‘That is great, we have a range of excellent propositions we can investigate further,’ said a satisfied client after we had completed an innovation project that involved creating insights and propositions for a new product range. The propositions went into the investigation stage, through a number of qualitative focus groups and online testing, and some of them were improved. Others were put to one side, as, for one reason or another, they were not going to work. Then everything went quiet, very quiet. We found out, months later, that, while the business case was thorough and the organisation was able to deliver on creating the propositions, a decision in senior leadership just could not be made. There was hesitancy that that winning proposition was just too new; no one else was doing anything like it and there was fear about whether it would really work. Nothing happened.
The following year, a competitor launched a very similar product into the market and it was, and remains, a best seller. Our client had missed the opportunity.
This experience, and countless others that I have witnessed, made me realise, more than ever, that just generating new ideas and being creative is only half the story. People, and the decisions they make, culture and its propensity to support risk, or not, processes and whether they can enable ideas that may be Horizon 2 or 3, play a very, very large part in whether an idea will even get off the starting block. No matter how good it is.
It is one thing to have an idea, it is another to have investigated whether the idea may work, but it does not stop there. One needs to invest. To take action. One needs to have courage and to take a risk. This means walking into the unknown. You need to move from where you are, whether metaphorically or psychologically, and do something different. You do not know what will happen. You do not know if things will be a disaster or a failure, or an unbelievable success. It is rarely one or the other anyway. But to be able to say yes, I am going to have a go, requires a mindset of courage, as well as emotional and mental resilience and determination, and skills to get others to back your ideas. The need for this mindset and invest skills are the subject of this chapter.
The invest phase is central to innovation for, without firm commitment and courage, good ideas just remain good ideas. Amongst a raft of skills, invest requires the ability to assess and sanction detailed business plans, make pragmatic decisions under stressful conditions and judge where and when to allocate resources. Innovation requires saying ‘no’ as well as ‘yes’. These are important skills, as innovation requires stopping ideas as well as backing them, as time, money and resources are often limited and difficult choices have to be made.
Getting timing right is extremely important too so you need to question your overall intent and Purpose of what you are trying to do. You need to ask yourself, is it the right time to make a decision and what decision needs to be made? Sometimes, in the case of the story I told, you do not know if timing is right, but a courageous decision may need to be made anyway.
The ability to influence is also a necessary skill set throughout the whole journey of innovation, but at the invest stage, one’s ability to influence others to support an idea is critical. Influencing other organisations and people to create partnerships will also be required, so think through what support – whether it is time, money or expertise – you may need from other sources.
If you are in a position of leadership, you may need to train and develop others to communicate compelling reasons for why their ideas should be encouraged. This will help to develop an innovative culture, as enabling others to improve their ability to influence, backed by a strong case for investment, will ensure that more good ideas are supported, and innovation is not left to random chance. Invest is central to innovation, for without courage to make decisions and take action, good ideas will not transform into innovations.a