Don’t Overrate Innovation Teams
I interact with corporate innovation teams on a daily basis. Many of these teams are full of great, competent people working hard to make innovation happen and I have lots of respect for these people and their efforts. But we should not overrate the value of such teams…
We need to understand – and always remember – that innovation happens through the business units; not through innovation teams. This team is indeed important, but beyond setting the strategy with the innovation committee (executives and business unit heads) their role is to help make innovation happen at the business units. They are facilitators; highly valuable and skilled facilators as well as integrators in the sense that they often have to bring external input into their pool of internal resources.
If a company builds the perception that the responsibility for innovation to flourish belongs only to a team of competent and hard-working people, they are in deep trouble because they have missed a very important point. Innovation happens on the intersection of the company and the market. It happens at the business units.
Just a reminder to myself – and others.
Hi, I totally agree. I often see innovation teams as a fig leave for the business units. The BUs can continue to optimize their current business while the innovation teams are there for the breakthrough innovation. But this does not work because the power in firms is where the ressources (cash) is. And that is in the BUs.
If a great innovation would come out of the innovation team that harms the current business, BUs will kill it since they are the kings of the cash. That is the basic idea behind the ressource allocation theory, Christensen based his idea of disruptive innovation on.
Nice to be reminded of this important mindset!
What if…. the innovation team is partially composed by BUs members… and in the other way around… what if in the BUs there are some moles from the innovation teams.
…then you are on the right track – you need good integration between these functions.
I strongly agree and what i found which really helps with expediting some innovative ideas is the fact that the innovation team has the backing of the leadership in the organisation. Innovation is as much a culture as client centricity therefore if the EXCO can adopt such a culture and give the innovation team the mandate to be the catalyst for innovation in an organisation, then the barriers from the BU heads are then lowered as the decision comes from the top. However the innovation team needs to keep their heads in the cloud their feet on the ground so that they can understand the current situation and how that innovative idea will impact current operations and be able to sell the bigger picture which should bring value and benefits to the organisation