How do you integrate innovation across your organization?

Integrating innovation across an organization requires cultivating a mindset where every team member feels empowered to contribute ideas, and establishing processes that seamlessly connect these ideas to strategic goals and operational realities.

Start with the why - why is innovation important for your department ✨ Start with the big picture and bring it close to the people. What's in it for the company, what's in it for them, what's the reward, what if there is no innovation. Integrate gamification and call out relatable success stories. Good luck!

To successfully integrate innovation across an organisation, it is crucial to establish a culture that fosters creativity, implement processes that support innovation, and provide resources for experimentation and development. Doing so creates a culture where creativity flourishes, and new ideas are consistently generated and implemented to drive growth and success.

Uber, Covaxin, Intel 486, iPhone 12 or Boeing 757 - which is good innovation. ?? In fact all of them, it takes an organisation to think in multiple ways to innovate, for example 1) Smart Incremental Innovation - like Intel 386, 486, pentium, Apple iphone 8,9,10,11, may be Boeing 757, 767, etc. Don't shy away doing the routine innovation, these are great products. 2) Business model innovation - same car, but Ride sharing services that changed the landscape of taxi (Uber), smart thinking. 3) Radical Tech innovation - Digital Imaging, EVs - defines new markets altogether. 4) Disruptive Innovation - like new Vaccine, exploring life on MARS, etc. Distant future thinkers. All these innovation are much needed for all.

For CEOs who urgently need to build an Innovation Engine for their organization, a general corporate strategy does not suffice. At Google, we've seen that a highly-effective Innovation Strategy addresses 10 key themes: 1. Secure Leadership buy-in (urgency & alignment) 2. Assessment of the status-quo (situation analysis) 3: Craft an Innovation Perspective (select hunting grounds) 4: Develop Innovation Portfolio (track your bets) 5: Choose Innovation Model (innovation initiatives) 6: Establish Innovation Framework (build-measure-learn loop) 7: Involve key Stakeholders (e.g. legal) 8: Establish Innovation KPIs (measuring success) 9: Enablement Of Teams (innovation trainings) 10: Introduce tools & Systems (software to manage bets)

This reverberates with conventional wisdom, advocating for alignment of innovation strategies with organizational goals using classic tools like vision statements, roadmaps, and scorecards. In today’s dynamic business environment, a more innovative utilization of non-traditional tools, attuned to modern challenges and opportunities, supplementing the expected traditional toolset would provide a differentiating approach.

Foster a culture that values creativity, encourages open communication, and embraces experimentation. Establish cross-functional teams, provide resources for idea generation, and prioritize continuous learning. Leadership support and recognition are essential for cultivating an innovation-driven environment.

Sponsorship is crucial for driving innovation because it provides essential resources, credibility, & strategic support. However, aligning your vision with the organization's overall strategy is vital to making the most of sponsorship. By ensuring that innovative projects align with the broader goals & objectives of the company, teams can secure deeper investment & commitment. This alignment helps access funding for prototypes and research, gain credibility, and build networks that can support market entry. Without this alignment, even the best ideas may struggle to progress.

To arrive at an aligned vision you also need to have a difficult debate. You have to make a difficult decision about what you’ll stop doing in order tog at where you want to do. If you’re not prepared to have this argument you’ll never be able to do execute your new vision as a team.

Innovation is one of many tools in the business leaders' toolkit that can enable strategic performance. Unfortunately, many management teams don't pause long enough to properly consider, articulate and quantify WHY innovation is the right strategy (what business goal/challenge it will solve), WHAT they hope to achieve (approximate return for the risk), and HOW they will develop the capability to pursue innovations to improve their odds of success. It also helps when management defines what they mean by 'innovation'. For advanced innovators, it helps to define how their spectrum of innovations is expanding and/or diversifying. I find it effective to ask the management team to draw a pie chart of expected revenue sources, and add to it what

Cross-contamination is necessary to overcome that "we have always done this way" bias. To build cross-functional, and possibly cross-company / cross-value-chain teams to co-innovate is essential

Because design processes and tools are evolving, businesses are more and more implementing Design-led innovation approaches on the top of design thinking.

Cross functional teams are only helpful if they are led by a cross functional c-suite leader. This leader needs to be able and willing to intervene when one of the business silos tries to pull a team member back inside. They also need to have a clear, financially defensible reason for establishing the team.

Multifunctional teams, with diverse skills, drive innovation by fostering collaboration, problem-solving, and creativity. Effective innovation management involves cultivating a culture of open communication, continuous learning, and embracing a risk-tolerant mindset. The relationship between multifunctional teams and innovation management is vital for staying competitive. Organization. Multidisciplinary interaction can lead to "creative abrasion," enhancing effectiveness. Without T-shaped skills, teams risk destructive abrasion (Karjalainen et al, 2009).

My 3 tips: - make sure it is a priority for the cross functional teams (i.e included in their goals). - Ensure 100% alignment against the innovation strategy (don't allow pet projects where a solution is developed that is looking for a problem). - Ensure the whole company brain is engaged (i.e diversity of inputs from lots of different backgrounds including externally like suppliers).

In addition to the tools mentioned, there are several other actions and tools you can take to foster collaboration and co-creation across different departments and functions. Encouraging open communication and creating platforms for knowledge sharing, such as regular team meetings, workshops, or innovation forums, can facilitate cross-functional collaboration. Implementing a culture of experimentation and risk-taking can also encourage employees to think outside the box and explore innovative ideas. Incentivizing collaboration and innovation through recognition programs or rewards can further motivate employees to actively participate in cross-functional initiatives.

Our law firm in Campinas, Brazil, thrives on the collective expertise of multidisciplinary teams, where lawyers and non-lawyers collaborate as equals. This approach transcends traditional support roles, integrating diverse talents directly into our legal work. It's a synergy where tech experts, financial analysts, and legal minds forge innovative solutions together, reflecting the multifaceted challenges our clients face today.

Uno de los factores claves para el éxito de la innovación son los equipos dedicados por las siguientes razones: 1. No puedes empezar en toda la organización, que otros vean cómo funciona es un factor clave. 2. Los agentes de cambio son vitales para permear mindset 3. Solucionar retos de negocio con equipos interdisciplinarios es vital no solo para adoptar metodologías si no tambien para que la compañía entienda que si se puede y que la innovación funciona 4. Colaborar con otras empresas y crear ecosistema ayuda para aprender desde las experiencias de los demás

Implement a clear decision-making process for innovation initiatives, balancing speed and agility with necessary governance and risk management.

Those who are involved with innovation shall not be burderned with day-to-day operations ! In every industry, it's critical that each operational unit has a dedicated innovation specialist. Otherwise, innovation becomes just another item on the to-do list, is done poorly, or is done after all other tasks. Innovation requires focused attention and dedication.

The secret to innovation lies in empowering everyone to experiment broadly and at scale while ensuring the process remains cost-effective. When innovation is made frictionless, cheap, and fast, people are encouraged to test new ideas, refine concepts, and pivot swiftly without the fear of costly failures. This approach creates a culture where creativity flourishes, and promising ideas can be rapidly transformed into impactful solutions, giving organizations a significant competitive advantage. Simplifying access to resources and reducing barriers to experimentation fuels a continuous cycle of innovation that benefits everyone involved.

If you were given a choice of doing innovation work on one of these four projects, which would you pick? A) Using AI to speed up drug discovery B) Generating power from Volcanoes C) Creating a 3d printed house that could withstand a hurricane D) Creating a better corporate process Would *anyone* pick choice D? We are all conditioned to believe that big exciting projects are where innovation should be directed, and that it would be exciting to work on. But having worked in innovation for more than a decade on a wide range of projects, I have found that there can be incredible beauty/value in transforming the most 'boring' of processes. Deep down, *every* project is composed of countless tiny pieces. Often mundane pieces. Embrace them!

In my experience it is important to have the right governance in place to make sure innovation does not fall through the cracks within an organization. Some ways to ensure this could be setting up a diverse innovation group of enthusiasts, key decision makers and Architects who, along with some open innovation plan, can also help with a central orchestration. This will ensure innovative ideas are implemented in order to solve a business challenge or improve the output of the organization. A streamlined process will also help aligning Innovation with your long term business strategy.

Innovation management within companies, particularly larger corporations, faces a key challenge: the development of effective strategies or processes for overseeing and sustaining innovation projects. Within these larger entities, a multitude of functions—ranging from engineering, product, marketing to customer service teams —operate with distinct insights into customer needs, market dynamics, and technological advancements. Achieving innovative business value necessitates alignment across these diverse teams. Establishing a well-organized innovation process becomes crucial for seamlessly transferring ideas among these teams, thus translating concepts into tangible products and driving meaningful business value.

A hackathon, if well prepared, is a great way to engage within your ecosystem, define some common challenges and drive the change. People inside and outside of your company will have a great time working together at solving problems and with a good initial strategic fit of your challenges, you can funnel the outcomes and deliver quickly some added value solutions that support not only your business but also others needs by design

Algunas ideas para poder integrar la innovación en la organización: 1. Al principio no "hagas" innovación, innova en lo que haces (90% del portafolio en H1) 2. Construye el sistema de innovación sobre el sistema de la empresa, por ejemplo como poner a los comerciales a detectar necesidades y dolores de los clientes, como poner a los auditores de procesos no solo a revisar y perseguir, sino a identificar problemas y cuellos de botella para innovar en procesos 3. El más interesad@ en que se innove en la empresas son los gerentes y junta directiva, al final la innovación construye competitividad y sostenibilidad de las organizaciones

My 3 tips: - Establish an innovation that is structured and robust (we use 3 stages of ideation, development and commercialization). - Be ruthless early in the process (i.e kill projects that are not going to work before you assign lots of resources.) - Add a post launch evaluation stage to understand what worked best and what didn't. Companies like to forget failures but these are the ones you learn the most from).

Establish clear guidelines for resource allocation and prioritization, balancing short-term and long-term innovation initiatives.

To enable and support innovation across your organization, there are a few additional actions you can take. Firstly, foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement by encouraging employees to seek new knowledge and engage in training programs. This will enhance their skills and contribute to innovative thinking. Secondly, establish cross-functional innovation teams or task forces to bring together diverse perspectives and expertise. Empower these teams to identify and implement innovative ideas with the necessary resources and support. Lastly, create channels for feedback and suggestions from employees at all levels through surveys, suggestion boxes, or regular feedback sessions.

At Google, we learned that without having a unified method of tracking innovation efforts across teams and geographies, organizations will get lost. This can be done by establishing a clear Build-Measure-Learn-Loop. Build (experiments) Measure (metrics) Learn (experiments) 1. Ideate (from e.g. customer insights, brainstorms) 2. Validate (Prototyping, Mock-Ups) 3. Experiment (Develop MVP, gather feedback) 4. Scale (Expand and secure resources like funding and personnel) 5. Embed (integration into existing business operations)

How about and…. Compensate your resources? Innovators who add significant business velocity or efficiency should be rewarded with more responsibility and more pay. Not all innovators are potential leaders. So the old organizational structure needs to be reconsidered. What is the expertise track for individuals and teams who have successfully fostered these skills?

Integrating innovation thought process investment in resources eventually helps to build confidence within team members. Adapting innovation within resources helps them to increase their productivity on daily activities. Encouraging resources on innovation with perks helps team to motivate and expand resources out of the box thought process. It eventually helps to produce skill development and quality deliverables from resource perspective.

Implement a fair and transparent system for recognizing and rewarding innovation contributions, aligning individual and organizational goals.

Investing in resources is often seen as investing reward structures. It is more important to invest in training to ensure that people have the knowledge and skills to innovate across all levels of the organisation.

Acredito que uma das formas mais efetivas de se disseminar a inovação é buscar consolidar uma cultura de inovação forte. A cultura vai ser originada por meio do exemplo da liderança e pode ser reforçada por uma série de comunicações internas e programas que estimulem mais inovação, como programas de intra-empreendedorismo, intercâmbio, educação e programas que conectem os colaboradores com as principais necessidades e expectativas dos clientes!

Managing innovation at the scale requires strategic investment in the right tools. Such tools should help you easily capture ideas from across your diverse team, process and evaluate them through your IP evaluation team, reward your inventors appropriately to foster the culture and collaborate better across the team. Without tools with all the above functionalities, your team might get disoriented in terms of innovation, and your IP team may be wondering where the efforts are going.

Integrar a inovação em toda a organização exige um investimento estratégico em recursos, incluindo tecnologia, capacitação e talentos. Ao direcionar investimentos para ferramentas e plataformas que facilitem a colaboração e a criatividade, criamos um ambiente propício para a inovação. Além disso, ao investir no desenvolvimento de habilidades dos colaboradores por meio de treinamentos e workshops, garantimos que todos estejam preparados para contribuir de maneira significativa. Essa alocação de recursos não só potencializa as iniciativas inovadoras, mas também reforça o compromisso da organização com a inovação como uma prioridade estratégica.

Driving a new innovation from inception to successful launch is one of the most difficult endeavors an organization can undertake. Many research studies confirm this by reporting innovation failure rates as high as 60-75%. By contrast, one group (top-performing innovators - those who repeatedly deliver commercial successes to their audiences/markets) enjoys success rates upwards of 80%! This group invests in developing a culture of continuous learning and change management. Their Stage-Gate processes guide teams through new techniques, learnings from previous projects, and how to take calculated risks to obtain valuable information. It navigates access to expert resources and even guides teams to make go/kill analyses/recommendations.

You need different sources of feedback at different levels of maturity: Stage 1: customer interviews Stage 2: user tests with a prototype Stage 3: beta test with a first release of the product Stage 4: full release with a fully built product

Adding to Greg's outline of incrementally evolving design-test-feedback loops by stage. Throughout the Stage-Gate process, you obtain feedback from a variety of players: - Customers participating in solution concepts, prototypes and field trials - The broader market to validate the need, value proposition, and effectiveness of marketing communications - Internal organization readiness to support the innovation - External partner readiness to support the innovation - Internal leadership to confirm the continued value and fit with the strategic portfolio.

By encouraging innovative ideas and people that bring them forward. Verify the conviction and the logic behind. Then allocate the budget for the idea to be executed along with the right team. Perhaps across multiple functions. Once executed, celebrate the process and the people. Publicly recognize them so that more people will feel like thinking out of the box. This beautiful loop will continue on its own! That's the hope at least!

Implement regular governance reviews to ensure that innovation initiatives remain aligned with the organization's strategic objectives and risk appetite.

Faça "seu PDCA". colete os feedbacks e trabalhe para que seja melhor em projetos futuros. Aprenda com o passado, mas jogue o game do agora.

Taking others' opinions into account is crucial for improving and iterating your innovation efforts. By actively seeking and listening to feedback from various stakeholders, including customers, employees, and industry experts, you can gain valuable insights and perspectives. This feedback can help you evaluate the effectiveness of your innovation initiatives and identify areas for improvement. Additionally, metrics and reviews can provide objective data to measure the impact and value of your innovations. By incorporating others' opinions and leveraging data-driven insights, you can make informed decisions and take actions that drive continuous improvement and enhance the success of your innovation endeavors.

Securing an innovation budget is a good signal that no matter what is the current budget restriction in your organization, there is still room for innovation. This is a good incentive for business leader and manager to explore new opportunities if they want to continue delivering value with less operational budget

Para integrar a inovação em toda a organização, é essencial aprender com os comentários recebidos. Incentive a coleta constante de feedback de todas as partes interessadas, incluindo clientes, colaboradores e parceiros. Analise essas informações para identificar oportunidades de melhoria e ajustar suas estratégias de inovação conforme necessário. Esse ciclo contínuo de feedback e adaptação garante que suas iniciativas estejam alinhadas com as necessidades do mercado e dos stakeholders, promovendo um ambiente de inovação sustentável e eficaz.

Para integrar a inovação em toda a organização, é vital celebrar os sucessos, independentemente de seu tamanho. Comemorar conquistas cria um ambiente positivo que reconhece o esforço e a criatividade das equipes, incentivando um espírito de colaboração e motivação. Essas celebrações não apenas reforçam a importância da inovação, mas também ajudam a disseminar histórias de sucesso que podem inspirar outros colaboradores a se envolverem em iniciativas inovadoras. Ao reconhecer e valorizar os resultados, você fortalece a cultura de inovação na organização, fazendo com que todos se sintam parte do processo e motivados a buscar novas oportunidades.

It's really important to discuss what constitutes meaningful recognition directly with the players involved in the full spectrum of innovation. When leaders make assumptions here it can really backfire. For example, some of our studies indicate that employees who participate in low to moderate-risk innovations often prefer visual recognition delivered by top leaders instead of compensation schemes. However, on the other end of the spectrum (new technology breakthroughs), companies like 3M have had good success with partial equity offers. It's not the specific format that matters. It's the match of the format to the desires of the intended recipients that matters.

Celebrar y reconocer las contribuciones de los equipos que apuestan por la innovación, no solo contribuye a la apropiación del mindset como tal, si no también fomenta que las personas a lo largo y ancho de las compañías esten motivadas y empedradas para innovar. Tener y contar con un programa de reconocimiento hace de la innovación un proceso sistemático y una capacidad organizacional constante.

At the Microsoft Garage Vancouver, we integrate innovation by emphasizing that success is as much about connections, learning, and personal growth as it is about outcomes. We celebrate innovation by recognizing employees who build strong networks, continually learn, and evolve into better collaborators and thinkers. This approach not only inspires and motivates but also enhances our ability to create exceptional products. Through recognition programs, awards, and events, we share innovation stories and best practices, highlighting the journey of growth and connection that drives meaningful innovation.

Ok, celebrate their successes. Party hats and noisemakers. First of all if someone is helping create a significant step change in market value, they should probably own a piece of the company. Secondly, this will become more important as AI and robotics takes on codifiable and automatable business tasks. (Although not writing articles on innovation seemingly). The very nature of work needs to shift, but evolution is a tricky thing to predict. What does our gall bladder do again?

Jamais devemos subestimar o poder da remuneração como forma de recompensa. Ela cria um fluxo político profissionalizado da inovação e proporciona que pessoas prosperem. Simples assim. Para empresas que se encontram em estágios iniciais da construção de políticas de inovação, recomendo começar com capacitação de lideranças c-level e intermediárias para que não se permita que o sistema imunológico corporativo destrua ou afaste os principais talentos.

Instead of solely rewarding successful launches, we reward well-designed experiments and the valuable insights they yield. When IBM celebrated its 100th anniversary, it showcased its 'Wild Ducks' program, honoring those who pursued unconventional ideas that challenged the status quo, some of which didn’t yield immediate results but were crucial learnings for the company. Praiseworthy failures are those born from high-quality attempts at innovation, where the outcomes are uncertain. Leaders must celebrate these. For example, at Tata, the Indian conglomerate, they hold an annual 'Dare to Try' award for the most thoughtful failures.

Integrar a inovação em toda a organização é fortalecido pela prática de comemorar os sucessos, grandes e pequenos, alcançados pelas equipes. Reconhecer e celebrar as conquistas não apenas motiva os colaboradores, mas também reforça a importância da inovação como parte da cultura organizacional. Essa valorização dos resultados positivos estimula um ambiente de aprendizado contínuo, onde os colaboradores se sentem encorajados a experimentar novas ideias e abordagens, promovendo assim um ciclo de inovação constante e engajamento em toda a empresa.

Innovation isn’t just about ideas – ideas are cheap. It’s about bringing ideas to impact. The best innovation initiatives aren’t just surfacing ideas from different teams or divisions, although that is an important activity. It is about defining (and resourcing) a system that turns those ideas into early tests, iterates upon successful tests, and nurtures those ideas into real products or internal solutions. Bringing innovation to all corners of a company requires more than just a big speech about it. It requires the hard and courageous work of really talented people to bring their ideas to impact.

Avoid introducing new ways of innovating too often. Change fatigue sets in, and it becomes difficult to convince employees and management to constantly try new ways of working. One organization I worked with rolled out new methodologies annually (design thinking, agile, lean), even while the previous ones were partially implemented. As a leader, refining and evolving existing processes - staying focused on understanding the customer, addressing their needs, and data driven decisions - yields more sustainable results than chasing the next new thing.

Innovation will not be fully integrated across the organization until one common language is embraced and understood across all functions and across all levels. Stage-Gate is the only purpose-built function-neutral process to do exactly this. Too many organizations waste time internally debating which method is the best method for them to adopt: Stage-Gate, design thinking, agile, scrum, lean development, jobs to be done, etc. This is the wrong question as each performs and builds a unique capability that enables innovation success. The dark side of this destructive debate is that subject matter experts are being asked to ditch their best-of-breed capability-building methods to conform to a method that makes no sense to them.

Una herramienta que suelo usar son los "Six Thinking Hats" de Edward de Bono que ofrecen un marco para el pensamiento paralelo, asignando un color a cada enfoque mental. Esta metodología fomenta el uso de diferentes perspectivas, representadas por los colores de los sombreros (blanco para datos objetivos, rojo para emociones, negro para juicio crítico, amarillo para optimismo, verde para creatividad y azul para control del proceso). Al aplicarlo a decisiones estratégicas y de diseño, este enfoque permite abordar de manera sistemática y holística los problemas, facilitando la consideración de múltiples ángulos y reduciendo los sesgos individuales, lo que lleva a decisiones más informadas y equilibradas.

In my experience, a 100% integration of innovation delivery into business is not really possible. You can introduce an innovation culture across the organization so everyone can contribute and have the appropriate mindset, but it is a good idea to have a multidisciplinary team fully dedicated to innovation projects and developments. The key point is that this team must not work isolated and there should be an incentive for everyone to participate in this team, so it creates an aspirational goal.

Após duas décadas trabalhando com inovação, me sinto à vontade para defender o uso de um glossário de inovação no âmbito corporativo. Saber o que a empresa entende e o que não entende por inovação. Quais são as referências que serão adotadas, as metodologias, ferramentas, técnicas e principalmente como será a sua tese de inovação.

Innovation should not be equated with mere idea generation. The process of selecting projects is crucial and should involve teamwork. Unfortunately, in some industries, there are still high-ranking directors who become enthralled by their own ideas and impose them without proper evaluation. This often results in wasted resources. Establishing a robust yet streamlined innovation process is essential.

Innovation should be part of the organization culture and that is not happen, from one day to another or from one workshop to another. Perseverance and investment are key to create this context. Another element is the feedback from the users or people who can be impacted from the innovation. They should be all along the processes to give some details and difficulties from the real situation which can turn on opportunities to innovate and think out of the box.