How can you implement a successful innovation strategy for the 21st century? TIM DE JARDINE investigates.

This series of articles offers a high-level overview of some systematic and creative strategies that are necessary to drive an effective innovation programme in your organisation, regardless of its size.
Ask the average punter on the street: "What is innovation?" They will most likely link it to some sort of process whereby a new idea or invention is created. This is actually false. Another way of looking at innovation is this: Innovation is a response to questions.

A brief history of corporate innovation

From the mid-1980s, innovation became a buzzword that managers and corporations pushed on their employees. We saw a boom of innovation, facilitated creative thinking, planning and workshops, all aimed at "teaching" innovation to corporate employees. After these workshops your company would become "officially" innovative. At least, so we thought.

By condensing innovation into small sessions or yearly retreats and think-tanks, you may come up with many forced ideas. Few of them are touched or discussed after the retreat. But what about future ideas? Should they wait till next year, or at worst be forgotten once an idea is chosen? Innovation cannot be taught  in one day. It cannot be forced. You cannot dictate and control when and where it happens – or if it happens at all. Innovation is a cultural movement that exists within an organisation. 

The problem with this approach is that innovation, at its highest level, becomes a tick in a box. It is part of a due diligence process and nothing else. In today's corporate environment, innovation is bought and sold, much like  purchasing car insurance.

Innovation today

Ask a CEO about innovation and you are likely to get a muffled response:  they are open to it, they encourage it, perhaps they want to see more of it. Today, innovation is in turmoil. With our quick-fix  mentality and desire for instant results, innovation life cycles very rarely exist. Innovation is classed more as an event. Not much has changed; we are still living with the 1980s model of innovation, but with today's market conditions this does not work in our favour.

This approach to innovation is, in effect, an analytical approach to creativity. An analytical approach suits analysts, who want to tick innovation in a box on a due diligence sheet.
Analytical creativity is an oxymoron. Today, true innovation does not exist in most businesses.
Innovation today neglects a key group of people who know your business and can change your organisation. Creatives. Big picture people, big thinkers, creatives love to work in abstracts with little information. Creatives know how to use their minds as a tool to generate solutions. Creatives see gaps everywhere – in your products, your company, your goals, your employees, your mission, your vision. In everything! And they have solutions!

The only problem is, creatives are not driving innovation. They are being left out of the innovation picture, and in the end this will hurt your company. But creatives are the people who are going to change your organisation and drive you forward.

The creative economy

With the rise of offshoring, outsourcing and downsizing, the job market for the West is changing.  More often than not, jobs are becoming commodities.  They are essentially a bunch of skill sets with decision trees. Some examples: surgery is outsourced to India; computer programming to Brazil. You can even file your taxes overseas. In the offshoring scenario, often the contract goes to the lowest bidder, making the whole process ubiquitous.

When skill is not an issue, the issue becomes price. The demand for local talent in the West for these common roles is likely to diminish. The creative class, thinkers outside the square are on the rise. Creatives know how to use their imagination, think differently and, most of all, the ones who innovate. The creative class will have the ultimate skill in our economy. There is no doubt traditional economies are changing; the focus on analytical skills will shift towards creative skill sets as analytical jobs are offshored.

Ideas as a currency

There was a gold rush in the 1860s. Now we are in the midst of an idea rush. These ideas will bring innovation, and innovation will propel your company into the future, with better revenues.
The rush is to get the smartest and most creative people working for you.  These people will create ideas that will be turned into innovations and then into products, giving you a competitive advantage. 
Ideas create new products, improve operations, change strategies and re-invent your company. But ideas cannot be forced. To make this succeed we must work with the creatives.

Creativity cannot be forced

Innovation is often seen as a generic process. Ideas are identified through a brainstorm; a plan is then plotted and executed. While the plan itself has systematic elements to it, the actual creation of ideas cannot be forced, defined or systematic. Ideas are created through osmosis. They appear randomly, in your own time. Have you ever given your brain instructions, and then within a few days or hours suddenly received an answer? This is how your brain works and this is the most effective way to innovate.

Your brain as a tool

Think of the brain as a stimulus and response mechanism. You ask a question, and you get a response. The catch is, you will not know when the response will occur. If history tells us anything, it is that the solution will come when you least expect it. Your brain  is working for you at all times – while taking a shower, going for a walk, or even dreaming. There are many famous examples of inventors who have had their moment of clarity. It happened when they were not trying to think about anything. These inventors will say that the idea "popped up" or "a light went on in my head". It follows that we need a better approach to innovation, one that allows for creative people in the innovation process and does not just focus on analytical brainstorming sessions.

How often do innovation groups think of an idea and then stop thinking of any more ideas? It's almost like we decide on one, and forget we have the ability to create an unlimited number of ideas. Innovation should be a continuous process, one that happens regardless of settling on an idea or deciding to pursue a project.

This approach does not call for rigid structure or retreats or "sessions". Innovation cannot be forced, it happens. The focus is on capturing it, testing it and using it to your advantage.
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Next issue: new innovation strategies, capturing ideas, building an innovation strategy, executing your ideas, the need for constant innovation.