Your Organisation's iVision
Introduction to Module 1: iVision (Innovation Vision)
In this module, we look at your organisation's innovation vision (iVision), its relationship to strategy and why it needs to be the centre of your innovation initiative.
Pre-questions (questions to think about before moving forward):
- What would you say is the focus of you innovation initiative now?
- What is your organisation's strategic vision? Do you know what it is or would you have to look it up?
- What are the big innovations to come out of your organisation in recent years?
What Is an iVision?
Your innovation vision (or, "iVision" for short) should be the same as your strategic vision. If your organisation has a concise, clear and meaningful strategic vision, you can simply use it and not have to worry about an iVision. However, if your company does not have a defined strategic vision, or the vision is overly broad or the vision is too vague, you may have to define a strategic vision to use as the focus of your innovation. However, unless you are in top management, you probably do not have the authority to define a "strategic vision" or change an existing one. Hence, you should call your version of the company's strategic vision an "iVision" so as not to appear presumptuous or step on anyone's toes.
However, you will need a strategic vision or iVision in order to innovate successfully.
Why Your Strategic Vision (or iVision) Needs to Be the Heart of Your Innovation Initiative
Your company's strategic vision defines where it is going, your corporate values and how you are different from the competition. Innovation that moves your company in alignment with your strategic vision moves your company forward, it reinforces your values and enhances your differentiation. It keeps you at the forefront of your market as your corporate leaders have defined your market. Innovation in alignment with strategic vision is by far more valuable than innovation that has nothing to do with your strategic vision.
To look at it another way, think about companies that are iconic for their innovation, such as Apple (particularly under Steve Jobs's leadership), AirBnB and Amazon. Visit their corporate web pages and you will hardly (if at all) see the word, "innovate" and its derivatives. Look at similar companies in these areas, and their corporate pages are full of the words, "innovate", "innovation" and "innovative".
Another thing the three example companies have in common is they are all run by leaders who have embraced a particular strategic vision. They see innovation not as an end or a sexy word to use in corporate literature, but as a tool that enables them to pursue their visions and stay at the forefront of their industries. Amazon's strategic vision statement is, "To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online." Every innovation that helps them in their aim puts them further ahead of every other on-line shop. Such innovations are far more valuable than innovations that have nothing to do with that vision.
Assuming that the aim of your innovation initiative is to add value through new ideas, to keep ahead of the competition and to remain relevant in this fast changing world, you also want to focus innovation on your strategic vision or your iVision.
Good strategic visions
What is your organisation's strategic vision? Is it suitable for your iVision? Let's look at a couple more vision statements from recognised innovative companies.
Instagram's strategic vision statement is "Capture and share the world’s moments." That is clear, concise and has room for innovating. Technology ensures there will be an increasing number of ways to capture moments and social media has shown that people love to share moments. This invites technological innovation as well as innovation into how users can interact and share.
Wikipedia's strategic vision statement is "Imagine a world in which every single person is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge." It also clear, focused, sufficiently original to distinguish it from other organisations compiling knowledge. It certainly makes for a good iVision.
If your company's strategic vision is likewise clear, focused and original, you can and should use it as the focus of your innovation initiative. You can and should use it as your iVision. You can even choose not to use the term "iVision"; you can just use the term "strategic vision".
Not So Good Strategic Visions
However, there are organisations whose strategic vision either does not exist, is too vague, is too broad or is otherwise not suitable for your innovation initiative. If your organisation falls into this category, you will need to craft a separate strategic-like vision to use as your iVision.
For example, a US carmaker once used this as their strategic vision: "GM’s vision is to be the world leader in transportation products and related services. We will earn our customers’ enthusiasm through continuous improvement driven by the integrity, teamwork, and innovation of GM people." It is lofty and visionary, but covers way too much ground and uses difficult to quantify terms.
Yet other organisations do not have strategic visions. If your company is one of these, you will need to formulate an iVision yourself.
Likewise, government bodies may not have strategic vision statements as such, although they usually have a defined purpose which may function as an iVision.
Clarifying or Defining Your iVision
In an ideal world, if you did not have a strategic you would inform the CEO of a lack of a strategic vision and ask her to advise you. If you can do that, do! However, we do not live in an ideal world and it is likely such a request is not realistic. In this case, you should craft an iVision on your own or in collaboration with your innovation team.
In order to craft an iVision, start by answering these questions:
- What does your organisation do?
- How does it differentiate itself from the competition?
- What do you not do, that customers might think you do?
- What values, if any, are communicated as being important to the organisation?
- Ask people who do not work at your organisation what they think you do.
- If your organisation advertises, what do those advertisements stress?
- What descriptive words are used repeatedly on your web site?
- What aspects of your company do you take pride in?
- How do you expect your products and/or services to change over the next five years?
- Do you have any unusual (for your sector) corporate values or ethics? What are they?
- What are the most recent big innovations your organisation has launched?
- Describe your organisation in a tweet (ie 140 characters or fewer).
Ideally wait a day or two after answering these questions. Then return to them and add any additional information
Using your answers for guidance, identify what your company does, its values, how it is different from competitors and where it is going. Focus particularly on what makes your company different, whether it is a matter of ethics, product differentiation, way of working or a combination of these. Try to formulate these key points into a sentence or two.
Unfortunately, defining an iVision for your organisation is beyond the scope of this on-line training. If you need help, please contact me (contact info is below).
Your iVision is Allowed to Change
You may find, as you go through this course and put it into practice, that your iVision could be improved. That's OK. Improve it and tweak it as you wish. But be careful of making a big change without good reason. Your iVision provides direction for your innovation initiative. Changing it radically will require a change in your innovation direction as well.
But It It Necessary
An iVision is necessary for your innovation initiative, as will become apparent in this course. If you are not ready to craft a formal iVision statement, I suggest you create a provisional one to use for this course − and you can craft a formal one later.
Worksheet questions
Download the worksheet: | OpenOffice format | MS Word format |
- What is your organisation's strategic vision?
- Can you use it as your iVision? Why/Why not?
- If not, craft an iVision − a provisional one is okay for now.
- Describe a couple of recent innovations in the context of your strategic vision or iVision.
End of Module 1
This completes module one. Click the link below when you are ready to move on to module 2.
