Why a culture of innovation will stop your best ideas from leaking through the cracks

INNOVATION AS UNUSUAL

Will Papa, Senior Vice President and Chief R&D Officer, The Hershey Company

“

The problem is that doing things

IS HARD.

At least that’s what the 100s of business leaders we spoke to told us.

50% said they’d seen a great idea fail for entirely avoidable reasons.

47% said innovation activity is often a costly failure.

Is your business one of those that struggles to make innovation work? We've got a

good idea why…

When it comes to innovation, the biggest mistake most businesses make is

locking their best ideas away USUALLY IN THE R&D DEPARTMENT

innovation gets stuck in

a silo, it will

WHEN

The trick is to set it free and get the

whole organisation FIZZING WITH A PASSION for new ideas.

And why wouldn’t you? Getting innovation wrong is like flushing money down the drain.

UK

organisations are wasting some

£64.7 billion in failed innovation

every year.

And when innovation fails

and be more competitive go down the drain too.

opportunities to improve productivity

In the worst-case scenario, businesses that fail at innovation

Stagnate become irrelevant

But hang on!

Some organisations are getting innovation right.

You know. The ones that are… launching new services

You know. The ones that are… becoming more profitable

£ € ¥ $

You know. The ones that are… doing more with less

You know. The ones that are… even conquering the world.

Could your business be more like these top innovators?

We’re pretty sure it could.

YOU KNOW THOSE 100s OF BUSINESSES WE SPOKE TO?

We asked them about how they innovate, found the ones that are doing it best and worked out how they do it.

Here’s what we found >

SEVEN BIG IDEAS

BIG IDEA ONE TAKE A STEP INTO THE UNKNOWN AND BE VISIONARY, AGGRESSIVE AND BOLD DON’T MESS ABOUT WITH HALF MEASURES. GET RADICAL.

“We see some organisations developing radical innovations around strategy or product development, while others are creating value through internal innovation. For all kinds of innovation, organisations need to be doing something new, visionary and bold. They need to be prepared to take risks.”

PA Innovation Report 2015

BIG IDEA TWO BRING NEW LIFE TO THE TRADITIONAL BOARD GET IN PEOPLE WHO WILL TAKE YOUR ORGANISATION OUTSIDE ITS COMFORT ZONE.

“Leadership is the most important thing. If you have people who have a passion for innovation and can lead, that is 80% of the battle won.”

Ian Rhodes, Chief Executive Officer, McLaren Applied Technologies

BIG IDEA THREE LOOK BEYOND YOUR SECTOR. YOU’LL BE AMAZED AT WHAT YOU’LL FIND OUT THERE.

“The best innovators go beyond looking – they create new partnerships and alliances; they prepare to rethink their whole mission.”

PA Innovation Report 2015

BIG IDEA FOUR DON’T EXPECT A PAYBACK NEXT MONTH – MEASURE BY VALUE, NOT QUARTERLY FINANCIAL GAINS. THE BEST RETURNS ON INNOVATION COME FROM PLAYING THE LONG GAME.

“The term ‘innovation’ is often used to describe the process of generating good ideas, but the truth is you are really only innovative if you can get those ideas to market and people can see the value in them when they get there.”

Paul Jansen, Professional Engineer, Associate Vice President Medical Device Development, Sanofi

BIG IDEA FIVE DON’T SETTLE FOR ‘TOKEN’ DIGITAL EMBRACE THE WHOLE SHEBANG.

“Digital is not something you can just bolt on to your innovation strategy. ”

Anita Chandraker, PA digital expert

BIG IDEA SIX LOVE TO FAIL FRUGALLY OR, AT LEAST, EMBRACE THE POSSIBILITY OF FAILURE AND ROLL WITH IT.

“We know we are going to fail. It is part of the process of truly innovating. We have spent a lot of time trying to get to those failures earlier in the lifecycle of an innovation, with a smaller financial cost.”

Peter Erickson, Executive Vice President, Innovation-Technology-Quality at General Mills

BIG IDEA SEVEN BANISH THE INNOVATION KILLERS AND BRING IN ANTIBODIES TO FIGHT THEM OFF. RULES. RISK AVERSION. LACK OF RESOURCES.

“We get a lot of grassroots ideas. But the barriers to innovation have largely been organizational. A person in the medical records room will say ‘80% of this work could be delivered more cheaply.’ It will not happen until a senior leader says ‘we need to reduce medical records costs by 80%’”.

Steve Prewitt, Vice President of New Business Solutions, Visiting Nurse Service of New York

The big ideas don’t mean innovating is easy. But they’re the right place to start.

And when there’s so much at stake

ü competitiveness ü productivity ü profitability ü Survival

Want to read more about these big ideas? Our Innovation Report

is the place to start. You can download a copy for free by visiting www.paconsulting.com/innovation-research

It’s packed with analysis, insight and inspiration – not just from your sector, but from other people’s too. Life science, government, financial services, consumer and manufacturing, transport, travel and logistics, energy and utilities, defence and security, healthcare

Want to get to know more about us?

We are a consulting, technology and innovation firm. We define success as achieving exceptional results that have a lasting impact on businesses, communities and individuals worldwide. Our clients choose us because we challenge convention to find the solutions that really work - in practice, not just on paper. Then we roll up our sleeves and get the job done. At PA we don’t just believe in making a difference. We believe in making the difference. To find out more, visit www.paconsulting.com

We Make the Difference.