Why do I need innovation?

Innovation creates new content and changes companies, often even fundamentally. Every innovation has an idea as a basis and this has to be implemented and made applicable. Innovations bring new opportunities and secure the future of companies in the age of upheaval and digitization – it is important to survive with innovation, to grow and to be successful in the long term. It is more difficult to implement innovations in established companies than in smaller businesses and startups. Hierarchies are flatter, business processes are not yet deadlocked, there are hardly any communication thresholds and the open working atmosphere strengthens the group dynamics and encourages employees to identify with the company and their ideas, products or services. The employees in large companies and corporations are often characterized by fear – fear of not being taken seriously by their superiors, if not completely ignored, or of failure.
But it is not just fear that is one of the reasons why employees do not want to communicate their ideas to the outside world. Often there are arguments like:

• Lack of motivation, support or appreciation for the company
• Indolence/ease
• Pressure from above
• Time pressure
• Pressure to perform
• “It was always like that – nothing changes anyway”
• Lack of self-confidence/assertiveness

The right mentality in the company

Global players who take over the mechanisms of startups and allow space for creativity, idea generation and motivation are rewarded with employees who work more responsibly and self-determinedly and who participate more actively. The increased satisfaction in combination with more motivation benefits all company actors, across all hierarchical levels. This does not require any abrupt internal restructuring or the massive acquisition of young companies, which many corporations are currently falling into. The startup hype has reached the corporate world and more and more companies are starting their own initiatives, such as incubator and accelerator programs.

Changes within the company can take place gradually and with special programs and do not have to be implemented abruptly or in external group satellites. Conventional large companies can hardly implement the liberal mentality of a start-up, but adopt it selectively within hybrid programs such as corporate incubation or intrapreneurship, i.e. entrepreneurship in the company.

The number of intrapreneurs is increasing

More and more employees are trying to implement their ideas and innovations in the company themselves. Studies show that up to 15 percent of employees are intrapreneurially inclined, and up to five percent establish themselves as high-performing intrapreneurs in their own company. Spaces and programs must be created for them so that they can independently develop their creative potential and entrepreneurial thinking.

Tip:

Within the existing structures! The decisive factor for the success or failure of an innovation process is not the idea, but the professional implementation. This requires experience and motivation. An innovation process requires a navigator who maintains an overview and removes emerging obstacles and problems, a neutral, inspiring environment so that ideas can mature, and experienced specialists who transfer the necessary know-how in their field into the idea process.

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• Innovation as the most important driver of competition 2019
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