Plan Your Innovation Initiative Backwards
Introduction to Module 4
In this module we will look at how to plan your innovation initiative backwards and why this is an effective approach in terms of implementing more ideas than you probably do now.
Pre-questions (questions to think about before moving forward):
- What percentage of ideas generated in your initiative are typically implemented?
- How do you feel about that percentage?
- What do you feel typically impedes the implementation of ideas?
Typical Innovation Initiative Problems
There are two problems many, many innovation initiatives face and these problems often lead to an intiative's eventual failure.
The first problem is that many initiatives focus on ideation without planning through to implementation. As a result, even potential iVision pusher ideas fail to be developed, let alone realised. The second problem is that what people say and what they do, when it comes to innovation, are often very different things. Managers may say they are keen on innovation, but they are actually reluctant to take on the risk and change that comes with implementing a truly innovative idea.
How to Plan Your Initiative Backwards
The way to avoid these problems is to plan your innovation initiative backwards. Identify the processes for approving and implementing various kinds of ideas in your organisation. Then design innovation initiatives to feed ideas into those processes.
To do this, make a list of the decision making managers who would need to approve iVision supporter and iVision pusher ideas. Think broadly. If iVision ideas are about your product, then you not only need to involve product designers, but also research and development, marketing, sales and your legal divisions as well as others.
Once you have done this, make an appointment with each to talk about change.
Talk about Change
Why should you make an appointment to talk about change, rather than innovation?
Do so because, if innovation is being hyped in your organisation, and the fact that you are working on this initiative, suggests that it is, questions about innovation are likely to lead to overly optimistic answers. Division heads will want to feel that they are positive contributors to innovation and so are likely to describe unrealistically easy approval processes, not because they are dishonest of course, but because they believe they are more open to innovative change than they really are.
So, rather than ask them about innovation, ask them about change. After all, implementing innovative ideas usually involves change, a topic about which most people (aside from change management consultants) are far less optimistic.
Specifically, ask them about recent changes that have been implemented in their divisions or which they have been involved in. Start by discussing the change and then work backgwards from the implementation of the change, to the development of the ideas behind the change to the original idea or inspiration. Ask about each approval, hurdle and difficulty the change faced.
If there have been no big changes recently, or you feel that the changes described are not relevant to the changes that result from innovation, create a hypothetical innovation and frame it in terms change. Then ask the decision how such a change could come about, again by working backwards as much as possible.
Irrespective of whether you talk about an actual change or a hypothetical one, document the process and have the decision maker confirm the accuracy of the documented process.
Collect, Review and Find Commonalities
Once you have spoken to decision making managers, look at and compare the documented implementation processes. Can you reduce your collection to a smaller number of processes, ideally just one? Likewise, look for ways to simplify complex processes. If your marketing department has a more streamlined approval method than your design department, discuss it with the design department and try and convince them to modify their process. Of course, this may not work in overly territorial organisations.
Ideally, you want to reduce approval, development and implementation into as few streamlined processes as possible.
Three Things You Should Know about Approvers
There are a three things you should bear in mind as you look at the approval process in your organisation. Firstly, this is usually the biggest challenge. New ideas involve risk and change, two things managers tend not to like. Once an idea is approved, development and implementation are usually straightforward.
Secondly, in any given organisation, there tend to be a lot of people who can reject a proposal and relatively few with the power to authorise one. The quicker you can route an idea to a decision maker who can say, "do it", the more likely you are to get an idea approved.
Thirdly, approving new ideas is often about power, particularly in bureaucratic organisations. Complex approval processes are often more about demonstrations of power and importance than about efficacy. Unfortunately, bureaucratic organisations also tend to be the most risk-averse, so you may have a challenge slimming down the approval process. Where possible, identify people who are more likely to approve new ideas and route processes through them.
Document Innovation Processes and Sign Them Off
Once you have designed your streamlined processes for approval, development and implementation, label them as "Innovation Processes", document them and bring them to the decision making managers. Get their approval and then get them to sign off the process. If they question shortcuts or aspects of your process, negotiate with them in order to retain as much simplicity as possible. Often, indicating that other managers have signed off on the same or similar processes will help, particularly with insecure managers.
Voilà
You have now completed the most difficult part of your innovation initiative! You have documented and approved processes for getting ideas, especially iVision pushers and supporters, from your initiative approved, developed and implemented. The next step is to design initiatives to feed into these processes, which we will look at in the next lesson.
Worksheet Questions
Download the worksheet: | OpenOffice format | MS Word format |
- Who are the decision makers who would need to approve your iVision pusher and supporter ideas?
- What are the changes, real and/or hypothetical, that you can ask each decision maker about?
