Working on and dealing with innovations is currently experiencing a real high in companies – from SMEs to large corporations. But why is real innovation management so challenging and so often associated with failure?
Innovation as the staple of every organization
A single statistic shows why advancement and development should be a must-have for companies: an unbelievable 88% of the Fortune 500 companies from 1955 no longer existed in 2015. There are of course various reasons for this, such as mergers, takeovers, bankruptcies, technological developments, etc. But it is precisely these impressive figures that show how important it is as an organization to deal with new challenges at all levels and to make the necessary changes in order to stand up for arming future survival. Hardly any company is immune to a high level of uncertainty, constantly changing framework conditions and complexity!
Innovative, future-oriented action in order to develop new business models, products and services and to ensure growth and lasting profitability is a basic virtue of modern organizations – but what makes it so difficult? An attempt to shed a little light on 4 reasons or opportunities for this:
1. Corporate culture as an opponent of innovation
The greatest innovation potential often lies in the company itself. The innovation culture necessary to develop this potential must be exemplified and managers must (be able to) give their employees sufficient room for maneuver. The organizational culture that has grown and established over the years and decades and the innovation antibodies that work in it are the greatest hurdle for a successful implementation of innovation. Often a negative statement or only slight resistance to a new idea is enough and the idea giver can be impressed by it and put off by further initiative.
Deep-rooted mechanisms and pre-formed attitudes in organizations can only be changed slowly and with a great deal of commitment. The desired and aspired to cultural maturity also includes the freedom to fail on the way to an organizational culture with an affinity for innovation and to learn from it.
2. Leadership courage to take risks
According to the motto “Be a leader, not a boss!”, there is great potential for the innovation success of organizations in the leadership function and thus in the development of managers. As a rule, employees, colleagues and superiors do not perceive managers as drivers of ideas who drive innovation in their own organization with curiosity, courage, a willingness to take risks and a disruptive attitude. Managers should be encouraged, encouraged and also encouraged to show more courage to experiment themselves, to set the right framework conditions and to create freedom in order to be able to actively play the role of innovation driver in the company together with their employees.
Admittedly, this means a lot of (also personal) challenges for many responsible persons, which are associated with changes in attitudes and values. In implementation, this means, among other things, the courage to take risks instead of a zero-error strategy, cooperate instead of delegating and communicate on an equal footing instead of top-down.
Use innovation ecosystems as a pool of inspiration
Of course, there are a lot of very competent, motivated, innovative and intelligent people working in our own company. But no matter how big your own company is, there are still far more very competent, motivated, innovative and intelligent people working outside of your own company. Using even a small fraction of this external potential for your own success can make a small but subtle difference. However, innovations are often stifled because organizations are unable to interact in a broader network. The biggest obstacles are to share one’s own corporate culture or existing reservations, ideas or knowledge and data with one another. Participation in innovation ecosystems or co-creation offers companies collaboration with an expanded partner and supplier community. These enable added value beyond your own resources. Organizations are often aware of the added value of collaboration, but the implementation is unclear.
Innovation processes – agile and yet beautifully standardized
Innovation projects fail in the development phase. Even if agility, spontaneity and creativity are very important, it does not mean random chaos! A systematically planned process is required for the successful implementation of innovations. It must be structured and leanly organized in order to achieve the goal quickly and in a result-oriented manner. A scalable and repeatable process from the idea to the market launch is a decisive factor in generating new products, solutions, services or entire business models.
Being aware of the major challenges and not shrinking from accepting the uncertainty associated with innovations and devoting resources to these topics is the first step in the right direction. “We do something with innovation” as a pure marketing trickery can quickly and easily make your own company belong to the 88% who will not survive the next few years or decades. In this sense, the digital researcher Jay Walker means: “Innovation means: contradicting the old” and “it is time to innovate”.
Source:
Similar articles that might be of interest to you…
kickworkx GmbH
- UID ATU 72415567
- E office@kickworkx.com
- T +43-1-343-0129
- F +43-1-343-0129-88
- Untere Weißgerberstraße 43/6, 1030 Wien, Österreich