10-2 Executive Summary: Future Proofing Processes, Structures, and Culture of Innovation
Ashley Marie Allen
Southern New Hampshire University
January 2023
Professor Jamiel Vadell
MBA 580
Recommendations for Continuous Innovation
Improving our current organizational structure does not mean the final decisions are
going to stop coming from the corporate office. It does mean that more communication between
local and regional employees and managers will increase. Cross-communication will be highly
encouraged, not only formally, but informally as well. Employees will feel valued by managers
to bounce ideas off them. Managers will encourage employees to think outside the box when
thinking about the requests and future possible needs of the customer, based on feedback, as well
as general conversation during the sales process.
Decisions will no longer be made just by a few executives at corporate. We will adopt a
process and a board to make the decisions along each step. Using the stage-gate method, we are
able to use each stage to determine whether or not the project will move forward or halted. If it is
halted, or killed, then it is back to the beginning, where we can use what we have learned to
continue to develop a platform that meets the needs of our projected growth to remain relevant
for our 2030 goals.
Reflections on Potential Roadblocks and Failure
Resistance will likely be met with the executives at the corporate level who are used to
being the top of the project management teams, as well as the final deciding factor in whether or
not the innovation moves forward. Not having control over what innovation is explored may
leave the top executives resentful and questioning whether their input is warranted in the future.
Allowing employees to have a voice in innovation, and being a part of the team that ultimately
decides to move forward or not, they will be able to see entire process and take pride in the
accomplishments to the company.
However, there will be projects that ultimately fail, and having a culture that supports
innovation, even innovation that does not fully succeed is important to keeping the
communication is open. Not giving up on the culture of innovation is instrumental to the
organization moving forward to remain relevant in the industry. We can take a lesson from
Skunkworks where singular project focus was paramount. When there was failure along the way,
it opened dialogue and support from the team to go back to the drawing board and work out any
issues together as a team. The skunk works project has a different approach to organizational
structure with focus on autonomy, while enabling employees the freedom to be creative. This
approach has proved successful time and time again. Our company must adopt a similar
autonomous innovative approach to remain relevant and continue to be a player in the
automotive market.
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