Building an innovation map
"What is happening to innovation here?"
Rishi, the head of innovation, wonders why his staff isn't picking great innovation problems for sharktanks and hackathons.
Clara is a software engineer who has been to a few hackathons and has now become cynical about internal innovation because "nothing happens after that".
Mikel, an HR Business Partner, knows innovation is a huge source of meaningful employee engagement in his teams, but doesn't know how to quantify or qualify it.
Mira, a site head and VP, is frustrated that everyone in her org is happy merely collecting ideas and executing idea showcases. She knows an unambiguously big ticket outcome is needed.
In our work with leadership and innovation teams, we see these emotions play out all the time.
Attempting to improve innovation culture and output inside your organisation? You may repeatedly run into the problem of coherence. It's easy to initiate a hackathon, a patent program, an idea platform, and a seminar series. But threading these activities together as a pleasing and impactful whole can be elusive. The result: feelings of fragmentation, dissonance, and underwhelming impact.
In our work with such companies, we've found it useful to construct an innovation map, like the one you see here:
The map plays multiple roles: while at its simplest, it's a communication device, it can be...
...a compass
...a system analyzer that reveals holes and misalignments
...a counselling tool to help innovators get unstuck
...a strategic tool to answer the big questions for innovation programs
This may look just like an innovation funnel, but there's more. A funnel implies linear paths; this enables multi-linear movement. Also, prevailing mindsets lead intrapreneurs to jump to the Ideation phase and think that getting to Iteration is enough. Instead, the map helps you realise that you need to strengthen your Inspiration zone and think carefully about what Impact really is.
So has your org stalled on innovation? Try such a map. (Get in touch for more details on how to do this mapping exercise.)