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Innovation – the phrase, still very much attached to the romantic notion of intuitiveness and a sudden flare of genius, sparks dread in many in the corporate world. Innovation – as glorious as the notion is – is still an elusive concept, and while it is an enterprise must-have it can be difficult to put our finger on why exactly the innovative process is stunted in an organization.
prooV’s The 4 Biggest Barriers to Innovation and How to Overcome Them e-book recognizes 4 problem areas, based on the expertise of prooV’s PoC advisors who are in touch with customers looking for a streamlined innovation solution every day. What of course has to be recognized is that innovation is not a linear process in most organizations – and it shouldn’t be either. It should, on the other hand, be a well managed one, to make sure you don’t bump into one of the innovation obstacles.
Failure to innovate
The terrifying diagnosis – failure to innovate is a potentially terminal corporate illness. We still have Kodak, JCPenny or Yahoo around – still running on their long lost glory, but not much else. All these companies lost track of their industry and the changing world around them.
An engineer with Kodak famously developed the first consumer digital camera in 1975, but management was not willing to take any risks – with everything going well for them in the film-dominated market they stifled the new product before it could take a breath of air on the consumer market.
Or take Segway – an innovative new transportation solution, that made it into a product, and even a much-hyped company – but failed to read the crowd when it went to market. Was it too good for its age? Did it come too early? What’s for sure is that people didn’t know what to do and where to ride their new-age vehicles – which, not unimportantly, came with the price tag of a new motorcycle.
Streamlining innovation
An enterprise set up for innovation does not only involve a clear line of decision-makers higher up on the hierarchic ladder, but also nurtures a system that allows the organization to be responsive, to listen to inner and outer signals and understand when it’s time to change – not too early and not too late, when to look for the right new solution that answers a need from the corporate or customer side.
This same culture needs to understand, that innovation, renewal, and change are not optional. They are a must. The world changes faster than ever – and this change needs to be engraved into the very nature of the corporate culture. The innovative thought, that spark that starts it all should not be put out but nurtured by everyone with the hope that it will lead to the next great thing.
Troubleshoot your way into innovation
With the prooV 4 barriers e-book you get a tool that will help you pinpoint where innovation is stuck in your organization. Is the problem communication? Is it difficult for new ideas, problems to fix to pass to the next level of the corporate hierarchy? Or is it a matter of streamlining your processes? Download our e-book for some expert help and avoid the fate of so many who failed to tame the innovative process – and missed out on benefitting from its mighty powers.
