Driving innovation from within

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Hargraves Institute's annual conference last week. It provides a range of its member companies with an opportunity to show off their recent innovation, leadership and transformation initiatives.

It is a private event, so I can't document the specific examples on show. What struck me as interesting though was the emergence of a clear and common theme: leading companies are increasingly driving innovation from within.

Company after company talked about innovation as a broader organisational process, rather than a focus on specific products or parts of the production chain. In many cases, there were collaborations across work areas and functions that created the right environment for innovative things to occur.

One company dramatically reduced its succession risk and, at the same time, provided emerging talent with a greater sense of importance, well-being and career path options. When the emerging leaders who were part of this process spoke about it, their higher level of engagement shone through. The secret? Designing a process that liberated assets across the organisation rather than sending their emerging talent on 'another management program'.

Another enterprise gave us an insight into its path of reinvention which is significant because it is in an industry that is in decline. It utilised a shared value framework to address the threat to its operating performance (refer to last week's blog to get an understanding of shared value).

The role of consultants and advisers will be challenged if this trend prevails (yikes!). Their role will shift from collaborator to thought-leader, helping to seed the design elements of the work environment rather than a more interventionist approach.

The three key reasons for driving innovation from within are:

1. Quality – higher quality outcomes from strong leadership and high levels of employee engagement;

2. Cost – in this challenging business environment, keeping external costs down is the flavour of the day; and

3. Sustainability – less reliance on external advisers to implement change.

As Mahatma Gandhi said: "Be the change you wish to see.” To drive innovation from within requires more management time and head space, however the productivity benefits look promising.

Phil Preston is an independent practitioner who helps organisations find innovative solutions to performance issues. He can be contacted on phil@philpreston.co .