The Value of Incremental Innovation
In this Blog I want to talk about the value of incremental innovation and why companies should
often focus on this, rather than driving as hard as they can to come up with the next
breakthrough product or service. Incremental improvements aren’t always cool, but over time
they can drive significant business results.
Before proceeding, I should once again outline the kind of companies that I often work with.
They are not the Apple’s, Google’s or Amazon’s of the world. I tend to work with organizations
that are well established, not at a point of imminent collapse, and often trying to be
innovative, but struggling to execute on their ideas. No company that I have ever worked with
has a shortage of ideas.
A focus on incremental innovations, and the activities that source and develop them, make
sense in the following context:
Pipeline Management: Too often I see organizations filling an innovation pipeline with
large-scale, broadly scoped, long-term innovations that leave their programs vulnerable. I say
the world “vulnerable” with purpose. Innovation programs are often politically sensitive and
need to be extremely conscious of the constant pressure to undermine their achievements and
goals (read this article for more details). By having a pipeline that is balanced, there is a
better chance that at least some activities will be implemented, balancing out some of the
failures which you are sure to encounter.
Starting a program: Often leaders of new innovation management programs are tempted to focus on big
thinking. And why not? It is sexy, cool and fun! The reality is that new programs will face
some healthy skepticism by their leadership, especially within established business units, so
it is important to get some runs on the board. By quickly demonstrating success, even with
smaller ideas, you are able to create an impression of momentum and a build towards bigger
ticket thinking.
Pressure on results: Innovation leaders are often told by leadership that they want “Big
I” ideas, but at the same time (or soon after) there is pressure to generate immediate
financial impact. In this case you just don’t have the time to develop the big ideas, so it
can be a better position to generate some incremental improvements. This can take the
immediate pressure off and allow you to demonstrate a rate of success in order to build some
political capital to focus on bigger ideas.
Generating Stakeholder buy-in: If you are struggling to secure and maintain stakeholder
buy-in, focusing on incremental improvements can demonstrate your ability to drive change,
without destroying their organization (often their concern) or needlessly redirecting
resources. By building success, aligned with their needs (an important point to understand),
you can secure their buy-in and support over time.
Launching innovation challenges: There is no shortage of innovation platform vendors in
the marketplace, and many of them will encourage you to run challenges or campaigns that focus
on big, bold visions of the future. This is especially true when they are launching their
product into your organization, as they want substantial engagement metrics to justify
investment in their platform. In my experience, and this may be controversial, launching with
these “Big I” crowdsourced challenges early will encourage a lot of employee excitement.
However if you don’t have an established model of idea execution, that excitement will
dissipate (at best) or turn negative when the participants realize that their ideas haven’t
been built. By focusing on smaller areas of improvement, especially when launching these
efforts, you can build community trust and demonstrate real traction with the winning ideas.
Cultural pushback: Many mature and regulated organizations often have cultures that
pushback on new thinking, in any form. Within this environment, it is important to assess how
much you can enhance the culture, in terms of new ideas development. Focusing on smaller
improvements can be a way to limit potential pushback, and give you a chance to demonstrate
that something can be built effectively within that culture. By the way, a goal should
absolutely be to change that culture over time.
In conclusion, I am not saying that innovation program leaders should focus on incremental
innovation at all times. What I am saying, is that just because an idea is small, or a program
is in place to generate responses to more modest issues, it shouldn’t be discarded. By
considering the broader context of the organization’s culture, and also the ecosystem of
innovative activity within an organization, incremental improvements should make some level of
sense. These smaller ideas aren’t going to get you on the cover of Time magazine, but they may
help your retain you job and drive real, cumulative business impact over time.
In this Blog I want to talk about the value of incremental innovation and why companies should
often focus on this, rather than driving as hard as they can to come up with the next
breakthrough product or service. Incremental improvements aren’t always cool, but over time
they can drive significant business results.
Before proceeding, I should once again outline the kind of companies that I often work with.
They are not the Apple’s, Google’s or Amazon’s of the world. I tend to work with organizations
that are well established, not at a point of imminent collapse, and often trying to be
innovative, but struggling to execute on their ideas. No company that I have ever worked with
has a shortage of ideas.
A focus on incremental innovations, and the activities that source and develop them, make
sense in the following context:
Pipeline Management: Too often I see organizations filling an innovation pipeline with
large-scale, broadly scoped, long-term innovations that leave their programs vulnerable. I say
the world “vulnerable” with purpose. Innovation programs are often politically sensitive and
need to be extremely conscious of the constant pressure to undermine their achievements and
goals (read this article for more details). By having a pipeline that is balanced, there is a
better chance that at least some activities will be implemented, balancing out some of the
failures which you are sure to encounter.
Starting a program: Often leaders of new innovation management programs are tempted to focus on big
thinking. And why not? It is sexy, cool and fun! The reality is that new programs will face
some healthy skepticism by their leadership, especially within established business units, so
it is important to get some runs on the board. By quickly demonstrating success, even with
smaller ideas, you are able to create an impression of momentum and a build towards bigger
ticket thinking.
Pressure on results: Innovation leaders are often told by leadership that they want “Big
I” ideas, but at the same time (or soon after) there is pressure to generate immediate
financial impact. In this case you just don’t have the time to develop the big ideas, so it
can be a better position to generate some incremental improvements. This can take the
immediate pressure off and allow you to demonstrate a rate of success in order to build some
political capital to focus on bigger ideas.
Generating Stakeholder buy-in: If you are struggling to secure and maintain stakeholder
buy-in, focusing on incremental improvements can demonstrate your ability to drive change,
without destroying their organization (often their concern) or needlessly redirecting
resources. By building success, aligned with their needs (an important point to understand),
you can secure their buy-in and support over time.
Launching innovation challenges: There is no shortage of innovation platform vendors in
the marketplace, and many of them will encourage you to run challenges or campaigns that focus
on big, bold visions of the future. This is especially true when they are launching their
product into your organization, as they want substantial engagement metrics to justify
investment in their platform. In my experience, and this may be controversial, launching with
these “Big I” crowdsourced challenges early will encourage a lot of employee excitement.
However if you don’t have an established model of idea execution, that excitement will
dissipate (at best) or turn negative when the participants realize that their ideas haven’t
been built. By focusing on smaller areas of improvement, especially when launching these
efforts, you can build community trust and demonstrate real traction with the winning ideas.
Cultural pushback: Many mature and regulated organizations often have cultures that
pushback on new thinking, in any form. Within this environment, it is important to assess how
much you can enhance the culture, in terms of new ideas development. Focusing on smaller
improvements can be a way to limit potential pushback, and give you a chance to demonstrate
that something can be built effectively within that culture. By the way, a goal should
absolutely be to change that culture over time.
In conclusion, I am not saying that innovation program leaders should focus on incremental
innovation at all times. What I am saying, is that just because an idea is small, or a program
is in place to generate responses to more modest issues, it shouldn’t be discarded. By
considering the broader context of the organization’s culture, and also the ecosystem of
innovative activity within an organization, incremental improvements should make some level of
sense. These smaller ideas aren’t going to get you on the cover of Time magazine, but they may
help your retain you job and drive real, cumulative business impact over time.