Big leap or little steps: the innovation process

Innovation can be achieved by any organisation under the right conditions. It is not usually one big leap, but often countless small steps that leads to real growth. Innovation research shows that economic growth depends not only on the creation of new knowledge, but its effective dissemination and application.

Much attention is given to formal research and development for ‘breakthrough' innovations, but innovation may be developed by less formal on-the-job modifications of practice, through exchange and combination of professional experience, and by many other routes. The more radical and revolutionary innovations tend to emerge from R&D, while incremental innovation often emerges from practice. It has been said that a constant flow of everyday ideas is more valuable to a business than trying to forge a few completely new ideas.

Whether it comes through a formal R&D process or through incremental modification, the first stage in innovation is for someone to generate an idea. It is typically a technical insight into a product or process, or a thought about a service. In some cases, ideas can arise from observing problems, or by an opportunity that suddenly appears. Ideas can be generated from reading magazines, by visiting other organizations, and through informal discussion with colleagues.

Idea generation leads to opportunity recognition, where someone sees an opportunity to develop the idea into a new product, process or service. The opportunity recognition stage also involves evaluation, where ideas are prodded and tested, perhaps improved, merged with other ideas and, in many cases, are abandoned.

If an opportunity is recognised, it then moves to the development phase, which may involve prototype development and market testing. The final stage of the internal innovation process is realisation and exploitation, where the innovation reaches the customer and often moves outside the control of the person or business.

So how do you make innovation work?
The following few tips reproduced from www.ausinnovation.org are a good start

1. Build an innovation ecosystem
   Kill the silos. Innovation rarely thrives in companies that are made up of parts that rarely talk to each other. Consider where your business's ideas tend to originate and develop. How does the chain of command affect decisions and processes? Are there unnecessary layers? Is there room for employees to collaborate?
2. Take a close look at your processes
   Look for places where ideas tend to fall flat. Are there consistent gaps and bottlenecks in implementation?
3. Engage employees
   Engaged employees are more productive and profitable, they create stronger customer relationships, and they stay longer with their company than less engaged employees, according to research conducted by Gallop Management Journal. The bottom line: employees are much more likely to think "outside-the-box" regarding improvements to customer service and business processes if they are engaged.
4. Emphasise employee talents and strengths
   Employees working for an employer committed to building their strengths say that their job brings out their most creative ideas.
5. Create incentives and recognise contributions.
6. Reinvent the suggestion box and put it online
   Create an online ideas/suggestions box that can be accessed by all staff. Don't restrict content to products or services; encourage employees to contribute ideas for all aspects of work. IBM and Google both do this. They say it encourages staff to collaborate in areas outside their usual line of work. It's important that the status of each idea is clear and up to date. Nothing frustrates employees like ideas that are abandoned with no explanation, or lost somewhere in the chain of command.

For other useful information about the innovation process, particularly products, visit www.innovic.com.au