Challenges to Innovation

Think about some of the most innovative companies in the world, Airbnb or Uber, for example. The technology behind their products is not exceptional or groundbreaking: geo-localised content on a website and mobile app. However, their business models are innovative. They found a loophole and were able to connect demand with a previously untapped supply in a new way. This is innovation in action.

Unfortunately, very few companies actually get it right. Innovation has become a bit of an overused buzzword nowadays. A lot of companies are out there preaching about innovative work cultures or talking about how they’ve transformed their company to become more innovative. In reality, a lot of these companies have a misguided approach to innovation, one that prevents innovation from actually happening.

To have an innovative work culture, your entire workforce has to become innovative. A lot of times, you will find companies who set up an Innovation Lab or Centre that is headed by a Chief Innovation Officer with the expectation that this will automatically make the whole company innovative. It doesn’t work that way. To set up systems that enable innovation, you’ll first need to understand what it actually means.

Misconceptions About Innovation

Think about someone who works a postal route. What does this person actually do? Their role is the effective passage of information. If they find a way to get that information to you faster, that’s innovation.

Often, you’ll find the words innovation and disruption being used interchangeably. Disruption is a big bang, it’s something that flips the status quo. Innovation, on the other hand, is about smaller, incremental changes that add up and transform your business for the better. It’s about improving on processes to be more efficient. It’s about using technology in interesting ways to solve a problem.

You’ll find that a lot of top-level leaders get caught up with this idea of innovation. They see competitors setting up innovation labs, and don’t want to be left behind. So they set up innovation labs of their own. They hire people who are well-versed in technology and various digital platforms, and build a team dedicated solely to digital innovation. The mindset tends to be “we have people working on innovation and therefore, we are becoming innovative and progressive.”. This is innovation for innovation’s sake, and it’s not an effective approach.