Let me start by disappointing those of you who read the title and thought this was a review of M. Pilar Opazo’s book “Appetite for Innovation: Creativity and Change at ElBulli”. Apologies, but it is related to the subject of Innovation within an organization and how to handle it but unfortunately there are no foodie references. On the other hand I will try to keep the questionable humour and “iceberg puns” quota imposed by our editorial line.
It is undeniable that in the current Global situation be it due to geopolitical, health or environmental factors, organizations have been facing increased pressure to question their current processes and services. This has lead most of them to either rethink or speed up their adoption/approach towards innovation.
But how do we approach our journey towards innovation?
Well, we could google “steps towards innovation”, but you quickly will find that on the first page of results alone you get presented with: “The Five Stages of Successful Innovation”, “The Innovation Process: 3 steps to improving your facility””, “6 Essential Steps to Innovation”, “The 5 Simple Steps to Innovation“, etc. So, what we can conclude is that in order to innovate we just need to follow these simple 3 to 6 steps and voila, instant-innovation at your disposal! It just works! I have to be honest and acknowledge that I don’t think these articles were exactly selling the idea that you could apply a simple recipe and be on your way to success, but they do remind me a bit of those infomercials selling self-help programs from expert Gurus (I’m looking at you Tony Robbins). The obvious answer is that there is no obvious answer (I’m going to trademark that catchphrase); organizations are different and as such there is no “100% satisfaction guaranteed” formula to get you going, but a good way to start your plan is to try to clearly identify:
What problem(s) are we trying to solve?
You are probably muttering “Captain Obvious strikes again”, but I think many would be surprised by how many times I’ve sat in meetings and been faced with the solution looking for problems conundrum.
What stage of the Appetite for Innovation Iceberg is my organization on?
Those of you with a keen eye are probably shouting “Hold on, did he just force a completely unnecessary Iceberg reference by using the Technology Adoption Life Cycle over an iceberg?”. The answer is ‘yes’ but this is my post and I’m going to stick to it. I’m going to leave the Technology Adoption Life Cycle explanation for another post. For now it is important to recognise that before trying to implement a new solution, it should be understood how keen on embracing new technologies and/or methodologies the organization is. It does not mean that, because the company is not on the left side of the Iceberg, an innovative solution should be discarded. , but it gives us a good indicator of how much effort is needed to implement and create adoption for the chosen solution.
Is there a specific methodology I should adopt?
A lot has been said about this topic, but I recommend a quick read of this excellent post by Geert Claes where he concludes the following: “… most innovation methodologies can add great value and it’s really up to the team to decide where to start and when to apply which methods and techniques. The common ground most can agree with, is to avoid falling in love with your own solution and listen to qualitative as well as quantitative customer feedback”. Yep, you guessed it, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy, what is important to understand is that there are different tools and you should choose the most appropriate one for your specific situation.
Identifying the end goal is not the hardest task in this journey. Knowing what path to follow and what tools to bring to safely navigate there can be more complicated. This is where Trade Digitalization Services (TDS) can assist your organization; we have the experience to help you avoid the journey’s pitfalls and expedite it in order to provide better services and products to your customers.
