Do you feel the urge (to innovate)?

The call to innovate has never been stronger given the current market challenges. The dilemma faced by many organizations is that reality is never simple and often there is a significant mindset block in tackling how innovation requires a change in Operating Model.

The fear of failure, loss of influence or power, lack of control and inability to trust in a guaranteed outcome block changes. How do organizations navigate this?

To truly leverage innovation, you need a plan:

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail

Benjamin Franklin

Information + No Insight = No Strategy

No strategy? Leaders need to step up to the call to action and develop a plan to utilize innovation. This plan must address people, process and technology. Hoping technology adoption will happen just through training is over simplistic – what does it mean for the user experience? The innovation needs to deliver a well thought out advantage and resolve the WIIFME (What’s In It For Me) ‘balancing act’ across the end-to-end process. Innovation for innovation sake is not a plan. The strategy needs to be clear, insightful and deliver value.

Investment, leadership sponsorship, ‘A’ team formation are of course the usual prerequisites.

Still keen to to innovate? Establish a super user audience to ensure your strategy is smart. Even the best innovation can result in a ‘hot mess’ which will be considered as a ‘great idea, just badly executed’ if there is no clear understanding of the outcome benefits and process to capture value.

Know your audience! Transform the mindset.

This is Cognitive.