Let’s see what Robert Burgelman, a professor at Stanford, revealed in his book Inside Corporate Innovation: Strategy, Structure, and Managerial Skills and what the Center for Creative Leadership recommends.
Innovation is also about connecting ideas with people and their ideas. After all, there's always a person at the beginning of an innovation. It's about how this person can contact and influence key stakeholders.
Components to be considered
- Research: Be sure to talk with innovators who successfully carried out a process resulting in a new product or service. Ask what they think made the difference. Ask what they would do differently today.
- Passion: Do you really have it? Are you willing to go the extra mile for your idea and use your own time and resources to make it?
- Ego: Are you willing to sacrifice some of your idea, are you able to let others shape the product? Will your ego slow down the progress?
- Collaboration: Are there some people (clients or colleagues) who you can trust and talk with about your idea? Can you get their support? Do you need to reach some more influential people? Do you need to build new relationships first? Also think about your peers from other departments with whom you could form an alliance. If your idea has value for someone, engage those people.
- Connection and relevance: Can you connect your idea to already existing services or projects? Can other emerging innovations foster your idea when put together? Can you approach the owners of these projects? Is your idea a good fit when the overall strategy is taken into account?
Book
Burgelman, Robert: Inside Corporate Innovation: Strategy, Structure, and Managerial Skills (Free Press 1988, 240 pages)
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