In recent months, I’ve been excited to see an uptick in references to innovation management. I’ve noticed this in conference proceedings and industry publications. Innovation management is a little known field focused on precisely that – managing innovation. In practice, this may vary some by industry but there are several overarching components innovation managers cite as areas of importance. Before we get into the details, let’s pull back and start with some basics.
What is innovation management?
Innovation management is the systematic process through which an organization develops a new product, service, process, or business model. The purpose of innovation management is to provide greater value for stakeholders, which in turn enables the organization to remain competitive.
Why does innovation management matter?
Innovation experts agree that “like quality, innovation is everyone’s job.” (Jones et al., 2016). I concur. Just like with any goal, innovation goals are more likely to be achieved if managed using a comprehensive, intentional, methodological approach rather than leaving the outcome up to individual efforts and whims. An innovation management strategy allows organizations to target resources and hone collective energy. As organizations grow, more and more departments compete for resources. An overarching strategy provides consistency in how the organization assesses risk and allocates resources. Additionally, not all departments or people are equipped to successfully develop, vet, implement, and sustain innovative initiatives. Organizations form an innovation management strategy to organize and draw on expertise of innovation leaders, project managers, and others who have chosen to focus their career on driving change.
What does innovation management look like in practice?
Every organization is different, and therefore, the exact steps to developing and implementing an approach to innovation may not look the same, but there are some general phases (Pertuz and Perez, 2020; Praxie, 2021). The phases outlined below are drawn from a variety of sources as well as my own experience. Keep in mind these phases are not necessarily linear and many phases will be repeated when considering a specific initiative.
Phases:
- Exploration – identify core problems to which the organization seeks solutions
- Definition (aka Strategy Construction) – identify the best ways to prototype ideas for innovations which may help to solve the core problems
- Testing & Learning – get feedback from stakeholders
- Building a Business Case – outline the value added by this innovation and the costs associated with it to ensure the investment will yield an actual return
- Implementation – develop and launch the idea as a tangible solution that truly addresses the original problem
- Evaluation – measure the impact of innovation and the process by which the innovation was achieved
Research-Based Best Practices
Jones and colleagues (2016) identified five broad themes influencing the future of innovation management that any leader should consider when developing an innovation management strategy:
- Partnerships – invest in partnerships and break down barriers to forming or sustaining partnerships.
- Process – build processes that link open innovation with intentional innovation management strategies, integrate big data, and apply research-based rigorous processes to managing innovation.
- Position – understand local needs.
- People – tap into the energy and talent of millennials, attract and retain talented team members.
- Profession – identify and apply approaches to evaluating the value of innovation and management strategies to further establish innovation management as a profession.
What is the current landscape of innovation management practices?
In general, most businesses identify their innovation management as “developing” when asked if their innovation management practices are nascent, developing or mature. Additionally, most organizations are striving to identify ways to create more disciplined innovation processes (Jones et al., 2016). Furthermore, most organizations are unsure how to measure the value of innovation and assess the effectiveness of innovation approaches. This leads to limited resources being dedicated to innovation management, which slows the development of effective processes.
In higher education, IF a college or university has an innovation management strategy it is usually housed in a dedicated office or center where the leader reports to the president or the provost. These centers for innovation typically include employees dedicated to furthering strategic innovation with expertise in research, project management, product development (IT), and other areas aligned with strategic priorities (e.g., DEI). These centers also often control funding for innovative initiatives proposed across the college. The purpose of these centers is, obviously, to drive innovation. They do that in alignment with established priorities, by responding to department-specific proposals, and by soliciting calls for strategic and innovative proposals. A dedicated office or center is key to driving intentional, proactive change in large, bureaucratic organizations while incorporating ideas from diverse perspectives.
Closing thoughts…
While the research is clear that strategic innovation must be driven by a dedicated leader with a comprehensive innovation management strategy, others aspects, such as how to execute on an established strategy, are less obvious. One great place to start is by aligning strategic planning processes with innovation management. Doing so through a distributed approach enables executive leaders to draw on the ideas and expertise of team members at all levels. Empower department leaders to dream big and think innovatively, and then incorporate their goals into the planning process. Solicit feedback on strategic goals and innovation strategies from as many stakeholders as possible. We are all stronger when we consider perspectives beyond our own.
