Innovation is execution or it is not innovation. Whatever cool idea that it is not implemented and demostrates a positive impact in the business, it is not innovation, it is a chat over a coffee. Execution is not barrier-free, though. If you feel like pushing against a brick wall, here you are some tips that may help to overcome the stoppers and move forward.
While conducting innovation webinars, I use to survey the participants about the main barriers they find to make a start in the innovation path. Most voted barriers from their perspective are external, not internal (let´s discuss about the critical thinking as a must to innovate in another post). Anyway, the top #3 barriers most voted are commonly:
- There are no resources.
- It´s too risky.
- This is not a priority.
Behind these statements, there could be very valid concerns about the proposal itself that should be considered to improve it. In other situations, the objections may be the result of a poorly implemented innovation culture. In either case, there are always strategies we can try to convey better the potential of the opportunity and our execution plan to get the “Go”.
Objection 1: There are no resources
Resources are limited and they must be used smartly. Whatever your new business opportunity is about, you should validate the key assumptions early in the proccess and with the minimum resources possible. Have you optimised your testing proposal? Maybe the first stage can be covered by a paper and pencil strategy, an online survey, a few customer interviews or a landing page. Those are unexpensive methods that can give you valuable feedback at early stages. An easy to read handbook I recommend to get familiar with business model testing strategies and what you can expect from each of them is “Testing Business Ideas” by Strategyzer. It guides you through different methologies, what are they apropiate for and when, and the level of confidence you can expect from the results. So, may I ask you again, are you sure you have optimised your testing proposal? If you got a “No Go”, review your plan:
- Identify key hyphotesis to validate at each stage: those assumptions which are the show stopper for the proposal to succeed.
- Phase your request for resources and link each phase to each validation round. Define what success is and commit evidences after each phase.
- Negotiate and convince. Ask to give each phase a try based on evidences gathered.
The phased approach is resource effective. Your proposal is not the only one trying to bloom in the company and resources are shared. It forces you as well to define how success looks like, so you can archive initiatives not meeting the targets and focus your efforts in the most promising ones at each stage.
Objection 2: It is too risky
Indeed it is risky, it is innovation! But, when a proposal is too risky to try? I remember a picture of Alex Honnold climbing El Capitan in Yosemite Park. A free solo with no rope. Was it risky? Definetely it was, but not too risky. You may be raising an eyebrow now. Here is the rationale behind. Alex is possibly the best extreme climber in the world and he has been training hard his whole life to be able to accomplish this feat. He had chances to succeed, so he tried. It is risky, but not too risky not to try. What is it too risky, then? Too risky is myself with no training at all trying to climb El Capitan.
The risk is intrinsic to innovation, it cannot be avoid but it can be mitigated. Alex derisks the climbing by training hard and exposing himself to increasingly difficult activities. El Capitan was not the first mountain he climbed. The same applies to innovation, where training is the process of prototyping, testing, learning and starting over again. This should be your mantra to move forward and derisk your proposal. If you try to get the approval for your first climb adventure ever and your proposal is to start with one of the eight-thousanders, in winter and using the north face, then I would tend to agree it is too risky. Prototype, validate and iterate instead. Raise the stakes each time. Along the way, the proposal gets stronger, or definitely you discover it should be archived.
Objection 3: This is not a priority
Focus and priorisation are needed to achieve results. First question you should ask yourself is whether you know the priorities of your organisation. Since resources are limited (Objection 1), proposals that gets the go shall be aligned with organisation priorities. So, to suceed, make sure you convey clearly how your innovation will contribute to the company strategy. This will frame the relevance to give it a try and explore further. Along the way, it may happen you discover the objection is not about the proposal itself but about innovation in general not being a priority in the organisation. If that is the case, maybe it is time for you to consider if your priorities as a proffesional are aligned with this view.
In summary, innovate should be the default way of working or any business. It should be encorauged, rewarded and part of the daily basis activities. Innovation requires persistence, though, even in the most innovative organisation you will find barriers. Being aligned with the company strategy and proposing an iterative approach to validate the opportunity with evidences help to pave the way. Being said that, if innovators in your organisation are considered heroes because of the huge barriers they find and how rare and painful is to get a “Go” to try, then, there is something wrong in the innovation culture.
