INNOVATION, INNOVATION
Innovation, innovation... Mike Faers, ex-McDonalds food chief and innovation genius, continues his advice on how to innovate in the economic downturn
Hello readers. I hope you enjoyed my first article in the last issue. This month I am going to be discussing what it takes to make innovation work in a business and over the course of this and the next issue, give you ten tips for success.
A
s a business leader, do not underestimate the emotional intelligence,
influence and persistence required to make innovation successful within the organisation. Here, I am going to tackle the
real and perceived hurdles and barriers that need to be successfully navigated if innovation is to deliver a profit.
1. WHERE TO START? LEADERSHIP AND AMBITION Most business leaders I talk to recognise the need for innovation within their businesses. However, they don't know how to how to get there or how to align the language of the R&D team with that of the boardroom. There are plenty of examples of companies that have innovated during a recession and not just survived, but managed to drive real sales growth. I truly believe that innovation is
a commercial function of which R&D is one element, and in my experience, the organisations that succeed have two things in common - a strong leadership and a clearly articulated ambitious vision, which can be achieved through an innovative culture. An innovation-driven company will also utilise KPI’s.
2. THE “LEAN” INNOVATION AUDIT All businesses have some sort of innovation capability. Using the following metrics enables businesses to audit their competence versus their
customer expectations and their competitors: innovation strategy, creativity and idea management, portfolio management, NPD implementation success rate, people structure performance, capability of innovation teams, service innovation, process innovation and technology. This gives you a benchmark
with which you can measure the year on year improvement and is vitally important for cultural buy in and team motivation.
3. A SEAT AT THE TABLE - DOES YOUR STRUCTURE REFLECT YOUR AMBITION? It may sound obvious but a lot of businesses do not reflect their ambition with the correct structure to enable success. From my experience and from looking at key innovation studies, we can generalise as to what some of the key criteria might be: • Give innovation a separate seat at the table; • Align the senior team behind the structure; • Make it part of every board meeting agenda; • Invest in the team through training, mentoring and rewarding success.
4. THE BURNING PLATFORM The real question you need to be able to answer is: “What is the cost of not innovating?”. Just like all of us, we put off doing things that we don't really understand or we think are seemingly impossible and could fail. A boardroom is no different and
needs to not only understand the positive potential, but also the cost of not innovating. Examples of companies who didn’t innovate to their detriment include: • Nokia to Apple – innovated by making the competition irrelevant; • Electrolux to Dyson – innovated with patentable invention; • Robinsons to Innocent – innovated with brand and product creating new market space. The above companies have two
things in common - they significantly outperform their competition and the market, and they have well-developed innovation management systems and cultures. So to answer the cost of not
innovating question, by not innovating you will eventually be made irrelevant by your competition and your customers.
5. THE “LEAN” VIRTUOUS CIRCLE The virtuous circle is common sense. However you need to do all of it well, which is easier said than done! Engage your customers
continuously and listen carefully, and identify the nuggets of insight you can act on now and in the future. Can you meet customer’s needs better than the rest or, even better, can you create new ones? Create the plan, overlay
technology, overlay plan enablers, and deliver the plan. Get it right and you will increase frequency, brand trust, relevance and of course, profit. Then, you can use some of that additional profit to invest in new consumer insight. Don’t forget to come back next time for the remaining five tips on how to make innovation work for you. I hope you have a good few weeks!
Mike Faers is the founder of agency Food Innovation Solutions. For more information visit
www.foodinnovation
solutions.com.
Innovation needs its own place at the boardroom table, says Mike
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