One thing is certain in 2021: disruption persists. And another thing that is certain is our organizations must adapt and innovate to handle these challenges. So, while we may feel like we are on a never-ending roller coaster ride, the good news is that organizations are learning to innovate in new ways that are faster and more flexible.
To gather some insights on how to better enable post-disruption innovation, I recently talked with Stephen Wunker and Charlotte Desprat from New Markets Advisors about five innovation practices they’ve identified for post-disruption success.
Embrace Uncertainty
One successful way to embrace uncertainty is via futurecasting, a disciplined method of determining what your company’s future can be. Scenario planning is an important part of futurecasting. Five steps, according to Stephen and Charlotte, can carry an organization through the complexities of scenario planning:
1. Identify the trends affecting your business
2. Separate what you know from what you don’t know
3. Map it out
4. Don’t ignore the worst-case scenario
5. Keep adapting
Through approaches like scenario planning, analyzing trends, and an uncertainty matrix (which plots the accessibility of data against the uncertainty around risks and assumptions), it’s easier to evaluate the most probable futures as well as the more extreme ones. This vision of the future then provides the context for determining the organization’s path forward.
Innovate with a Purpose
Possibly the most consistent advice from APQC across disciplines is to align efforts with organizational strategy. It’s an often-neglected fundamental first step that ensures the journey is headed in the right direction. This advice is in sync with what Stephen and Charlotte shared: Innovation is a means to an end, and the end should be defined for innovation to be truly impactful.
In a continuously disrupted world, organizations don’t have time and resources to be innovative just for the sake of being innovative. Innovation is needed to adapt and solve tangible problems. And it is important to ensure that resources aren’t diverted. Leaders need to ask hard strategic questions, have challenging conversations about the organization’s tolerance for risk, and think about timing and timelines.
Innovation is Not Just Another Word for ‘New Product’
Innovation should not be seen as just a synonym for new products. The global pandemic and resulting disruption showed us that operational innovation (doing things differently) and business model innovation (changing how your organization goes to market) are vital for longer-term survival. Many organizations pivoted—while keeping a customer-focused mindset—due to the disruption. Consider some of these changes.
- Restaurants shifted to pick-up and delivery models.
- Grocery and retail stores implemented curbside pickup and delivery services.
- Movie theaters became private party venues.
- Religious organizations shifted to virtual livestreaming for their services.
- Schools and universities moved to online learning models.
- Employees who could work from home did (and many still are).
- Virtual happy hours (i.e., social events held via videoconferencing) became a thing.
In addition to having a strong customer focus for your innovation, APQC and New Markets Advisors also agree on the importance of developing a repeatable, documented process for your innovation efforts beyond new products.
Experiment and Scale Fast
In their research, New Markets found that organizations embracing a process of disciplined experimentation achieved rapid, purposeful learning by exploring various options with real-world customers and markets. Moving quickly with pilot projects, in test markets or testing different combinations of variables, can provide valuable lessons for scaling up.
A key to success is leveraging approaches such as knowledge management to capture lessons learned and periodically revisiting the plan and learnings to re-evaluate and ensure your organization maintains its momentum and direction.
Learn by Doing
To engage employees in innovation, nothing is better than learning through action, especially when combined with exposure to core innovation methodologies and concepts. As New Markets Advisors says, “Give people the key methods and then push them to move forward.”
Common observations coming out of the pandemic include the realization that organizations can change faster than previously thought, and trends that were underway accelerated rapidly. Therefore, to spread innovation competencies among your employees, it’s a good idea to establish periodic checkpoints to review the methods used, not just project progress. Capture the insights, learnings, failures, and experiences, and share them for the benefit of future innovations.
Learn More
To learn more about innovation after disruption, please watch the webinar, listen to the podcast, or read the slides and summary.
To continue the conversation, comment below, follow Marisa on Twitter at @MB_APQC, or connect with her on LinkedIn.