1  2 

Action Steps: Organizational Principles for Innovation Management

We include actionable steps for managing innovation within our organizations

The principles of change management are clearly relevant to managing innovation but need adapting to account for important differences and key decisions. These adapted principles then become the action steps for managing major innovations, including both breakthroughs and significant incremental innovations.

First, there are preconditions for the success of innovation in the organization. Exhibit 6.2 sets out these preconditions, which are general principles that mainly concern the leadership of the firm. In particular, the messages they communicate to the organization at large and the behaviour they display towards specific innovation projects. These principles should also be in the Innovation Charter.

Second, there are principles that apply to managing specific projects, but these vary according to who is applying them and what stage the project is at. Exhibits 6.3 to 6.6 set out these principles. Exhibit 6.3 is relevant to the leadership of the firm and shows how their role changes between the front-end, development and commercialization. Exhibit 6.4 follows a similar sequence for the project sponsor and Exhibit 6.5 for the gate committee. All these exhibits have some likeness because they concern the roles and decisions of executives and senior managers.

Exhibit 6.6 is different, because it focuses on the role of the core innovation team itself. This is the logical place for ideas and frameworks about understanding resistance to change, communicating effectively, managing projects and empowering others. The tam should be responsible for identifying how to change the organization to support the innovation. Of course, this responsibility is also subject to the approval and support of the team’s sponsor, gate committee and guiding coalition.

If this all looks different from best practice in new product development, with its emphasis on flowcharts and technology, then so it should. Major innovations, especially those that go beyond the product, need much more leadership of the organization at large than new product development. One important ingredient of this leadership is changing the organization so the innovation gets the support necessary for its success.

The preconditions in Exhibit 6.2 are common to all successful innovating firms, where they are product or service firms or large or small ones. Many of the principles in Exhibit 6.3 and 6.4 are also common to successful firms regardless of industry or organization. It is only the principles in Exhibit 6.5 and 6.6 whose precise implementation may differ according to circumstances. Specifically, applying these principles may differ according to the degree of innovation, which of the three challenges is most important and the firm’s organizational culture. Most of these differences concern managing people and the degree to which change management is necessary.

1  2