Innovation Culture
Having an innovation culture is critical to long-term success. As companies compete globally under increasing complexity, maintaining a vibrant culture can be difficult. Furthermore, shifting an entire organization may seem impossible.
Data from the World Economic Forum repeatedly makes it clear: The only way to sustained competitiveness is through improved creative collaboration and steady innovation.
Using our proven approach, New & Improved will help transform your organization and set you up for long-term, sustained success. Innovation culture is what makes for a truly great company. Therefore, it’s the ultimate source of competitive differentiation.
How We Will Work with You
To build and foster a climate for sustainable innovation within every business line, we complete a progressive sequence of activities to jump-start these efforts in the first three to six months:
Innovation Culture Audit
Work with your innovation team to:
- Assess and review current state of innovation culture
- Scan and advise for areas requiring effort / focused attention
- Begin developing your organization’s Innovation Roadmap
- Strengthen leadership alignment and engagement
Targeted Training
Develop core and leadership skills needed to execute your Innovation Roadmap:
- Innovation training provides the necessary Mind-set, Skill-set and Tool-set development needed for Innovation Culture Change to occur
- Provide training for the Innovation Team & Influential Employees to seed widespread adoption
Strategic Plan Facilitation
Engage an Innovation Expert to guide your innovation strategic planning effort to:
- Forge prioritized plans of action which address gaps in effort, balance unproductive obsessions, foster leadership engagement, align accountability and identify key measurements
Ongoing Support
Monitor progress and give ongoing support through unexpected change management issues:
- Continue thought-partnership through quarterly check-ins
- Be available as unique challenges arise to avoid and mitigate implementation issues
Assessing Your Current Culture
Our first step is to assess your current culture. This is conducted through 360* interviews, surveys, and an innovation performance audit. Our methodology is customized to get as much data from your current systems while identifying and evaluating all gaps. During a strategic session with your executive team, we share the assessment and then prioritize. This is a collaborative process and we will focus on your most critical areas first.
The Four Dimensions of Innovation Culture
Our model is based on 30 years of experience, work with 100’s of global companies, and scientific research. Our book, Demystifying Innovation Culture Efforts, provides a comprehensive look into the four key dimensions that will successfully convert disjointed efforts into a systematic, powerful force.
People
Improving your innovation competencies and problem-solving leadership skills
- Skills: There must be ongoing training at all levels of the organization – from the Board and C-suite to new-hire orientation – focused on strengthening the organization’s capacity for creativity, creative collaboration, and innovation. See article.
- Leadership: Leadership actions demonstrate support for innovation fostering activities. See article.
- Accountability/Recognition: Leaders, managers, and the workforce are held accountable to innovation-fostering behaviors. See article.
Process
Improving company processes and in-house innovation performance
- Experimentation: Easily accessible internal venture capital for small innovation experiments. See article.
- Facilitation: Internal corps of facilitators to assist in problem-solving meetings. See article.
- Technology: Creative collaboration platform that employees/customers can access to enable ideation and problem-solving. See article.
Policy
Developing an innovation strategy and measurement tools to continuously improve innovation culture across the enterprise
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- Strategy: Clarified goals for profit generated from current offerings, new offerings and efficiencies. See article.
- Measurement: Clarified goals for profit generated from current offerings, new offerings, and efficiencies. See article.
- Governance: A clear pipeline map for product development, governance and project tracked by stage. See article.
Climate
Creating a collaborative and supportive environment for innovation
- Environment: Purposefully designed physical spaces that foster better collaboration and creativity. See article.
- Focus: A group responsible – with active executive involvement – to foster a culture of innovation. See article.
- Exploration: Time or flexibility for employees to pursue creative ideas that are not their core responsibility. See article.
Learn More about Our Approach
Demystifying Innovation Culture Efforts
Our model, supported by both the research and 30 years of real-world application, is described in our book Demystifying Innovation Culture Efforts. We explain in simple terms the 12 strategies that will successfully convert disjointed efforts into a systematic, powerful force.
Ready to Make a Change?
Whether you want to start with a small training workshop or discuss more widespread systematic culture change, give us a call. We will tailor a solution to fit your exact needs.