Manufacturing Executive - September 2008 - (Page 20)

lisa bodell/opinion The Right Innovation Model i F Appointing an innovation chief is a start, but companies serious about developing innovation strategies should decide what role the innovation team should play. to take. My question is: What role is your team playing, and is it the right one for your organization? There are many factors to consider as you make your decision. Here are the most important ones: • Democratise or localise? If your goal is to make teams at ever y level in your organization accountable for innovation, your best bet would be to select a facilitator role. On the other hand, you may want to localize your innovation efforts so that the rest of the organization can focus on “business as usual.” In that case, an incubator role is ideal. • Level of innovation activity. If your business units currently engage in limited innovation activity, you’re better off creating an incubator team that can focus on breakthrough innovation. However, if your business units already have a good level of innovative activity under way, they may only need a little push from a facilitator. • Skills and capabilities. If your business units have the skills and capabilities to innovate but they have not been tapped adequately, I would recommend the role of a facilitator. However, if you believe that your people do not have the skills to produce breakthrough innovations, then you should strongly consider an incubator model. • Time frames. A facilitator model is best if you can afford the long time frames required to spread the spirit of innovation far and wide throughout the organization. However, if you need to quickly begin working on groundbreaking ideas, an incubator model is what you need. Creating a title and appointing an executive to head innovation sends a strong signal that you’re serious about organic growth. Crafting an appropriate role for this position will help you move forward in leaps and bounds. ■ L i s a B o d e l l is chief executive officer of futuret h i n k t (www.getfuturethink.com), which of fers the world’s largest catalog of innovation research and tools to help organizations better innovate. ’ve noticed that many companies have lately appointed heads of innovation. The titles may var y — chief innovation officer, global innovation head, senior VP — but the intent is the same. The goal is to have a single resource who manages innovation efforts. Don’t get me wrong — I think it’s a noble idea. Orphaned innovation efforts tend to be diluted and haphazard. My point is that designating someone to oversee innovation is just half the battle. In fact, there’s a lot more decision making required to make this position and, therefore, your innovation efforts, more effective. Primarily, it comes down to the role that an innovation team plays within an organization. I’ve seen two broad roles that innovation teams typically adopt. One is a facilitator model, in which one team acts as the innovation coach to the rest of the organization. The second is the role of an incubator, a team that takes raw ideas and manages them all the way to launch. Take a look at these two very different examples: • Facilitators at Nokia: Nokia’s Global Customer Insights Group is a corporate function whose primary responsibility is to help the company’s business units make better portfolio planning and new product concept decisions. • Incubators at Siemens: Siemens’ Corporate Technology group sits on top of all of the company’s disparate business units. This group has access to 5% of the company’s R&D budget. Its goal is to look at trends five to 10 URTHER READING years out, identify projects that cut ARTICLES: across business ❏ Innovation: Why Are So Many lines, and run them Coming Up Short? www.managingautomation.com from start to finish. /innovationpoll These are two ❏ Lighting Up Innovation fundamentally difwww.managingautomation.com ferent roles, and /pmroundtableinnovate both are valid paths 2008 20 September Photo courtesy: futurethink http://www.managingautomation.com/innovationpoll http://www.getfuturethink.com http://www.managingautomation.com/pmroundtableinnovate

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Manufacturing Executive - September 2008

Manufacturing Executive - September 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Opinion By David Humphrey Starters Road Trip Part 1: Innovation or Efficiency? Part 2: The Innovation Gap Opinion By Lisa Bodell Special Report: Great Aspirations Supply Chain: The New Money Machine Product Design: Fruehauf Gets into High Gear with 3D CAD Business Intelligence: Food Distributor Turns Up the Heat on Manufacturers Software: Manufacturers Face SaaS Hurdles Dialogue Opinion By Pierfrancesco Manenti

Manufacturing Executive - September 2008

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