markets? Recall that earlier chapters of part III noted that the context of interpreting or
expressing the extent of the newness or novelty of an innovation for new
markets is different from the contexts of other types of marketing innovations,
such as innovations in pricing, product promotion, product delivery, and
product packaging. Similarly, when it comes to presenting innovations about
new markets discovered, the phrases new unserved market and new-market
segment are again used to characterize the extent of newness or novelty of the
new-market ideas generated.
As mentioned previously, new-market innovation ideas refers to discovering
novel markets not served by the organization or its competitors for existing
products and services. In this book, new markets are categorized in the
contexts of new unserved markets and new-market segments, de�ned as follows:
• New unserved markets: is involves discovering customer audiences for
the company’s existing products and services in a completely new
geographical location unserved by the company or its competitors.
• New-market segments: is involves discovering new customer segments
for the company’s existing products and services within an already-served
geographical location. In other words, it involves the discovery of new-
market segments in a larger geographical location already served by
both the company and its competitors. is can be thought of as an
“incremental” new-market discovery.
e two simple diagrams in �gures 15-29 and 15-30 illustrate the context
of new markets. Figure 15-29 illustrates a new unserved market in a new
geographical area, whereas �gure 15-30 illustrates a new-market segment in an
already-served geographical area.
Figure 15-29. New unserved market in a particular geographical location
Figure 15-30. New-market segment in an already-served geographical location
Presentation Format e two simple charts in �gures 15-31 and 15-32 show the number of new
markets discovered in each of the two categories—new unserved markets
(�gure 15-31) and new-market segments (�gure 15-32)—during the four
quarters of 2018 (target and actual).
Figure 15-31
Figure 15-32
Customer Service Department e last example of determining innovations launched or implemented by the
core functional units of DM Personal Care Products is for the customer service
department. e previous section on determining and presenting the number
of customer service innovation ideas generated emphasized the importance of
bearing in mind how the customer service components of an organization are
structured for the purposes of innovation performance. e presentation of the
customer service innovations launched or implemented is similar to the
approach used earlier to present the number of customer service innovation
ideas generated (see the discussion earlier in this chapter under “Innovation
Output Measurement”). e presentation approach for customer service
innovations launched or implemented is categorized as follows:
Customer service innovations designed to support the delivery of
product offerings before purchase
Customer service innovations designed to support the delivery of
product offerings during purchase
Customer service innovations designed to support the delivery of
product offerings after purchase
Customer service innovations aimed at improving the quality of
interaction between the company and its customers at all touchpoints
Presentation Format Figures 15-33 and 15-34 show the number of before-purchase radical and
incremental customer service innovations launched or implemented in each
quarter of 2018 (target and actual).
Similar charts would be created to present the number of radical and
incremental customer service innovations implemented during the same period
in each of the other three categories:
During-purchase customer service innovations
After-purchase customer service innovations
All-touch-points customer service innovations
Presenting Radical and Incremental Innovations in Support
Functional Units e overview section of part III of this book noted that in addition to
implementing innovation-support initiatives aimed at advancing the culture of
innovation across the functional units of the organization, organizations need
to generate innovative ideas for cost-saving and efficiency purposes in support
functional units. us, this section illustrates how to present cost-saving
innovations in the contexts of the �ve support functional units of DM
Personal Care Products:
Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
Figures 15-35 and 15-36 show the number of radical and incremental IT
cost-saving innovations implemented during the four quarters of 2018 (target
and actual).
Similar charts would be created to present the number of radical and
incremental cost-saving innovations implemented over the same period in each
of the other four support functional units of DM Personal Care Products.
Innovation-Results Evaluation
As in the two earlier sections on innovation input measurement and
innovation output measurement, the �nal part of this section provides an
example of how to evaluate the innovation results presented in the previous
subsections.
Figure 15-33
Figure 15-34
Once the number of innovations launched or implemented in both core
and support functional units over a particular period has been presented, the
next step is to assess whether the number of innovations launched or
implemented during the period under review met the set goal or targets.
Worksheets 15-12 through 15-14 provide examples of how the innovation-
results evaluation worksheet can be applied to three of the functional units of
DM Personal Care Products: the product-development unit (worksheet 15-
12), marketing department (worksheet 15-13), and procurement department
(worksheet 15-14).
Figure 15-35
Figure 15-36
Worksheet 15-12. Example of evaluating innovation-results
Worksheet 15-13. Example of evaluating marketing-related
innovations
A similar approach to that shown in worksheets 15-12 and 15-13 would be
applied to the other core functional units of DM Personal Care Products:
Manufacturing-processes department
Customer service department
Worksheet 15-14 shows how the innovation-results evaluation worksheet
can be applied to the support functional units of DM Personal Care Products,
using the procurement department as an example.
Worksheet 15-14. Example of evaluating cost-saving procurement
innovations
Similar evaluation worksheets would be created to show the number of
radical and incremental innovations implemented over the same period in each
of the other four support functional units of DM Personal Care Products:
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
4. Innovation Impact Measurement We’ve now covered three dimensions of measuring innovation performance:
innovation input measurement, innovation output measurement, and
innovation-results measurement. e fourth and last dimension is innovation
impact measurement.
Definitions To understand innovation impact measurement, it is necessary to �rst interpret
the context of the phrase innovation impact.
Definition of Innovation Impact Let’s begin by de�ning the word impact. According to the Merriam-Webster
online dictionary, the word impact means “to have an effect” on something. In
the context of innovation, innovation impact can be de�ned as an innovation-
performance metric that captures the monetary effect of an innovation on the
organization.
Definition of Innovation Impact Measurement Innovation impact measurement can be de�ned as a dimension of innovation-
performance measurement that involves determining the effect of an
innovation on the organization’s commercial and monetary value in terms of
revenue, cost savings, and other aspects, such as market share, stock price, and
market value.
Data Compilation and Collaboration e introduction section of this book noted that leading and managing
innovation across functional units involves a combination of various
innovation-oriented initiatives and activities across these units. In other words,
in order to make innovation a permanent habit across the organization, every
functional unit has to play a role. at said, compiling and reporting data on
innovation impact is one of the vital aspects of innovation-performance
measurement because it is the �nal determination of the return on investment
in innovation initiatives and activities. e question is, Whose role is it to
compile data on innovation impact? Generally, because �nance and accounting
teams are traditionally responsible for reporting the �nancial matters of an
organization, it should be their responsibility to determine the content and
appropriate reporting format and style for presenting data on various aspects of
innovation impact. In terms of collaboration, just as �nance teams collaborate
or confer with other functional units when creating content for conventional
corporate �nancial reporting, �nance teams should collaborate and confer
closely with other functional units when putting together content on
innovation impact.
Innovation-Life Time Frame e �rst factor to take into account when determining innovation impact is
the innovation-life time frame.
What does innovation-life time frame mean? It is a period set by an
organization within which an innovation will qualify to be called or
characterized as an innovation and after which it will cease to be called or
characterized as an innovation.
e innovation-life time frame is vital when it comes to assessing and
reporting the innovation impact on monetary value because only innovations
that have not elapsed should be included in innovation-performance reports.
us, one of the initial tasks to undertake when adopting a framework for
innovation-performance reporting is to de�ne the period within which an
innovation will carry the innovation tag. is would be done by enacting a
policy stating the expiration time frame in terms of when an innovation will
cease to be referred to as an innovation. Once the period elapses, the
innovation—whether a product innovation, process innovation, marketing
innovation, or so forth—will no longer carry the innovation tag and will be
referred to using the same terminology as that used for other existing product
offerings, process components, marketing components, customer service
components or support functional components. or any. Regarding whether
there’s a standard time frame in which innovations should carry the innovation
tag, the time frame varies from company to company depending on the
innovation-performance framework of the organization. us, the company
has to clearly de�ne the innovation-life time period, which should be
communicated to all the workforces across functional units. For instance, “Any
type and degree of innovation shall be referred to as an innovation for no more
than three years. Meaning that after three years, such a product, process,
marketing component, or any other type of innovation shall no longer carry
the innovation tag or be referred to as an innovation.” Additionally, the
leadership could regularly publicize across the organization innovations that
the company has “in stock” as well as those that are due to expire.
Metrics for Determining Innovation Impact How do you determine innovation impact? e following are suggested
examples of metrics that can be used to determine the monetary value created
by innovations launched or implemented during the period under review:
Percentages of revenue generated from new products or services during
the period under review
Percentages of revenue from marketing innovations, including the
following:
• Percentages of revenue generated from pricing innovations for
existing products and services
• Percentages of revenue generated or savings gained from promotion
innovations for existing products or services
• Percentages of revenue generated or savings gained from packaging
innovations for existing products
• Percentages of revenue from new markets, including the following:
Percentages of revenue generated from existing products or
services in new unserved markets in geographical locations
not served by either the organization or its competitors
Percentages of revenue generated from existing products or
services in new-market segments within existing markets or
geographical locations
Amount of savings gained as a result of cost-saving innovations
implemented across functional units of the organization during the
period under review
Illustration: How to Determine Innovation Impact Measurement Let’s return to the functional units of DM Personal Care Products, our
�ctitious example company, to illustrate how to present revenues generated
from radical and incremental innovations launched and cost savings gained
from radical and incremental cost-saving innovations implemented across
functional units during the period under review. As in the previous sections on
measuring innovation performance, the �rst step is to outline the core and
support functional units of DM Personal Care Products:
Core functional units Product-development unit, with the following segments:
Body-lotions segment
Skin-cleansing segment
Hair-care segment
Hand-washing segment
Manufacturing-processes department, (as mentioned earlier, the
manufacturing-processes department comprises the same segments as
the product-development unit).
Marketing department, with the following units:
Pricing
Product promotion
Product delivery
New markets
Packaging
Customer service department
Support functional units Procurement department
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
e second step is to show, by use of simple tables, the revenues generated
from radical and incremental innovations launched and the cost savings gained
from radical and incremental cost-saving innovations implemented. We begin
with the product-development department.
Product-Development Department e tables in �gures 15-37 and 15-38 show revenues generated from radical
and incremental innovations launched in a particular period in all the product
segments:
Body-lotions segment
Skin-cleansing segment
Hair-care segment
Hand-washing segment
Radical body-lotion innovations: Assuming we wish to determine the amount
of revenue (by percentage) generated by four radical body-lotion innovations
launched between January and December of 2018, the simple steps are as
follows:
First, establish the number (in this case, four) and names of the radical
body-lotion innovations launched during the period under review.
Second, establish the amount generated by each of the four radical
body-lotion innovations launched during the period under review.
ird, establish the total amount of revenue generated by all four
radical body-lotion innovations during the period under review.
Fourth, present data showing the percentage of revenue generated by
each of the radical body-lotion innovations launched during the period
under review.
e two simple tables in �gures 15-37 and 15-38 show the percentages of
revenue generated from radical and incremental body-lotion innovations
launched between January and December of 2018.
Figure 15-37 shows the percentage of revenue generated from each of the
four radical body-lotion innovations launched between January and December
of 2018.
For illustration purposes, the four radical body-lotion innovations launched
are named as follows:
• Radical body-lotion innovation 1
• Radical body-lotion innovation 2
• Radical body-lotion innovation 3
• Radical body-lotion innovation 4
Percentage of revenue generated by radical body-lotion innovations launched during period under review
32% Radical body-lotion 1
28% Radical body-lotion 2
17% Radical body-lotion 3
15% Radical body-lotion 4
10% Radical body-lotion 5
Figure 15-37
Similarly, �gure 15-38 shows the percentages of revenue generated by the
�ve incremental body-lotion innovations launched between January and
December of 2018:
• Incremental body-lotion innovation 1
• Incremental body-lotion innovation 2
• Incremental body-lotion innovation 3
• Incremental body-lotion innovation 4
• Incremental body-lotion innovation 5
Percentage of revenue generated by radical body-lotion innovations launched during period under review
46% Incremental body-lotion 1
27% Incremental body-lotion 2
18% Incremental body-lotion 3
14% Incremental body-lotion 4
Figure 15-38
Similar tables would be created to present the revenue generated from
radical and incremental innovations launched in each of the other three
product segments during the period under review:
Skin-cleansing segment
Hair-care segment
Hand-washing segment
As stated in the section on presenting innovations launched (i.e.,
innovation-results measurement), in cases where a product category has a
number of product segments, for instance, if the skin-cleansing product
segment had four product categories, the revenue generated from the radical
and incremental innovations launched would be presented accordingly in each
of the four product categories.
Manufacturing-Processes Department e next example is for the manufacturing-processes department. Recall that
this functional unit of DM Personal Care Products has the following
manufacturing-processes categories:
Body-lotions manufacturing-processes category
Skin-cleansing manufacturing-processes category
Hair-care manufacturing-processes category
Hand-washing manufacturing-processes category
Assuming we wish to determine the amount of savings gained (by
percentage) from manufacturing-processes innovations implemented between
January and December of 2018, the simple steps are as follows:
First, establish the number and names of all radical and incremental
manufacturing-processes innovations implemented during the period
under review.
Second, establish the amount saved from each of the radical and
incremental manufacturing-processes innovations implemented during
the period under review.
ird, establish the total amount of savings gained from the radical and
incremental manufacturing-processes innovations during the period
under review.
Fourth, present data showing the percentage of savings gained from
each of the radical and incremental manufacturing-processes
innovations implemented during the period under review.
Assume we have savings gained from radical and incremental
manufacturing-processes innovations implemented in the following four
manufacturing-processes categories:
Body-lotions manufacturing-processes innovations
Skin-cleansing manufacturing-processes innovations
Hair-care manufacturing-processes innovations
Hand-washing manufacturing-processes innovations
e percentages of cost savings from these radical and incremental
manufacturing innovations would be presented as shown in �gure 15-39 for
cost savings from radical manufacturing-processes innovations and �gure 15-
40 for cost savings from incremental manufacturing-processes innovations
implemented in 2018.
Cost savings from radical manufacturing-processes innovations implemented during period under review
30% Radical body-lotion manufacturing-processes innovations
25% Radical skin-cleansing manufacturing-processes innovations
25% Radical hair-care manufacturing-processes innovations
20% Radical hand-washing manufacturing-processes
Figure 15-39
Cost savings from incremental manufacturing-processes innovations implemented during period under review
32% Incremental body-lotion manufacturing-processes innovations
28% Incremental skin-cleansing manufacturing-processes innovations
24% Incremental hair-care manufacturing-processes innovations
16% Incremental hand-washing manufacturing-processes
Figure 15-40
Marketing Department Recall that marketing innovations are types of innovation developed and
implemented in various segments of the marketing department and that the
type of marketing innovation ideas generated will usually depend on how the
organization characterizes or de�nes the segments that make up the marketing
functional unit of the organization. at being said, this section illustrates how
to present the monetary impact of marketing innovations based on the
marketing functional units of DM Personal Care Products. In this illustration,
the monetary impact is segmented into two categories: revenues generated and
cost savings. e contexts of the two categories are outlined as follows:
Revenues Generated Percentages of revenue generated from radical and incremental
innovative methods of delivering products to customers
Percentages of revenue generated from pricing innovations for existing
products and services
Percentages of revenue generated from promotion innovations for
existing products or services
Percentages of revenue generated for existing products or services from
new markets in geographical locations not served by the organization or
its competitors
Percentages of revenue generated for existing products or services from
new customer segments not served by the organization or its
competitors within existing markets or geographical locations
Percentages of revenue generated from innovative marketing alliances to
deliver products to customers
Percentages of revenue generated from radical and incremental
packaging innovations launched
Cost Savings Percentages of cost savings gained from radical and incremental
innovative methods of delivering products to customers for existing
products
Percentages of cost savings gained from radical and incremental
promotion innovations for existing products or services
Percentages of cost savings gained from radical and incremental
packaging innovations launched for existing products
Illustration Assuming we want to determine the amount of revenue generated and cost
savings gained (in percentage terms) from radical and incremental marketing
innovations launched or implemented between January and December of
2018, the simple steps are as follows:
First, establish the number and names of all radical and incremental
marketing innovations launched or implemented during the period
under review.
Second, establish the amount of revenue generated or cost savings
gained from each of the radical and incremental marketing innovations
launched or implemented during the period under review.
ird, establish the total amount of revenue generated and cost savings
gained from radical and incremental marketing innovations during the
period under review.
Fourth, present data showing the percentages of revenue generated and
cost savings gained from each of the radical and incremental marketing
strategy innovations launched or implemented during the period under
review.
Let’s assume we’re determining revenues generated and savings made from
the following radical and incremental marketing innovations:
Radical and incremental product-delivery innovations
New unserved markets (i.e., completely new markets and new-market
segments for existing products)
Radical and incremental promotion innovations for existing products
Radical and incremental pricing innovations for existing products
Radical and incremental packaging innovations for existing products
e following subsections illustrate how to present this information.
Revenues Generated e percentages of revenue generated from radical and incremental marketing
innovations listed previously are presented in two tables: �gure 15-41 is for the
percentages of revenue generated from various radical marketing innovations
launched or implemented for existing products in 2018, and �gure 15-42 is
for the percentages of revenue generated from various incremental marketing
innovations launched or implemented for existing products in 2018.
Percentages of revenue generated from radical marketing innovations launched or implemented for existing products during period under review
32% Radical product-delivery innovations
28% New markets in new geographical locations
19% Radical promotion innovations
14% Radical packaging innovations
7% Radical pricing innovations
Figure 15-41
Percentages of revenue generated from incremental marketing innovations launched or implemented for existing products during period under review
29% Radical product-delivery innovations
24% New market segments in already served geographical locations
19% Radical promotion innovations
17% Radical packaging innovations
Figure 15-42
Cost Savings Similarly, savings gained from radical and incremental cost-saving marketing
innovations during the period under review are presented in two tables: �gure
15-43 is for the percentages of cost savings gained from radical marketing
innovations launched or implemented for existing products in 2018, and �gure
15-44 is for the percentages of cost savings gained from incremental marketing
innovations launched or implemented for existing products in 2018.
Percentages of cost savings gained from radical marketing innovations launched or implemented for existing products during period under review
40% Radical cost-saving product-delivery innovations
34% Radical cost-saving promotions
26% Radical packaging innovations
Figure 15-43
Percentages of cost savings gained from incremental marketing innovations launched or implemented for existing products during period under review
38% Incremental cost-saving product-delivery innovations
33% Incremental cost-saving promotions
29% Incremental packaging innovations
Figure 15-44
Customer Service Department e last example on how to determine the monetary contributions from
innovations in the core functional units of DM Personal Care Products is for
the customer service department.
e previous sections on determining customer service innovations—that
is, the number of customer service innovation ideas generated, the number of
customer service innovation ideas undergoing development, and the number
of customer service innovations launched—outlined the importance of
understanding perspectives on customer service and how its functional
components are structured. Similarly, when presenting the monetary
contributions from customer service innovations launched or implemented, it’s
important to bear in mind how the customer service components of an
organization are con�gured so that the presentation format for the monetary
contributions generated from customer service innovations can be aligned with
the con�guration of the customer service components.
Illustration ere are two important aspects to bear in mind when determining and
presenting the monetary contributions generated from customer service
innovations, as follows:
1. Types of customer service innovations: As stated previously, there are four
types of customer service innovations:
Customer service innovations designed to support the delivery of
product offerings before purchase
Customer service innovations designed to support the delivery of
product offerings during purchase
Customer service innovations designed to support the delivery of
product offerings after purchase
Customer service innovations aimed at improving the quality of
interactions between the company and its customers at all
touchpoints
2. Contexts of the monetary value generated: e second important aspect to
bear in mind when determining the monetary value generated from
radical and incremental customer service innovations is that there are
two contexts for the monetary value generated, as follows:
Revenue generated from various radical and incremental customer
service innovations launched or implemented
Cost savings gained from various radical and incremental customer
service innovations launched or implemented
Note that whatever format is used, these two contexts should be presented
clearly in a manner that can be understood by all worlkforces.
Presentation Format Assume we’d like to determine and present the amount of revenue generated
and cost savings gained (in percentage terms) from before-purchase radical and
incremental customer service innovations launched or implemented between
January and December of 2018. e steps are as follows:
First, establish the number and names of all radical and incremental
before-purchase customer service innovations launched or implemented
during the period under review
Second, establish the amount of revenue generated and cost savings
gained from each of the before-purchase radical and incremental
customer service innovations launched or implemented during the
period under review
ird, establish the total amount of revenue generated and savings
made from all before-purchase radical and incremental customer service
innovations during the period under review
Fourth, present data showing the percentage of revenue generated and
savings gained from each of the before-purchase radical and incremental
customer service innovations during the period under review
e next step is determining revenue generated and cost savings gained
during the period under review, which have the following components:
Revenue Generated Revenue generated from four before-purchase radical customer service
innovations launched or implemented during the period under review
Revenue generated from four before-purchase incremental customer
service innovations launched or implemented during the period under
review
Cost Savings Gained Cost savings gained from four before-purchase radical customer service
innovations during the period under review
Cost savings gained from four before-purchase incremental customer
service innovations during the period under review
Based on these categories of monetary value generated, the presentation will
be divided into two categories: category 1 for revenue generation–focused
customer service innovations and category 2 for cost savings–focused customer
service innovations. For each of the two categories, follow these two steps:
First, outline all before-purchase radical and incremental customer
service innovations launched or implemented in each particular
category during the period under review.
Second, use tables to illustrate the monetary value generated by each
innovation in both categories (i.e., categories 1 and 2).
For illustration purposes, the radical and incremental revenue generation–
centered customer service innovations launched during the period under
review (category 1) are identi�ed by the numbers 1–4 for each set (radical and
incremental), resulting in the following outline for the �rst step:
Radical customer service innovations launched or implemented:
• Before-purchase radical customer service innovation 1
• Before-purchase radical customer service innovation 2
• Before-purchase radical customer service innovation 3
• Before-purchase radical customer service innovation 4
Incremental customer service innovations launched or implemented:
• Before-purchase incremental customer service innovation 1
• Before-purchase incremental customer service innovation 2
• Before-purchase incremental customer service innovation 3
• Before-purchase incremental customer service innovation 4
Presentation of Revenue Generated e percentages of revenue generated from the radical and incremental
customer service innovations just listed are presented in two tables: �gure 15-
45 is for the percentages of revenue generated from before-purchase radical
customer service innovations launched or implemented during the period
under review, and �gure 15-46 is for the percentages of revenue generated
from before-purchase incremental customer service innovations launched or
implemented during the period under review.
Percentages of revenue generated from before-purchase radical customer service innovations launched or implemented during period under review
33% Before-purchase radical customer service innovation 1
26% Before-purchase radical customer service innovation 2
24% Before-purchase radical customer service innovation 3
17% Before-purchase radical customer service innovation 4
Figure 15-45
Percentages of revenue generated from before-purchase incremental customer service innovations launched or implemented during period under review
32% Before-purchase incremental customer service innovation 1
27% Before-purchase incremental customer service innovation 2
23% Before-purchase incremental customer service innovation 3
18% Before-purchase incremental customer service innovation 4
Figure 15-46
Presentation of Cost Savings Gained Assuming there are four radical cost-saving customer service innovations and
four incremental cost-saving customer service innovations launched or
implemented during the period under review, as in the preceding section, the
steps are as follows:
e �rst step is to outline radical and incremental cost-saving customer
service innovations launched or implemented during the period under
review. (For illustration purposes, these are labeled using the numbers
1–4 for each set.)
e second step is presentation of the data by use of tables.
e �rst step results in the following outline:
Radical cost-saving customer service innovations launched or implemented:
• Before-purchase radical cost-saving customer service innovation 1
• Before-purchase radical cost-saving customer service innovation 2
• Before-purchase radical cost-saving customer service innovation 3
• Before-purchase radical cost-saving customer service innovation 4
Incremental cost-saving customer service innovations launched or
implemented:
• Before-purchase incremental cost-saving customer service
innovation 1
• Before-purchase incremental cost-saving customer service
innovation 2
• Before-purchase incremental cost-saving customer service
innovation 3
• Before-purchase incremental cost-saving customer service
innovation 4
e percentage of savings gained from each of the radical and incremental
cost-saving customer service innovations in the previous list is presented in two
tables: �gure 15-47 is for the percentages of cost savings from radical customer
service innovations launched or implemented during the period under review,
and �gure 15-48 is for the percentages of cost savings from incremental
customer service innovations launched or implemented during the period
under review.
Percentages of savings from before-purchase radical cost-saving customer service innovations launched or implemented during period under review
37% Before-purchase radical cost-saving customer service innovation 1
29% Before-purchase radical cost-saving customer service innovation 2
19% Before-purchase radical cost-saving customer service innovation 3
15% Before-purchase radical cost-saving customer service innovation 4
Figure 15-47
Percentages of savings from before-purchase incremental cost-saving customer service innovations launched or implemented during period under review
38% Before-purchase incremental cost-saving customer service innovation 1
29% Before-purchase incremental cost-saving customer service innovation 2
19% Before-purchase incremental cost-saving customer service innovation 3
14% Before-purchase incremental cost-saving customer service innovation 4
Figure 15-48
Determining Cost Savings from Innovations Implemented in
Support Functional Units Recall that innovation ideas implemented in support functional units (back-
office) are normally radical or incremental cost saving–centered innovations.
us, this section illustrates how to determine and present cost savings from
innovations in support functional units.
Illustration: Assume we’d like to determine the savings gained (in percentage terms) from
radical and incremental innovations implemented by the support functional
units of DM Personal Care Products between January and December 2018.
e �ve simple steps are as follows:
First, outline the number of support functional units under
consideration. Recall that DM Personal Care Products has the following
�ve support functional units:
• Procurement department
• HR department
• Finance and accounting department
• IT department
• Corporate affairs department
Second, establish the number and types/names of all radical and
incremental cost-saving innovations implemented by support functional
units during the period under review.
ird, establish the savings gained from each of the radical and
incremental innovations implemented by each support functional unit
during the period under review.
Fourth, establish the total amount of savings gained from all radical and
incremental innovations implemented by each of the support functional
units during the period under review.
Fifth, present data showing the percentage of savings gained from each
of the radical and incremental innovations implemented by each
support functional unit during the period under review.
For illustration purposes, two tables present the data: �gure 15-49 shows
the percentage of cost savings gained from radical innovations by each support
functional unit during the period under review, and �gure 15-50 shows the
percentage of cost savings gained from incremental innovations by each
support functional unit in the period under review.
Percentages of cost-savings gained from radical innovations implemented by support functional units during period under review
26% Radical cost-saving procurement innovations
23% Radical cost-saving HR innovations
20% Radical cost-saving IT innovations
17% Radical cost-saving accounting innovations
14% Radical cost-saving corporate affairs innovations
Figure 15-49
Percentages of cost-savings gained from incremental innovations implemented by support functional units during period under review
28% Incremental cost-saving procurement innovations
25% Incremental cost-saving HR innovations
19% Incremental cost-saving IT innovations
16% Incremental cost-saving accounting innovations
Figure 15-50
is concludes the discussion and illustration of what innovation impact
measurement entails. Recall that in the sections on the other three dimensions
of innovation-performance measurement, an evaluation worksheet in the
context of each of the measurement approaches appears at the end of the
section. Similarly, the last aspect of this section is the innovation impact
evaluation, described next.
Innovation Impact Evaluation As with evaluations of the other three innovation-performance dimensions, the
purpose of the innovation impact evaluation is to determine whether the
revenue targets or goals from innovations launched or savings gained from
cost-saving innovations implemented across functional units were achieved and
provide an explanation of why the targets were achieved or missed.
Illustration For our continuing example of DM Personal Care Products, the innovation
impact evaluation is based on the following two aspects:
Whether the revenue targets or goals from innovations launched or
implemented in the core functional units of DM Personal Care
Products during the period under review were achieved
Whether the targets or goals of savings from cost-saving innovations
implemented during the period under review were achieved
For illustration purposes, the innovation impact evaluation worksheet is
applied to three functional units: the product-development unit (worksheet
15-15), the marketing department (worksheet 15-16), and the procurement
department (worksheet 15-17).
Worksheet 15-15. Example of evaluating impact of product
innovations
Worksheet 15-16. Example of evaluating impact of marketing
innovations
Worksheets 15-15 and 15-16 show how the evaluation worksheet can be
applied to two different core functional units (product development and
marketing). Similarly, the evaluation worksheet can be applied to the other
core functional units of DM Personal Care Products:
Manufacturing-processes department
Customer service department
Worksheet 15-17 shows how the evaluation worksheet can be applied to the
support functional units of DM Personal Care Products, using the
procurement department as an example.
Worksheet 15-17. Example of evaluating impact of cost-saving
procurement innovations
Similar evaluation worksheets would be created for the other four support
functional units of DM Personal Care Products:
HR department
Finance and accounting department
IT department
Corporate affairs department
Worksheets 15-15 through 15-17 show how the evaluation worksheet can
be applied to determine whether the goals for target revenue and cost savings
from innovations launched or implemented during the period under review
were achieved and the reasons why they were met or missed.
Bottom line ere are three takeaways from this chapter. First, you cannot create a culture
of innovation across the organization using traditional, non-innovation-
oriented management tools. Second, in order to make innovation a permanent
and ongoing habitual process across functional units, it is vital to implement
organization-wide innovation-support systems, and to do this, organizational
leaders require innovation management skill sets. ird, the chapter looks at
what innovation management skill sets entail and how to apply them to build
and manage the organization-wide innovation-support systems.
Summary
Let’s recap the �ve main aspects the book has covered:
i. Study after study has observed that in the last ten years or so, company
executives across the globe have consistently ranked innovation as one
of the top-priority strategies for growth, competitiveness, and survival.
ii. Because of the top-priority perception that many organizational leaders
have about innovation, many organizations across the globe have made
innovation every employee’s responsibility, from the most junior
employee to top leadership.
iii. Adopting a culture of innovation does not occur naturally; it happens
only if the right organizational climate is created through the
application of the right skill sets and tools.
iv. Innovation analysts have observed that traditional management models
and tools cannot effectively advance innovation across the organization
—hence the need for innovation-oriented management approaches.
v. is book has suggested three categories of innovation skill sets that
managers require to lead workforce innovation and create a culture of
innovation across the organization: innovative thinking skills (part I),
innovation engagement skills (part II), and innovation management
skills (part III).
About the Author
Based in Walnut Creek, California, David is a workforce innovation trainer-
consultant and author, with experiences in the USA, Europe, Africa & the
Caribbean. An inventor of the upcoming simple kitchen device; the CT
Holder, David is the Founder of Innovation Strategy Lab, an innovation
training & consulting �rm. David has more than 10 years of experience
focusing on workforce innovation. He has studied with the University of
Manchester, University of Leicester and Swansea University in the UK and all
at postgraduate level. David may be reached through email at
deemasumba609@yahoo.com info@dmmlab.com.
Selected References
A.G. La�ey and Roger L. Martin, Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works,
(Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2013)
Dr. Edwin A. Locke, Towards a theory of task motivation and incentives,
Journal of Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1968, Volume
3, Issue 2
Paul R. Niven, Balanced Scorecard Diagnostics: Maintaining Maximum
Performance, (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2005)
Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, e Balanced Scorecard: Translating
Strategy into Action (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1996)
Notes
• “Innovation Leadership: How to use innovation to lead effectively, work
collaboratively, and drive results” 2009,
https://www.ccl.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/04/InnovationLeadership.pd
f
• “Executives Fall Short When Leading for Innovation, Global Leadership
Study Shows” 2007,
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20071212005240/en/Executiv
es-Fall-Short-Leading-Innovation-Global-Leadership
• “Leadership: P&G’s Bob McDonald on Innovation” 2011
http://rocrockett.com/2011/04/leadership-bob-mcdonald-on-innovation/
• “Human Capital Trends—2012”, www.deloitte-touche/human-capital-
trends-2012/paperback/product-20009458.html
“Leadership for Innovation: Summary Report from an AIM Management
Research Forum in cooperation with the Chartered Management
Institute”, 2005,
�le:///C:/Users/deema/Documents/Leadership%20for%20Innovation
%20Smmary%20Report%202005.pdf
• “Learn the Five Secrets of Innovation” 2009,
http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/26/innovation.tips/
• “PwC: 14th Annual Global CEO Survey”, 2011
http://www.areadevelopment.com/StudiesResearchPapers/1-28-
2011/global-ceo-survey-pwc19393.shtml
• “2016 Innovation Survey Report”, https://media-
publications.bcg.com/MIC/BCG-e-Most-Innovative-Companies-2016-
Jan-2017.pdf
• ”2009 Growth, Innovation and Leadership Study”
http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/cpo/166317375
• “Innovation and Commercialization, 2010: McKinsey Global Survey
Results”, https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-
corporate-�nance/our-insights/innovation-and-commercialization-2010-
mckinsey-global-survey-results
• “PwC 20th CEO Survey”, 2017, https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-
survey/pdf/20th-global-ceo-survey-us-supplement-executive-dialogues.pdf
• “Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (Compiled by its
Task Force on Business Schools and Innovation)”
https://www.aacsb.edu/~/media/AACSB/Publications/research-reports/business-
schools-on-an-innovation-mission.ashx
• “3M CEO: Innovation and International Markets Drive Faster Growth”,
2011. http://news.3m.com/press-release/company/3m-ceo-innovation-and-
international-markets-drive-faster-growth
• “e CFO’s Role in Fostering Innovation”
http://deloitte.wsj.com/cfo/2015/08/12/the-cfos-role-in-fostering-innovation/
• “Measuring Innovation 2009” https://www.bcg.com/documents/file15484.pdf
• “Elon Musk Has Raided 150 People From Apple For Tesla” 2015
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/02/09/elon-musk-has-
raided-150-people-from-apple-for-tesla/#1942139b44b8
• “Leadership and Innovation: 2008” https://www.mckinsey.com/business-
functions/strategy-and-corporate-�nance/our-insights/leadership-and-
innovation
Index
A Alphabet Inc., 24
Amazon, 26, 78–79
Apple, Inc., xiii, 23–24, 78, 79, 80, 119
ArcelorMittal, 61
association skills, 12–13
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business report, 86
B Benioff, Marc, 30
Bezos, Jeffrey, 26
Boston Consulting Group survey, 194
Brin, Sergey, 24
Buckley, George, 29–30, 119
business models
and dimensions of innovation, 69–76; and innovation-challenge questions,
119
C Center for Creative Leadership reports, xii
Chartered Management Institute reports, xiii, xiv
Clinton, Bill, 39–40
CNN study, 12, 13, 14
communications
action plan example, 102–103; informative vs. inspirational, 39–41; for
workforce engagement, 22, 43–45, 46–51
companies and innovation, xiii–xiv, 22–23, 57–62
Confederation of British Industry (CBI) survey, 58
Cooper, Robert, 170
cost savings presentations, 271–272
customer service innovations
characteristics, 74–75; goal-setting examples, 143–145; innovation-
challenge questions, 131–132; innovation context, 68; measurement
examples, 212–213, 219–220, 249–250, 251, 267–271; skills
examples, 9, 93
D Dell, Michael, 15, 25–26
Deloitte LLP reports, 5
Deschamps, Jean-Philippe, 5, 33
dimensions of innovation, 69–76
diversity, 16, 52
DM Personal Care Products examples
goal-setting, 137–155; idea-innovation management committees, 159–
162; innovation-challenge questions, 117–119, 125–133; innovation
contexts, 63–69; innovation-idea process, 180–181; innovation
management, 87–100; innovation measurement, 198–205, 207–222,
222–240, 241–259, 261–281; innovation priority worksheets, 104–
110; innovation types, 76–78; innovative thinking skills, 6–10
E Elop, Stephen, 60
employees see workforce
Environmental Solutions example, 122–124
evaluation worksheets, 196–197
experimentation, 14–15
F Facebook, 30–31, 60
Freda, Fabrizio, 30
Frost & Sullivan studies, 58
functional units, xix, xx–xxi
G Gates, Bill, 27–28
goal setting, 80–81, 134–136
H Harris Interactive studies, 58
Harvard Business School innovation conference, xv, 85
Hastings, Reed, 31
I IBM, 24–25, 59
ICQC see innovation-challenge-questions committees (ICQC)
idea-progression valves, 175–176, 178–179
innovation
aspects overview, xi; context examples, 63–69; de�nitions, 4, 62–63;
incremental and radical, 78–79, 80; messages about, 44–45, 53, 56–
58; myths, 76; responsibility for, 42; systemic, xx–xxi; types of, 71–76,
77–78
innovation-challenge questions
characteristics, 119–120; committees (ICQC), 116–119, 121; de�nition
and goals, 114–115; worksheets, 121–133
innovation degrees, 78–81
innovation deliverables index, 190–193
innovation development
process overview, 169–170; stages, 186–188
innovation drivers, 57, 59–62, 120–121
innovation engagement
committees (IECs), 52–54; initiatives, 46–51, 202–203; in job
descriptions, xix, 112–113; principles, 33–34; skills, xvii, xxii, 37–39,
42–43; styles, 39–41; and vision, 55–56
Innovation Excellence survey, 20
innovation goals
de�nition and guidelines, 134–137; functional unit examples, 137–155
innovation-idea assessment process
committees, 173–175; criteria, 175–179; overview, 173; planning and
implementation, 179–183
innovation-idea database, 171–173
innovation-idea management systems
assessment and submission, 164–169; committees, 158–163; de�nition
and importance, 156–158; framework overview, 163–164
innovation-idea reception committees (IIRC), 170–171
innovation impact measurement
de�nitions, 259–261; examples, 261–281
innovation inputs, xvii–xviii, 196, 197–205
innovation launch and evaluation, 188–193
innovation leadership perspectives, xii–xiii
innovation management
functional unit examples, 86–100; initiatives worksheet, 203–205; in job
descriptions, xix, xx, 112–113; skills, xvii, xxii, 83–86
innovation-oriented planning, 101–103
innovation outputs
de�nition, xvii, xviii; evaluation worksheets, 222–240; measurement, 205–
222
innovation performance
job speci�cations, 113; measurement, xvii, 194–195
innovation prioritization, 104–110
innovation project teams, 183–186
innovation quotient, 177–178
innovation results
evaluation, 250–259; measurement, 240–250
innovation skill sets, xvi–xviii, xxi
innovation-support systems, 84, 199–200
innovative performance, 4
innovative thinking
initiatives worksheet, 201–202; in job descriptions, xix, 112–113; skill
development, 11–17; skills, xviii, 4, 5–10
Institute for Corporate Productivity surveys, xiv, 5, 194
J job descriptions and speci�cations, xviii–xx, 111–113
Jobs, Steve, 16, 23–24
K Kaplan, Robert S., 43
Kuczmarski & Associates survey, 20
L La�ey, Alan George, 26–27, 43
leadership
Clinton vs. Obama, 39–40; and goal-setting, 134–136; vs. management,
84; as role models, 18–20; skills, xv, 12, 31–32, 81; top performers,
23–31; and workforce engagement, xiv–xv
leadership for innovation, xv–xvi
Levis, John, 158
Locke, Edwin, 135
M McKinsey & Company surveys, xv, 58
management models, xi, xv, 85–86
mantras, 21–22
manufacturing process innovation
goal-setting examples, 140–141; innovation-challenge-questions example,
127–128; innovation context, 66; measurement examples, 208–210,
243–244, 263–264; skills examples, 7, 89
market segments, 129, 142, 248–249
marketing innovation
characteristics, 74; goal-setting examples, 141–143; innovation-challenge-
questions example, 128–131; innovation context, 67–68; measurement
examples, 210–211, 218–219, 225–229, 234–238, 244–249, 255–
258, 265–267, 275–280; skills examples, 7–8, 90–92
MassDevice.com report, 31
Microsoft, 27–29
motivation, 21–22, 135
Musk, Elon, 29
N Nadella, Satya, 28–29
Net�ix, 31
networking, 16
Nike, 79
Niven, Paul, 43
Nokia, 60, 119, 120
Norton, David P., 43
Novartis, 59
O Obama, Barack, 39–40, 61–62
observation skills, 13–14
Oliver Wyman study, xiv
P Page, Larry, 24
Palmisano, Samuel, 24–25
Panasonic, 61
P�zer, 60
planning, 101–103
post-innovation launch evaluation, 189–193
PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) studies, xv, 57–58, 60
problem identi�cation, 4, 62–63
process innovation examples, 72–73
Procter & Gamble (P&G), xiv, 26–27
product development innovation
challenge-question example, 118, 125–127; goal-setting examples, 138–
139; innovation context, 64–65; measurement examples, 201–205,
208, 209, 215–217; skills examples, 7, 88
product innovations
examples, 71–72; measurement, 222–224, 231–233, 242–243, 252–254,
262–263, 273–275
Purat, Ruth, 20–21
Q
questioning skills, 13 see also innovation-challenge questions
R regulation, 169
risk, 168–169
Rometty, Ginni, 25, 59
S Salesforce, 30
Schultz, Howard, 26
Schweitzer, Albert, 19–20
service innovation examples, 72
slogans, 21–22, 23, 39, 40, 41, 47–49
stage-gate model, 170
strategy, xi, xiv, 43, 55–56
strategy+business study, 197
support unit innovations
challenge question examples, 118–119, 132–133; characteristics, 75–76;
goal-setting examples, 145–155; innovation context, 69; measurement
examples, 213–214, 220–222, 230–231, 239–240, 250, 252, 258–
259, 271–272, 280–281; skills examples, 9–10, 93–99
T talent retention, xiii–xiv, 20–21
Tesla, Inc., 21, 29, 61
3M Company, 29–30, 119
ulin, Inge, 30
training programs, 13
V Vagn Jensen, Anna Rose, 156
vision, 16–17, 55–56
visual illustrations, 49–51
W Walkers potato chip plant, 73
workforce engagement
communications for, 39–41, 76, 81; initiatives, 46–51; leadership, xiv–xv
workforce innovation
idea generation, 135, 158; perspectives, xi, xii–xiii; and skills, xxii, 37–39;
systemic, xv, xx
workforces
expectations, xiii–xiv, 42; motivations, 58–59
Z Zuckerberg, Mark, 30–31, 60
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- PART I: INNOVATIVE THINKING SKILLS
- Chapter 1: Understanding Innovative Thinking Skills
- Chapter 2: Approaches: How Do You Develop Innovative Thinking Skills?
- Chapter 3: Why Is It Important for Organizational Leaders to Have Innovative Thinking Abilities in Leading Workforce Innovation?
- PART II: INNOVATION ENGAGEMENT SKILLS
- Chapter 4: Definition of Innovation Engagement Skills
- Chapter 5: Importance of Innovation Engagement Skills
- Chapter 6: Description and Expression of Innovation Engagement Initiatives
- Chapter 7: Innovation Engagement Committees
- Chapter 8: Application of Innovation Engagement Approaches
- PART III: INNOVATION MANAGEMENT SKILLS
- Chapter 9: Ability to Engage in Innovation-Oriented Planning Activities
- Chapter 10: Ability to Identify Areas for Innovation Focus
- Chapter 11: Ability to Create and Implement Innovation-Performance Job Descriptions and Job Specifications
- Chapter 12: Ability to Create Innovation-Challenge Questions
- Chapter 13: Ability to Formulate Innovation Goals
- Chapter 14: Ability to Design and Implement an Effective Management for Innovation Ideas
- Chapter 15: Ability to Measure and Report Innovation Performance
- Summary
- About the Author
- Selected References
- Notes
- Index