Innovation strategy development was seen by the overwhelming majority as critical
to
innovation success (85.4%) but as stated earlier, only 44.9% of organisations have an innovation strategy in place. Creativity and lateral thinking was viewed as both a critical activity and a standard requirement for innovation success. Project management software for project implementation (59%), general innovation training (56.1%) and resource planning (55%), were viewed as standard requirements expected to be in place in support of innovation.
Measuring Innovation Success The ability to demonstrate value from innovation investment still seems to be a major challenge. Almost half of the organisations (46.3%) commented that they do not actively measure innovation outcomes and therefore are unable to tell whether innovation efforts are impactful or whether they add to the bottom-line. In many organisations this is still an intermittent activity that one can argue reflects the low investment in innovation related activities. This again corresponds with the weak results observed in terms of strategic planning for innovation.
Following the Latest Trends in Innovation The adoption of social media and social business tools has further led to some interesting trends in innovation. These include collaborative technologies and the use of game mechanics to reward employees by engaging them in game-like activities
to improve the quantity
and quality of ideas. The results of this poll indicate that South African organisations still need to recognise the importance of proactively managing for future market needs.
The Greatest Enablers of Innovation in the South African Organisation The greatest enablers were considered to be senior management support, organisational culture, empowerment in support of innovation, the resources internally available and recognition of innovation efforts. Most respondents further agreed that although these enablers were present in their environments it could receive better attention and be leveraged to a greater extent. Table 1 (left) highlights represent a
The Innovation Journal
Table 1:
Innovation enablers: comments from SA institutes
• CEO living innovation. Dedicated and specialised teams to accelerate development;
• Flat structure, robust debate, open communication but most importantly low ego;
• Our human resources are the most valuable asset we have;
• Cross-functional involvement and a structured ideation to post launch process, aligned to our strategy;
• Empowering staff at all levels to recognise opportunities;
• Making innovation the responsibility of each and every person in the organisation;
• Recognition of innovation efforts;
• No punishment. Empowering staff at all levels to recognise opportunities for failure, encourage trial and error as part of the learning process;
• Enough fiscal backing is the most important consideration … (but I do not get the support I need);
• Innovation is not a once off process – it is a continuous process that will be refined with every round of innovation campaigns that you run;
• Having ticked all the boxes, I feel some of them are more a hard tick and other a soft tick;
• BUDGET and EXCO buy in. Without these innovation will die.
summary of the comments received with regards to innovation enablers in the organisational environment of South African institutions.
September 2012 | Management Today 89
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