Although it is more necessary than ever, there are many “evildoers” that stalk the art of innovation. In this new post we will talk about 5 habits that define innovation killers.
Where do bad habits come from? They have several origins, but a particularly crude one is the simple fact of proposing a change. Introducing something new into the organization is something that many minds can’t tolerate. Whether it comes from outside or inside, innovation is one of the abrupt changes that shake up companies. For this reason, some profiles intolerant to change activate their defenses when they feel really uncomfortable.
Five bad habits of corporate innovation killers
1. Prioritizing internal problems over new ideas
Many times, leadership teams expect innovation to solve everything. For example, market opportunities, profitability problems, sales, customer churn or inefficient processes. But the real responsibility of innovation is to create value for the customer, the business, and to achieve differentiation from the competition.
2. Evaluating ideas only considering the cost of execution.
The further the innovation is from the core business, the less profitable it is in its early stages. Therefore, if we evaluate ideas by thinking about how much they will cost, continuous improvement will always win. Incremental improvement is the most profitable for a company because its costs have already been mostly absorbed.
Cutting the innovation budget due to short-term problems
In many organizations it is one of the smallest items or even does not exist. Moreover, if it does exist, it is cut in difficult contexts. But the data indicate that companies that maintain or increase their innovation budget are better able to adapt to complex scenarios.
Prioritizing day-to-day business over creativity
Many managers say that it is necessary to innovate and be creative, but few are willing to make a real commitment to creativity. As a result, many eureka moments happen outside the office when the brain is not occupied with unfinished business and daily stress.
Apply the same working methods to innovation.
Companies are designed to be efficient, not creative. Their processes are not effective in protecting creativity. But innovation needs a different development method. It must be a methodology of experimentation that allows validating if there is a need with scalable potential.
Photo credit: EM
