Tips to promote innovation

After a short historical overview of the role of innovation throughout the ages, Rosabeth Moss Kanter shares with us the lessons that can be learned from that. Some lessons are new, some are old, but all are worthwhile reading. I recognise almost all of them from my own research in innovative teams. One of the pitfalls she mentions is 'to act as if only products count', even though transformative new ideas can come from a range of functions such as production and marketing'. As an example she mentions the interactive website Procter & Gamble made for the soap opera it sponsors. This may prove to be more valuable for the companies future than its new inventions such as Swiffer. The authors distinguishes four types of lessons:

• Strategy lessons: 'Not every innovative idea has to be ablockbuster'.
• Process lessons: Allow for 'disobedience': if employees in their yearly review are rewarded only for doing what they committed to, and even punished for everything they did outside this framework of appointments and rules, you can be sure that innovation is not going to take place.
• Structure lessons: 'Facilitate close connections between innovators and mainstream business'.
• Skills lessons: 'Surround innovators with a supportive culture of collaboration').

This article offers some concrete handles for those who want to (learn more about) promote innovation.

Moss Kanter, R. (2006). Innovation, the classic traps. Harvard business review, 84(11), 72-83.