Enabling an innovative culture in an organisation means having a clear path from the initial creation of an idea, within its journey and through to its desired outcome. Many steps along the way can often cause great ideas to fail and remain locked away, waiting for their opportunity to emerge.
As with all initiatives, the innovation process requires an infrastructure system, people, processes, investment and time to ensure initiatives are set up for success from the very start. Many steps, however, may equal many potential points of failure.
Let's look here at a potential first point of failure. We are ready to respond to the initial demand from a system that promises to give employees a voice in the new innovation culture. We have introduced a shiny new system to capture our ideas, and all permissions are set up. Communication has been issued notifying the audience how they can raise their great ideas, comment and score other ideas, and collaborate. Employees feel engaged and empowered and overwhelm the system with their Ideas. To support this demand, we need to have communicated such critical information as the cycle for closing dates for submitting ideas, reviewing ideas, and feedback.
It is vital that we have set up the infrastructure to support this cycle and that we can meet the expectations of a now engaged and empowered workforce.
First impressions are essential, and if you do not deliver on your initial promises, you may be susceptible to failure before you even start. To prevent failure at the first step, it would be wise to set up a network of champions. These people represent key areas, regions or expertise within the company. These trusted advisors should be allocated time to fulfil their champion role by acting as a conduit across their regions, between team members and management. They help set expectations and are a vital part of a vibrant engagement culture throughout the organisation. An effective champions network can be instrumental in creating a thriving innovation culture and preventing the threat of failure.
CPS can help you elevate your innovation processes, capture great ideas and support your colleagues within your organisation. We can help you align your approach and strategy clearly and provide practical principles to mitigate risks and build efficiencies towards a thriving innovation platform.
Contact us at hello@cps.co.uk or visit our website to find out more
Author
John is an experienced Programme and Project Management Consultant with extensive experience in successfully delivering product solutions to facilitate business process transformation. He has successfully delivered change in all business sectors within the end-to-end project lifecycle, from business engagement to deployment and support, using agile and waterfall methodologies.
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