Podcast: Lessons Learned From Creating Innovation Teams

Note:  The following are the show notes from the Killer Innovations Podcast for July 13, 2008.  To listen to the podcast, click here.

Segment 1: Lessons Learned From Creating Innovation Teams

1. Changing the organizations culture
• People will resist
• Be prepared for corporate anti-bodies
• Secure deep management support
• Win by example
• Find/train/support innovation evangelists
2. Define the metrics
• Management needs proof of impact and success
• Secure broad agreement on the right metrics (management, finance, operations, etc)
• Metrics that have worked for me (not exhaustive):
• Gross Margin impact from R&D
• Ideas in pipeline
• % of projects killed
• ROI on pipeline (needs years to prove out)
• Average time from idea to impact
• Value of the innovation funnel
3. Find Innovation Champions
1. Its not just the idea …
2. You need the passion of the innovation champion
3. Passion is a key success factor for any given innovation program
4. You can build a team around a champion. 
5. Its very hard to create the champion.
6. Champion does not necessarily mean leader
4. Reward Failures & Successes
• Define reward structure
• Don’t penalize failure
• For success and failure, make the reward public
• For failures, success if you learn from them.
• Be transparent on all projects
5. Adapt To Your Organization
• Innovation approaches is NOT a one size fits all
• Listen to experts (blogs, podcasts, books, etc)
• Learn from those who have developed their innovation organizations
• Try it yourself
• Adapt to your organization/culture

Link to the MP3 of the July 13 podcast