Managing with Innovation

What is managing with innovation?

Managing with innovation is all about developing, assessing and initiating activities, procedures and policies that lead to the creation of new or improved value for a business and its customers. This is achieved by creatively adapting one or more aspects of the company system.

Innovation is a common word in commercial circles that tends to get used both appropriately and inappropriately. The word ‘innovation’ comes from the Latin word ‘innovare’, which broadly translated means renewal. In economic terms, innovation is something that presents new advantages or value for a company or society in general. The word management is often used in the context of business and suggests the control and coordination of tasks and processes. Put the two together and managing with innovation can be defined as the methodical advancement of rejuvenation and new thinking in a business through strategy, coordination, management and control.

In real terms, this could be the introduction of new products of services designed specifically to increase market share. Significantly enhancing existing products or services to differentiate them from competitors is also innovation. On a smaller, more internal company level innovation can mean a cost-reducing improvement to an internal process or the development of a business approach that taps into new revenue streams.

Innovation 101

Because innovation is possible in almost every aspect of a company’s operation, managing with innovation can be broken down into a number of sub-categories or types.

Technological innovation

We know already that innovation can refer to the development of new services and products which address specific issues or problems. Technological innovation only focuses on the technical aspects of a product or service, as opposed to the whole product or business model. It should be remembered that innovation isn’t driven just by developments in technology, although advances in technology will often prompt innovation.

Disruptive innovation

In business terms, any innovation that promotes the replacement of an existing or established product or procedure can be regarded as being disruptive. Again, though not all innovations are disruptive. The invention of the motorcar was not disruptive for the transport industry at the time, because cars were out of reach to the majority and therefore horse-drawn vehicles remained dominant for some time.

Social innovation

Innovation that addresses some general social need or purpose can be regarded as social innovation. A couple of workable examples could be crowdfunding or virtual training sessions.

It’s sometimes difficult to fully appreciate what managing with innovation means for a business in practice. To help clarify this we divide managing with innovation into four areas that resonate with the private sector.

Capacity 

Used in the context of innovation capacity refers to an organisations ability to create and embrace innovation. Innovation by default is reliant on people, so capacity is essentially about the human side of innovation. It’s about the knowledge, skills and attitudes of the individuals and teams working for an organization. In addition, though capacity is about the financial and information capital needed to push through innovation.

Structure

Structure and capacity differ in that structure enable capacity to be used effectively. In practical terms, structure refers to an organisations infrastructure and its internal and external policies and procedures. Managing with innovation can only be effective if the organisation is structured correctly. It’s important that the people tasked with introducing innovation have sufficient bandwidth and decision-making authority to move quickly and not get bogged down with bureaucracy.

Company culture

Another important consideration when managing with innovation is the culture of the company. Structure enables capacity, but culture supports capacity. Company culture can determine if the right people are attracted and retained by an organisation and its these people who help create the capacity. A pro-innovation culture promotes and fosters certain behaviours and discourages others. A pro-innovation company culture typically;

• Emphasises the need to be better, bigger or more beneficial
• Appreciates, self-development, decisiveness and calculated risk-taking
• Views failure as a learning opportunity, not something to be chastised
• Advocates and practices empowerment

Strategy

Manging with innovation and strategy are closely intertwined because innovation is really just a technique to help achieve strategic objectives. There are of course examples of unplanned innovation happening, but these tend to be rare. It’s more common that innovation is a goal that forms part of a strategy. Companies should encourage innovation but also be mindful of how this will play into their strategy.

Collaboration 

Innovation doesn’t have to be made in isolation. A collaborative approach to innovation has multiple benefits. As mentioned previously innovation can be focused in specific areas, combining those areas and sharing intel will help address needs quickly and effectively.

Pulled resources 

Businesses that are able to work together benefit from each other in terms of capacity, knowledge pool and competitiveness. All of which, in turn, help to accelerate the innovation process. Partnerships allow start-ups and small businesses to collaborate with established players that can possibly compliment them. Thereby benefiting one another in terms of different perspectives and experiences.

Managing with innovation 

Innovation is something of a buzzword that’s applied to many aspects of business, not always accurately. A definition that works well is the methodical advancement of rejuvenation and new thinking in a business through strategy, coordination, management and control.

Innovation differs. The more familiar innovations tend to be scientific or technical, mainly because these can have practical applications we adopt and use. Innovation can be disruptive, think about Blackberry or Kodak. Innovations that address social wants or needs can be familiar and well received.

Innovation doesn’t have to be a solo journey, collaborating with like-minded companies can produce valuable results and benefits for all parties concerned.

Over to you

Does Managing with innovation resonate with you? Do you proactively manage with innovation? Do you focus on one aspect of innovation in your role or are you part of a wider collaborative approach? Do you want to be more innovative in your approach? Whatever your level of managing with innovation currently is Why Training can help and support you in your endeavors.