Even the best innovation processes won’t get you truly sustainable, breakthrough results.
Everywhere these days, we’re hearing about, reading of, and seeing organizations implement innovation processes: stage gates, pipeline/front-end strategies, siphoning off parts of the organization to focus on innovation. Alternatively, we see organizations with well-practiced innovation processes work to streamline them — reduce layers of decision making, reward speed, relaxing testing gates/criteria, etc.
The piece that is all-too-often missing is the implementation of the right employee mindset and competency base for these organizations to really drive sustainable results, and retain their most innovative and promising talent.
Being entrepreneurial, many leaders think, is only for start-ups.
But, the reality is that when employees are taught and rewarded for having an entrepreneurial mindset and building the competencies of being entrepreneurial inside the organization, the power of the innovation process is catalyzed exponentially.
How well do you/does your team practice an entrepreneurial mindset?
- Knowing and focusing on what types of work each team member performs their best.
- Creating fully empowered teams that are free to learn and fail, as long as they are experimenting and committed to the goals of the initiative.
- Having the courage to find connections between the life and career ambitions of your team to the business objectives. (this takes courage because its not always easy or obvious or a good fit)
How many of the skills/competencies needed to drive inside entrepreneurship do you teach, model and reward?
- Finding and capturing ideas organically.
- Building win-win partnerships with other organizations.
- Creating real capacity by effectively calling priorities.
- Negotiation and selling skills to help individuals connect their idea or request to the needs/motivations of others.
- Effective risk management.
- Disciplined, but agile measurement and response.
No matter how breakthrough or streamlined your innovation process is, consider the benefits of incorporating an entrepreneurial competency and mindset to take it to the next level.
Photo licensed under Creative Commons 2.0 via Flickr user: M Glasgow
