Relentless focus on (the right) action
People misinterpret innovation a lot, especially inside large organisations.
Anyone that has worked in this space will probably have heard “funny” comments, like: “The Innovation team is where all the fun happens”, “You guys get to do all the things everyone else would like to”, and
“Why don’t you recycle all those post-it notes”.
What happens behind the curtains
Hiding behind the fun, “the work that everyone wants to do”, and the collective brain (yes, that’s why we use so many post-it notes) is a very structured way of working.
When an Innovation practice is solid, you’ll see teams focused on doing, delivering and addicted to outcomes.
What happens behind the curtains is a relentless focus on the action that matters.
Calibrate the action
There is always a lot going on.
Innovation is quite a diverse discipline. To find underserved needs or unique angles on long-lasting problems, a lot of action goes into it — from original problem scoping to primary research, sense-making to prototype development and testing, and finally launching the product or service.
If not well-balanced, action can be misguided. With so much exciting information being gathered, advanced methods and tools to be used, it’s easy to get lost in the middle. This middle is where you feel like you are making progress, but you are actually stalling and getting further away from achieving a meaningful outcome. You get addicted to “refining”. Finding a better insight, a better idea, a more polished prototype, etc.
A relentless focus on action is critical, but only if accompanied by an even greater emphasis on achievement and outcomes.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Connect with my on Twitter for more content related to Corporate Innovation, Design and Leadership, or if you’d like to ask any question.✌️
This article is part of a series of 30 Atomic Essays I wrote for 30 consecutive days. You can check all of them here.
