Here’s What’s Working in Innovation Today

At one point in the not so distant past, the fashionable thing for companies to do was to set up an innovation lab. With it came a dedicated room, foosball table, some bean bag chairs, and a couple of folks charged with leading innovation. But that didn’t work, and we watched the ideas created in the lab struggle to survive in the wild.

Then the pendulum swung in the opposite direction. Innovation was suddenly everybody’s job. Companies declared they would foster a culture of innovation, but they didn’t do enough to teach people how to think about innovation, carve out time for it, or train them on the tools and practices of the craft.

So, it didn’t work in a silo, and it also didn’t work when it was everybody’s job (aka nobody’s job). But what I have seen working really well as of late is a middle ground between the two approaches. 

This observation comes from watching my clients strike a sweet spot that begins first and foremost by investing in training for their teams. Start by identifying a few product and thought leaders from within the organization to train in human-centered design thinking. These leaders – who will now have the ability to lead a Design Sprint or other ideation workshop – can be embedded within different teams to help foster innovation behaviors and serve as peer-to-peer resources. But you can’t stop here and hope it’ll take hold. 

The next step is to make sure people have dedicated time held on their schedules to engage in innovation. Are you allowing product teams to do a Sprint each quarter, or a few labs a year for pure, blue-sky innovation? And are you building performance expectations around innovation activities into employee reviews?

This combination of training, time and accountability yields an organization that can flex the muscle of continuous innovation and discovery. It doesn’t happen accidentally, or without intention.

Many leaders talk about these two extremes, but as the pendulum swings back to the center I can really see the evidence that this approach is starting to work.

How is it being conducted in your organization? What observations have you made? Send me a note via email or LinkedIn to discuss!