Innovation Fundamentals Missing in Action
The Collective
We cut through complexity to build joined-up strategies & capabilities that power the performance of Marketing & Sales.
We've lost the fundamentals! A familiar grumble we hear from clients.
Markets are more dynamic and complex, creating exciting opportunities for innovation. Yet, complexity calls for connected ways of working across business functions supported by some core innovation tools and behaviours to deliver extraordinary solutions.
Here are four examples of how leading innovators embed the innovation fundamentals:
It starts with strategy
Innovation must be part of the strategy-making agenda and connected across functions to demonstrate its value. And as we know, what gets measured gets done, so you need to have KPIs and ways of tracking your progress towards your innovation goals.
Behaviours and signalling.
Winning innovators understand the value of symbols of reevaluation.
The core of this is recognising, rewarding and motivating innovative behaviours. Do this formally and informally.
For instance, if your call centre optimised the new system for resolving customer problems, or the commercial team redesigned their go-to-market approach for new product launches. Highlighting tangible examples of the behaviours you want to see encourages experimentation.
Storytelling.
Storytelling helps people to learn from each other. From company-wide presentations to regular team meetings, create a drumbeat of innovation stories. Encourage people to show and tell the benefits of developing novel solutions and adding value in new ways.
Ways of working. Create your own innovator's toolkit.
For everyday innovation to thrive, leading innovators create a simple-to-use set of tools and frameworks that get codified throughout the business. This forms a common language and approaches that remove barriers to creative problem-solving and foster seamless collaboration.
To empower people with creative problem-solving capabilities, apply your toolkit to various business challenges. Create a squad of innovation coaches to cascade the approach and become the go-to mentors and ambassadors.
At The Collective, we believe a consistent approach to Fundamentals enables people to work well together. Common language and frameworks help people collaborate and work in a connected, streamlined way, creating joined-up thinking, integrated strategies, and greater effectiveness.
If you would like to know more about our approach to the Fundamentals and how we Unlock Potential Together using the Power of Co, please do get in touch.