Five things on innovation marketplaces

I recently helped a fairly large company on the intersection of innovation and networks/relationships touching on issues such as:

• creating an informal platform where employees can share ideas and build on them together
• making employees understand the value of relationships and develop tools that can help grow their networking skills
• increasing the strength of internal relationships between employees and upon that develop stronger external ties

We held several short informal sessions in which we discussed how innovation and entrepreneurship could flourish even better in the company. Rather than PowerPoint shows, the sessions were more like speaker interviews and discussion groups. We got great feedback from the participants and I am now wondering whether we should turn this into what can be termed as an internal innovation market place.

I have arrived on five things to consider when you want to create a successful internal innovation marketplace. It is still work in progress and I appreciate your feedback. Here we go…

1. Short length, high frequency
Hold short, but frequent sessions on relevant topics. Time is the undisputed key factor in business today and you must give your people as many chances to connect with each other while spending as little time as possible. Consider lunch-and-learn sessions; everyone has to eat so why not do it while you interact with others.

2. Turn sessions into a platform
There is no shortage of people with ideas. But there is a shortage of people who excel in bringing the ideas out their own minds and into the organisation.
You could turn the sessions into a platform where you receive, share and develop ideas. Such platforms are missing in many companies.

• Use boards – physical at the sessions as well as virtual – on which employees can briefly explain their ideas and get in touch with each other.

• Use facilitators (well connected employees) who can help less connected colleagues get in touch with each other.
• Use elevator pitches at the sessions. Give employees three minutes to explain their idea and their needs. The response from their peers will provide a strong indicator whether to move forward with the ideas.

Many companies say they have platforms for receiving ideas. Sometimes it is just a mail box. That is OK as long as you avoid the worst mistake; no follow-up and no on-going communication with those who submit ideas.

3. Make managers see the bigger picture
Managers will have two main concerns on internal innovation marketplaces. How do we manage time spent and how do we manage our project portfolio?

Fair enough, but I do not think this will be a problem.

People working on projects in which they are driven by passion will find the time to work on it. Their day jobs will not suffer.

The idea generation should be monitored and managed in order to make sure it fits into the overall portfolio strategy. Keep the reporting mechanisms as loose as possible and have managers spend time on understanding what is going on in this new environment. They should focus not only on ideas; identifying the opportunities these new internal ties can generate is equally important.

4. Make decisions faster
Of course, the employees should use the market place to solicit input and feedback from each other. But you could also develop a decision-making tool for the ideas. Let’s call this a Pitch Pit.

Imagine an open session in which teams present their ideas to senior managers with the authority to make go / no-go decisions on the spot. The managers should do exactly that.

A “go” should get result in the necessary resources (time to work on the idea, access to other parts of the organisation and financial support) in order to determine whether the project is worthwhile.

If given a “no-go”, the idea should be killed effectively – or merged with other ideas into something else that could address significant needs. This is a great opportunity for letting marketplace facilitators contribute with their overview and networking skills.

5. Use wiki-style project sites
For knowledge sharing and learning purposes, wiki-style project sites should be established. Such sites could also include a vote-of-trust mechanism enabling everyone to see how much the organisation believe in the specific idea. The transparency and co-collaboration in these sites should be part of the preparation for senior managers before their appearance in the Pitch Pit.

An innovation marketplace addresses the issues mentioned earlier. Projects will be formed across organisational silos and by working on real – although early stage – projects employees really get to know each other. Such relationships will be worth a lot even though many projects will fail.

Innovation market places and business plan competitions which I have mentioned in other blog postings are strong tools for growing businesses while transforming corporate culture.

Why not let them work alongside the more traditional and structured innovation approaches?