How to Orchestrate Innovation in Your Team
At Porsche, we want to drive innovation in the automotive industry. Our vision: to break down the seeming contradiction between performance and sustainability. However, innovation is a wide work field including many team members in different stages of progress. To align the overall goals, it takes a clear approach, joining forces and focusing on what really matters. Christoph Acker, project lead Innovation Strategy at Porsche, organizes innovation processes throughout the organization and brings the threads together. He shares his five tips on how to better orchestrate innovation in your teams.
1. Set sky high targets
Your team needs clear guidance on what is a priority for your company and what is not. Where are you going? Where do you want to become better? Otherwise, you will miss the real focus and challenges of your company. Working on innovation, we need to set these targets high in order to create a vision to thrive for. You do not fly to the moon, unless you aim for it!
2. Leave room for creativity
As stated, clear goals are important. However, if you want to innovate and disrupt the status quo, you need to leave room for creativity. Enough room, so people are free to think outside the box. Your employees are your most valuable currency when it comes to innovation. They are experts so let them figure out how they achieve the target.
3. Trust your team
It is your job to set your team up right. Motivated employees want to generate impact on driving your organization forward. So let them do that, create a positive atmosphere and trust them in their progress.
4. Be inclusive, ambitious, demanding and always honest
The rules apply to everyone — no matter how high up the ladder they stand in your team. Everyone needs to feel welcome to contribute to innovation and express their ideas. A clear communication among each other, including a critical eye and the ability to say “no” is necessary for a successful collaboration. Everyone’s ego stays at home. It’s all about the cause.
5. Don’t make things too complicated — start & generate impact
One of the most valuable traits in innovation is a hands-on-mentality. When trying new things, you might come across unforeseeable obstacles. Double-check it, align it once again to your targets and clarify the used technology — but don’t delay processes or keep postponing further work. Take decisions, get started and produce results!
About this publication: Where innovation meets tradition. There’s more to Porsche than sports cars — we’re tackling new challenges, develop digital products and think digital with a focus on the customer. On our Medium blog, we tell these stories. It´s about our #nextvisions, smart technologies and the people that drive our digital journey.
