Do Companies Need a ‘Community of Innovators’?
I believe that a genuine culture of innovation can only grow organically — inspired by genuine leadership messages and a core of authentic innovators. This core of innovators can then evolve into a ‘community of innovators’ — a self-organizing, loosely coupled group of people who believe in innovation as the means of achieving the organizational purpose and working together to achieve their goals and ambitions.
But how could leaders support the formation and growth of such a community? How could a company measure the impact of this community and balance between ‘normal’ work and informal ‘innovation activities’? These and other very interesting topics are covered by our great panel: Jonne Kuyt, Adrián Heredia Iglesias, Warwick Peel, Vincent Pirenne, Patrick Van der Pijl, and Charlie Widdows.
Excerpt from 60 Leaders on Innovation (2021)
Jonne Kuyt
Director of Design-driven Innovation — Edenspiekermann
My earliest memories of a genuine aha moment were when I dismantled a mechanical doorbell as a seven-year-old kid. That was such an overwhelming feeling of joy that I soon ran into many troubles with my parents after dismantling the whole electronics and mechanical collection; vacuum cleaners, irons, drills, sanding machines, radio’s, cassette players, amplifiers, bikes, TVs and so on. As Richard Feynmann[1] puts it; It’s was just the pleasure of finding things out”.
Wouldn’t it be a great to stimulate innovation-driven thinking company-wide? - Jonne Kuyt
Most people are born curious. It’s an essential and beneficial setting for survival because it allows you to quickly build competitive advantages in a hostile environment, like in any market. The more you understand and the faster you connect the dots, the higher the chance you will survive in existential challenges. It will train you to have an open and flexible mind. But how does this work in organizations?
Organizations do not effectively stimulate curiosity. People work in roles and procedures that deliver an efficient, predictable, reliable process and outcome. If you want to challenge that framework with alternative ideas, it will demand stamina and confidence. Not everyone is gifted for fighting powers that be.
Curiosity and invention are therefore most of the time set apart — which makes sense when there is ambition to transform the organisation (you can’t change anything inside the existing structures and processes). But setting it apart also grows the risk of disconnection with the organization’s core purpose, acute featuritis, or the so-called, ‘innovation theatre’. Wouldn’t it be a great benefit for any organization to stimulate innovation-driven thinking company-wide? To have a workforce that is better prepared, trained, and has the cognitive leniency to mitigate risks and unlock opportunities for a world that is more VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous)? Isn’t this what the future of work should look like — that you are empowered and enabled to deliver value to customers?
To make that a success, we should stop calling it innovation. We should stop using the language that makes innovation a thing that we do to the side. We should not separate it into new groups, committees, or departments. We should stimulate (but not force) a general experimentation-driven mindset and a process to support to take great ideas from stage to stage. Build a culture that values and stimulates curiosity.
That will only work if we start changing the language we use. We have seen it in many projects. The narrative of what we do as a whole will define how we interpret reality and the future, define success and failure as a company. A common language to talk about innovations will make the whole organisation the community. Language can help establish more equality, inclusion, and business success.
My chronic curiosity brings me to many exciting places. But above all, it brings me to a place I can work together with people I understand. Not organized or structured or according to the rules but based on a mutual understanding of what we dream of and try to accomplish.
Jonne Kuyt is the Director of design-driven innovation in mobility and partner at Edenspiekermann. He helps businesses adapt to digital change and innovate.
Adrián Heredia Iglesias
Founder & CEO — Byld
If they want to survive, yes. Companies — no matter their size — need to embed innovation within the organization. In words of Klaus Schwab[2]: “In the new world, it is not the big fish which eats the small fish, it’s the fast fish which eats the slow fish.”
During the last few years, the market dynamics have changed completely the way innovation is built around the world. Yesterday, innovation was about R&D and companies with enough resources to design complex technologies and create competitive advantages and run years ahead of their competitors. Several examples from the last few years illustrate that it now takes less time than ever to build a large company. In just five years after launch, Facebook’s valuation was 15B USD (2004–2009) and Uber’s 40B USD (2009–2014). Looking at the time required to reach 1B USD in revenue from inception, Dell took 9 years (1984–1993), Office Depot took 5 years (1986–1991) and Groupon took only 2 years (2008–2010).
The main consequence of this new market reality is the speed required for innovation. Thus, if a company wants to maintain a strong position within its industry while defending itself from external threats, it is mandatory to design, reward and maintain a deep presence of an innovation culture that is fully embedded throughout the organization. This is the main challenge that big corporations need to face: they need to evolve if they want to survive. When an innovation opportunity arises in such companies, it’s very common to see the “corporate antibodies” entering the room kicking and attacking the innovation.
It is very common to see “corporate antibodies” attacking innovation. - Adrián Heredia Iglesias
Deepening in the barriers that corporates need to pass to create innovation, I usually like to talk about 4 main topics:
- Focus. Core business always comes first; there is always pressure to deliver short-term results and a focus on extracting value from the activities the company already excels at. And when a difficult situation kicks in, it is difficult to give innovation the credit and value it deserves.
- Processes and agility. Big corporations need to be efficient. Efficiency demands structure. Due to long bureaucratic processes, communication and decision-making are extremely slow. It is understandable for the business as usual, but when we talk about innovation…well… it does not work.
- Politics. Dynamics such as: “we just need to be aligned with the other department” might seem harmless, but it can outright stop or severely hamper innovation.
- Talent. The limited ability of established corporations to attract and retain best-in-class talent. For example, in many cases, MBA’s do not want to work in large, slow, hierarchical, and boring organizations. They thrive to impact the bottom line and this is possible only in agile organizations. Also considering the arrival of new generations, this creates a disadvantage for big corporations.
In summary, corporations are focused on the efficiency of their processes and core business, with hierarchical structures, specialized jobs, and internal bureaucracy. This allows them to tackle their operational innovation — the first Horizon of McKinsey’s ‘three horizons framework’[3] — but not the second and third (new business models and disruptive innovation) which would allow them to become an industry leader in the long term. Quoting Narry Singh[4] (Global Head, Growth & Strategy for Accenture Digital), “Corporate innovation does not work”.
There are several ways of creating and maintaining a community of innovators: entrepreneurship programmes, HR policies, etcetera. However, there is one thing that stays above all of them: leadership. If the top management does not like this way of thinking (which usually leads to photographic innovation — run two intrapreneurship programmes, take the photo and go to the media) it is not going to work. Never.
Adrián Heredia Iglesias has a deep knowledge of how technology is disrupting business models thanks to many entrepreneurial battles over his shoulders. He founded Byld after 6 years involved in the design, launch, and consolidation of Sonar Ventures, one of the first venture builders in Spain. He is also a mentor and professor in different business schools and universities, and advisor to different public and private organizations (e.g: EIT Urban Mobility, a public body of the European Union).
Warwick Peel
Innovation Leader, Asia Pacific — IdeaScale
A Chief Innovation Officer needs to create a team of champions, sometimes referred to as the ‘intrapreneurs’ or innovation catalysts. There will always be more naysayers than less, so one needs to build a coalition of the willing. If we ask two questions, “who wants change?”, all hands go up, then, “who wants to change?”, then there’s often silence.
The innovation catalysts are the ones who know that innovation is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration, so they are the ones that get sh!t done. They know that there will be failures, and they refer to them as learnings or lessons learnt. Some of these innovation catalysts are entrepreneurs, they are proud of the scars of their entrepreneur journey and the lessons learnt. They are the ones who can be somewhat comfortable in uncomfortable environments, they live and breathe ambiguity and they have the resilience to forge ahead no matter what. Companies who build innovation catalysts will build long-term value, they will be the companies that go from good to great.
Warwick is an innovation-led entrepreneur, currently driving innovation excellence across Asia Pacific with IdeaScale. Continuing to mentor founders, he is part of Inspiring Rarebirds Female Founders in 2020. A board member for the United Nations Association of Australia (Victoria), he is passionate about steering impact towards the UN SDGs. He is also an advisor to startups, mentor to FYA Young Social Pioneers, active in the AI for Good community, as well as Co-Founder of Entrepreneurs&Co.
Vincent Pirenne
Partner & Founder Board of Innovation USA — BOARD OF INNOVATION US
Due to its high risk, innovation is very fragile in an organization. Innovation is vulnerable to organizational changes. When a new CEO takes the lead and decides that the ROI of innovation should be accelerated, that puts pressure on the existing portfolio and innovation programs. In the worst-case scenario, they get killed and innovation goes back to square one.
When innovation is in a company’s DNA, it is thanks to the informal community of innovators. - Vincent Pirenne
A so-called ‘community of innovators’ creates a decentralized and less fragile space for innovation to exist and grow. Such a community is often not an ‘official’ body or structure. It has no fixed place in the company’s hierarchy or organizational chart. It wasn’t created by some executive, but it has grown in a spontaneous and organic way. Therefore, when new leadership is introduced, it is the community of innovators that keeps the innovation culture, the tools, and the methodologies alive. It is the community of innovators that ensures continuity.
Companies should cherish their community of innovators. When innovation is in a company’s DNA, it is usually not thanks to the CEO, the board, or the shareholders. It is thanks to the informal community of innovators. They change the company’s mindset and they create the support base for innovation projects and investments.
So, how do you create the breeding ground for a community of innovators? By giving visibility to big and small success stories employees will be triggered to be a part of those stories. Both on the individual level and team level, rooted in different departments and divisions. Everyone should understand the why of innovation and the possible ways to contribute, but there’s no use in forcing people into being a part of the community of innovators.
Not every employee is an innovator, not every employee is an intrapreneur. Some people feel more comfortable executing other’s ideas. There is nothing wrong with that. You don’t just need designers and developers, you also need people actually building stuff. Companies can’t involve all their employees in their innovation projects, companies can’t try out (let alone execute) every cool idea. That’s a waste of time and money. Innovating bottom-up does not mean including every single employee in the process. That is a misconception.
A community of innovators is a great thing, but only when the community has real business impact. If it doesn’t have an impact on simplifying processes, speeding up the go-to-market of new solutions, or the launch of new initiatives, it doesn’t create value. If the community only creates innovation theatre, it is counterproductive and undermines the overall perception of innovation.
Vincent Pirenne is a serial entrepreneur who founded Board of Innovation in NY. As a part of Board of Innovation he has advised some of the biggest global companies around the globe and solved some of their biggest challenges through meaningful innovation.
Patrick Van der Pijl
CEO, Best Selling Author, Speaker — Business Models Inc.
Companies need a community of innovators on the internal side — I call them catalysts. And they play an important role because the fastest way to establish an innovative way of thinking is to use an existing network of people who have this affinity or association with it: it is much easier to connect to those people instead of convincing others that innovation is ‘a cool thing’.
But outside communities are important as well — and we see more and more that companies need to be able to access these communities continually — so they can effectively test their new ideas and capture insights. This can be done, for example, by submitting questions to the community, via an app and then collecting and analyzing interaction data and direct feedback. For our customers, we ‘expose’ a product to a target audience, then record the user experience, and then, using our AI-powered back-end, we extract patterns and get detailed insights that help the product development decision-making process.
Patrick is the founder and CEO of Business Models Inc (BMI), a global design agency on strategy and innovation in 2009 with offices in US, UK, Europe, Australia and Taiwan. Patrick has a passion for strategic visioning, graphic facilitation and storytelling. BMI was awarded with the Pioneer Design Award for democratization of the innovation and strategy tools.
Charlie Widdows
Co-founder — Solverboard
It’s important to have internal communities that are focused on achieving the organisational goals. Usually, these communities are split by function — such as product development, finance, or marketing — and they form teams around these functions. Sometimes a few functions will work together and become known as a department.
Innovation as a recognised profession is relatively new, and it can happen within any function, team, or department. The companies that lead the way in innovation are ahead of the curve in viewing it as a professionalised process. Some of these subscribe to the belief that they should have a defined community of innovators, such as an innovation team. Meanwhile, others believe that this is not necessary and instead, they choose to cultivate a culture of innovation throughout the whole business, for example through innovation champions. Some businesses will also tap into external communities of innovators — in the context of Open Innovation. Engaging with these external groups is often the responsibility of the Innovation Manager, who must be driving collaboration and engagement. Meanwhile, other business leaders would argue that companies need to empower anyone in the organisation to be an innovator.
Often, the approach a company decides to take will depend on its size. In a large organisation, creating a community of innovators will help to provide mutual support and guidance and avoid innovation becoming siloed. In a small company, the innovation community may exist as part of the founder’s wider network, for example. Either way, the community needs to be diverse and to represent the voices of all the company’s stakeholders, including its current or potential customers.
The success of an innovation community largely depends on whether the company is ready to absorb their input. For innovation to thrive, the role of the innovation community must be clearly defined and understood by the whole company and there must be a mandate for the innovation community to contribute. There must be a clear innovation strategy that is aligned to the overall business strategy and goals.
The community must be diverse and represent the voices of all the company’s stakeholders. - Charlie Widdows
Providing the right context for innovation to thrive will help with both forming this community and nurturing its growth. Innovation is not just about making more money or selling more things. The compelling reason for the organisation to exist, reflected in the company mission, must be communicated clearly by the leadership. If the mission of the company is well understood, employees and teams have the right context to constantly question whether their innovation work is helping the organisation to achieve this mission or not.
Leaders must ensure that there is a safe space for employees to try doing things differently. This could involve providing the right tools for them to gather ideas, try different approaches, and measure success. To achieve this, you need to have a leader who is good at managing risk, is comfortable with learning from failure, and is invested in creating the right culture. This will help your community of innovators to grow and succeed.
Charlie Widdows is the co-founder of Solverboard and the founder of two innovation networks — groups of enterprise innovators who meet weekly to discuss the impact innovation has on the world.
Excerpt from 60 Leaders on Innovation (2021) — the book that brings together unique insights and ‘practical wisdom’ on corporate innovation. Created and distributed on principles of open collaboration and knowledge sharing: Created by many, offered to all; at no cost.
