Are we Innovative?
Value stream mapping (VSM) can play an important role in an organization’s Lean Innovation effort. An organization that practices VSM, however, may not be innovative. In many cases VSM can even hinder an organizations ability to become innovative.

The following is a “snapshot summary” of an ongoing survey conducted
by the Institute for Lean Innovation and presented by Bart Huthwaite.

(Adapted from a lecture to executives at a Fortune 500 corporation)

Innovation leadership begins with a clear understanding of what “innovation” really is. My purpose today is to give you a thumbnail sketch of what it is and give you a few “rules” to start you on your journey to make innovation understandable, systematic and sustainable.

Most innovation improvement initiatives start out well at the top. Product and service strategies are agreed upon. All the senior folks collectively get on the same bus.

Think End-To-End

The Rule of Things

The primary purpose of measurement is to learn. If you truly believe that innovation is the ultimate business weapon, you must make sure you are applying it correctly. The purpose of innovation measurement must be real time feedback. Feedback tells you how to make course corrections to assure your innovation strategy is on the right course. You don’t want to learn after the battle where you should have gone. You want feedback in real time. This is the basic principle of all modern weaponry, whether they are men, missiles or munitions.

Unfortunately, most corporate innovation metrics don’t do this. They are what I call “post process” measurements. They are like the World War II reconnaissance plane taking photos after a bombing raid. Modern weaponry gives feedback for course correction. The missile heads in the general direction of the target. It then gets more feedback along the way to enable it to precisely enter a target’s doorway.

Invention is not the mother of necessity. You do not create growth opportunities. You must discover and exploit them. The Rule of “Recognize Ripening Bananas”, the first task in your Systematic Corporate Innovation process, will help you spot new opportunities while they are still “green bananas,” ready for the picking.

Opportunities seldom appear in the directions of the past. In the next section of this book I will show you how to exploit the Three Sharks of Perpetual Change, those forces that always assure you new opportunities. They are Three Sharks are the (1) Changing marketplace, (2) New technology, and (3) Your relentless competition. At the end of this Chapter you will find a tool, as at the end of each of these Chapters, for harnessing these Three Sharks in your quest for recognizing ripening opportunity.

Innovation is now emerging as the “third wave” of corporate improvement. The two waves of six sigma quality and lean enterprise are underway. Now the goal is stronger top-line growth.

The Institute for Lean Innovation is partnering with the University of Michigan to make innovation a day-to-day business process. Our partnership delivers teaching and systems for overcoming the following “fatal flaws.”

When Wall Street Calls

Corporate innovation is now high on the list for determining a company’s market value. Growth through cost-cutting and acquisitions are being called yesterday’s strategies. Innovation is seen as the driving force needed in our global economy.

Now Wall Street analysts are now being asked to probe deeper to find a company’s true innovation strength. Analysts realize that while innovation is at the top of every company’s agenda, there is a huge gap between corporate pronouncements and the practice of it down on the front lines.

CEOs are now being asked “show us your systematic innovation process--and metrics--for assuring your project teams understand the path to innovation and know how to deliver it profitably.” The operative term is “Systematic Corporate Innovation.”

Corporate innovation is now emerging as something more than media hype, creativity tools, and business theory. Companies such as General Electric, Microsoft, General Dynamics, SKF and other leaders are weaving innovation into their daily work.

The operative term is “Systematic Corporate Innovation” or what some managers are simply calling SCI. More than 20 years ago, business philosopher Peter F. Drucker aptly captured the challenge of corporate innovation. In his book “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” he described it as “neither a science nor an art, but a practice” capable of being organized as systematic work. “

Corporate leaders are now beginning to see innovation as a process that can be systematically learned, applied to any product, service or system, and—very importantly—measured in “real time.” As one CEO says, “Systematic Corporate Innovation is where Six Sigma and Lean were in their infancy. Many companies are now only understanding that innovation can be a systematic, step-by-step process.”

Systematic Corporate Innovation is what business philosopher Peter F. Drucker long ago called “a set of tasks that can be organized as purposeful work to search for and exploit new opportunities for satisfying human wants.’

Drucker rightfully called innovation ‘neither a science nor an art, but a practice’ that must be systematically applied across an enterprise. Innovation leadership is now recognized as a skill every manager know and be able to apply.

Systematic Corporate Innovation can be used to create new strategies, develop new products, shape new services and transactional systems. It is universal and scaleable.

Following are the seven steps of Systematic Corporate Innovation and the purposes they serve:

A successful corporate innovation effort demands that innovation be what Peter Drucker said long ago, ‘a discipline, capable of being learned, capable of being practiced.’ Yet ask most managers about the “how to” of making innovation a systematic process and most will not be able to give you a clear answer.
What is needed is the “how to” for making innovation a systematic management process that can be applied on the “front line” of any corporation.

What is an innovation? An innovation occurs when a solution meets a valued want. Inventions are not innovations. There are more than 2,400 mouse trap patents in the U.S. patent office with more than a dozen applied for each year. These may be a solution but no one seems to wants them.