DIMITRI MARKOULIDES An innovation champion must involve employees in innovation projects and keep them updated to enable them to support and drive innovation and create the future of the business
An innovation champion course that trains executives to manage innovation in their organisations aims to help companies grow revenue streams and tap new markets, says business change management consultancy BMGI South Africa innovation practice lead Dimitri Markoulides.
The BMGI Innovation Champion programme focuses on deploying innovation in an organisation’s executive and managerial structures, ensuring good support for and control over innovation.
Following the ‘D4’ systematic innovation process researched and vetted by BMGI, concepts are tested, which results in the elimination of assumptions and risks and an increase in the probability of success. Incubating entrepreneurship using in-house innovation champions is a key part of driving innovation in business.
“While the profitability of companies results from a focus on efficiencies and the effectiveness of running the business, this does not take care of the future. It is growth that is usually a good indicator of future profitability and must be considered as strategically important as today’s profitability and requiring similarly rigorous attention and effort,” he says.
Innovation is perceived as risky, as failure occurs most frequently when unproven concepts are taken to market, but incorporating a structured innovation programme with innovation champions can manage the risk significantly.
“We cannot avoid innovating as it provides companies with new products, services and tools to create new markets and revenue streams,” Markoulides notes, adding that “a lack of innovation carries risks to the long-term sustainability of companies”.
Teams of people handling specific problems provide many inputs that improve the resulting concepts. Subjecting these concepts to specific procedural and rigorous tests, which are taught to executives as part of the programme, reduces the number of faulty concepts, and the remaining ideas are then sent to implementation teams to assess.
A traditional top-down management structure does not always support in-house innovation; an executive innovation steering committee is required to provide a well-balanced innovation portfolio linked to the company’s strategy.
A horizontal innovation management structure is encouraged, which enables many people to provide inputs or questions, reducing risks and improving the quality of innovations.
“A horizontal accountability system, where subject-matter experts and their relevant innovation champions are encouraged to test specific innovations within company divisions or teams of employees, leads to a general acceptance of involvement in these projects by employees,” explains Markoulides.
However, companies must retain strict control over in-house developments and ensure that all developments or concepts meet minimum standards and legal requirements.
Therefore, having a structured innovation process, developing innovation champions, asking the right questions and creating the correct management structures will promote and support innovation initiatives in realising the growth strategy.
The role of the innovation champion is to involve employees in the innovation projects and to keep them updated. This enables them to help support and drive innovation because they are involved in creating the future of the business. This approach also helps to mitigate employees’ resistance to change and opens up reward incentive schemes, he concludes.