As an innovation consultant, it’s my job to help businesses transition from owner-driven to system-driven and, ultimately, to culture-driven innovation.
Most business owners I talk to want success overnight. The truth is, achieving success with innovation takes time. It’s like training for a marathon—you don’t get there overnight!
Let me explain why.
Owner-Driven Innovation:
This is where all businesses begin.
At this stage, the business is still highly dependent on the owner’s individual capacity. Scalability is nearly impossible because growth is limited by the owner’s individual capacity. Owner-Driven Innovation focuses on customers’ short-term and immediate needs instead of long-term goals and strategies.
People-Driven Innovation:
After successfully transitioning from owner-driven to people-driven innovation, businesses start to see real progress in their innovation process.
At this stage, teams are empowered with autonomy and ownership over projects and processes, creating more efficient workflows that lead to faster results. With better internal communication and collaboration among teams leads to more innovative ideas being generated at a faster pace.
System-Driven Innovation:
System-Driven Innovation allows businesses to scale up quickly while maintaining control of the entire process.
Automation tools reduce menial tasks while keeping track of important data points that help you make smarter decisions. Data analysis helps you identify areas that need improvement or that can be optimized further for better results in the future.
With System Driven Innovation in place, consistent performance across multiple projects becomes much easier to achieve and faster time to market for new products or services.
Culture-Driven Innovation:
Culture-Driven Innovation is where true success lies – when everyone in your organization works together towards a common goal without any barriers or obstacles in their way.
All departments must be aligned towards a shared vision, and each employee should feel empowered to contribute ideas no matter where they are in the organizational hierarchy; from executives at the top down to entry-level employees at the bottom, everyone should feel like they have a voice when it comes making decisions about how things should be done within your company culture & processes.
The path to achieving success with innovation is a long and winding one, but it’s worth the journey.
It definitely pays to do your homework when it comes to innovation!
Achieving success with innovation doesn’t happen overnight, it’s more like training for a marathon – you need to take the time to go through each stage. Starting with an ‘owner- driven’ approach, progressing to ‘people-driven’ then ‘system-driven’, and finally cultural-driven efforts – that’s the secret formula of success.
During this transition period, make sure your environment is conducive to creativity, collaboration and communication – the building blocks of progress. With dedication and hard work, just like running a marathon, you can reach the finish line!