How to approach innovation at your company

Your approach to innovation will largely be dictated by available finances and 'work time' provided by those that own and run the company. And on that note, leadership quality is essential for innovation behaviours to succeed. A business cannot innovate without the wholesale backing of leadersof the business.

Depending on circumstances, you could focus in some (or more) of the following areas:

• product/service improvements (continual)
• business processes
• collaboration and productivity (between staff and customers, suppliers)
• new product/service design
• associated services to existing products/services
• client relationship/value offering
• new technologies

Strategic Vision

Innovation and importantly, innovation behaviours, must become part of the core business message between all members of the company.

Innovation and innovation behaviours should be included in the strategic vision that your company has for the future, helping it to continue to provide excellent products/services to clients, to win more clients, and to prepare, overcome, and embrace transformations within the industries that you operate in.

Innovation should be part of, not additional, or separate to, the present and future plans of the business.

Identify your company's approach to innovation

There are a few types of innovation to be considered, namely (but not including):

• Ideas-based innovation
  • where a team of people (the more varied, the better) list many ideas for innovation the the company could benefit from.
• Research-based innovation
  • research is done by staff or maybe an external agency, surveying staff, industry people or even customers on the type(s) of innovations that would be preferable.
• Analysis-based innovation
  • analysis of competing companies, their products, strategies, and capabilities

Alongside the approach to innovation, there are also levels of innovation which can greatly differ in their ability to help the company to success.

• Level 1 Innovators
  • ideas are generated by looking only at factors internal to the business
• Level 2 Innovators
  • ideas are taken from internal factors, but also by looking at those in their sector that "seem to be doing the right thing"
• Level 3 Innovators
  • ideas come from a large study of competitors, large and small, as well as looking at companies from related sectors.
• Level 4 Innovators
  • like level 3, they understand the landscape of their own sector, and monitor it continually, but understand that innovation can come from any sector, and nothing should be discounted in terms of inspiration.

With this knowledge, it is easy to both identify your existing level of innovation potency and also the approach that you take. But more importantly, this information also allows you to decide what type of innovation you would like your company to perform.

Are you tackling innovation with a level 3, ideas-based strategy, or should you approach innovation with an analysis-based level 4 approach?

Whatever your choice, identification of your innovation strategy is now possible and should be created for all in the business to be aware of.