I do believe we have mentioned the report "7 circles of innovation" - made by Danish Center for Leadership - here on CPH127 before. The report is based on analysis of 449 Danish companies, an academic
advisory board of international scientist and an advisory board with
practionaries from 6 of the most innovative companies in Denmark
Even though we have written about the report before, I thought I present some of the findings in more detail this time around. Partly, because I don’t believe that the report is available in English but mostly because the report focus on more than just the innovation process, which has been a popular topic on CPH127 in the past. Apart from the (typical) innovation process and the market, the fundamentals of innovation is defined, giving us a list of what businesses (professional service firms and others) should have in place in order to have any ambition in terms of innovation.
Strategy
In order for innovation projects to be successful, the ambition of
innovation has to be reflected in the business through a flexible and
clearly communicated strategy.
Culture; Team; Empowerment
Innovation is born in a strong culture where value-systems accepts
mistakes which enables learning and where questioning processes and
products are encouraged.
Successful teams has to be built specifically related to each project and
purpose and should include all necessary competencies from across the
organization.
It has to be emphasized that people should work independently and taking own initiatives.
Cooperation
To build and nurture external networks and collaboration with
universities and research centers is an important part of doing
business and should be a natural part of the business ways of work. In
addition it is important to collaborate with customers, suppliers, partners and other stakeholders.
Structure & Measurement
All involved in a business should have an overview of what others are doing, a clear and written procedure for innovation processes should be established and the organizations competencies should be mapped and developed to create the relevant structure for innovation.
Fixed procedures for evaluating innovation projects should be established in order to re-evaluate and improve the business strategy and structure for future innovation projects.
Change management
In order to create new value and implement the above the business need change management. In order to get a view on this subject one could look at Kotter’s change phases model.
What do you think? Do you miss any fundamental part that businesses need to take into account if they want to build an innovative business?
One comment so far
I wrote a lengthy and rambling response to this on my blog. Essentially saying that I would consider before all this, a company needs to be healthy by knowing and being able to articulate its vision and brand. Otherwise it is usually (generalization) handled incorrectly within an organization.