(Courtesy of paulachang.com)
The folks over at “The Heart of Innovation” (Ideachampions.com) have come up with an excellent post delineating 50 ways organizations can keep that innovative edge. (There is also an article in the Jan 2008 issue of Leadership Excellence that talks about forming a culture of innovation.)
Some of the 50 are nuances of others, but in general the list is very helpful and hits on important topics that I agree with wholeheartedly. These guidelines can be used to flesh out the GROW! acronym.
Some of my favorites?
2. Wherever you can, whenever you can, always drive fear out of the workplace. Fear is “Public Enemy #1″ of an innovative culture.
14. Embrace and celebrate failure. 50 to 70 per cent of all new product innovations fail at even the most successful companies. The main difference between companies who succeed at innovation and those who don’t isn’t their rate of success — it’s the fact that successful companies have a LOT of ideas, pilots, and product innovations in the pipeline.
39. Avoid extreme time pressures.
I would also add a corollary to #14:
51. Don’t make a project upon which your business depends be the Flagship Project for innovation at your company. You’ll be sure to violate one or more of the preceding 50 rules if you do.
I would also clarify point 25: “Select and install idea management software for your intranet.”
Idea management software, while nice to have, is by no means required. If you’ve got an intranet and certain directories available to everyone, you can set up your own idea depository/database and make it as interactive as you want.
Do you have any you’d add to their list?
