What is Innovation?
AWARENESS and RECOGNITION of
INNOVATION as a SYSTEMIC, REPEATABLE ACTIVITY
A TIM Foundation Guidebook Publication
David Williams | Gert Staal | TIM Foundation | April 2016 | version 2
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What is Innovation?
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Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Developing better innovation capability starts with a clear definition .............................................................. 4
Innovation definitions ............................................................................................................................................... 4
Types of Innovation from different perspectives ............................................................................................... 4
What is Innovation Management? .............................................................................................................................. 5
Because innovation itself is a container term ..................................................................................................... 5
Innovation is in some ways like the weather: a complex system verging on chaos .................................... 5
The two main types of innovation are actually extreme opposites .............................................................. 5
Example: the introduction of iPhone™ in 2007................................................................................................. 5
What does innovation look like?................................................................................................................................ 6
The three phases of Innovation ............................................................................................................................. 6
Discovery .................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Development.............................................................................................................................................................. 6
Deployment ................................................................................................................................................................ 6
We looked at what innovation is, now let’s look at what it is not ................................................................... 7
Why is it so hard for people to ‘see’ system in innovation? .............................................................................. 7
Innovation management uses a confusing multitude of techniques and tools ............................................. 8
What are management systems, anyway?............................................................................................................ 8
Innovation Management Systems........................................................................................................................... 8
The six elements represent six questions to ask yourself ............................................................................... 8
The importance of connected, comprehensive, consistent, contextual and repeatable innovation
management systems................................................................................................................................................ 9
The need for innovation management .................................................................................................................... 10
Innovation is the single biggest driver of economic growth.......................................................................... 10
Why is innovation management now needed more badly than ever before? ........................................... 10
Where are the frontiers in innovation today? .................................................................................................. 10
There are paradigm shifts in innovation management itself .......................................................................... 11
Innovation management is predominantly about organizational learning ................................................... 11
‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’ ........................................................................................................... 11
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The Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle of Innovation Management itself ................................................................ 11
What are the largest innovation blockers? ....................................................................................................... 12
Why management books often fail to deliver on the promise of innovation they bring ........................ 13
‘A bad process model is better than no model’. Really? ................................................................................. 14
Important questions for process design ............................................................................................................ 14
Disadvantages of process models........................................................................................................................ 14
Innovation management today: a few insights ....................................................................................................... 14
Familiar innovation process design pitfalls ......................................................................................................... 15
Soft factors are hard blockers, it’s the culture! ............................................................................................... 16
7. What is a proper way to innovate?..................................................................................................................... 16
Why have an innovation management maturity model? ................................................................................ 16
What is an innovation maturity model? ............................................................................................................. 16
What does the innovation maturity model cover?.......................................................................................... 16
How does an assessment work?.......................................................................................................................... 17
Can you innovate with an innovation maturity model? .................................................................................. 17
Applicability and Scope .......................................................................................................................................... 18
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................... 18
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Introduction
Prior to attempting to adopt innovation management as a practice within an organization, innovation as
a concept must first be understood fully, since this term can mean very different things for different
people. This TIM Foundation Guidebook provides universal facts, truths and un-truths about
innovation in general and as a practice within an organization. It attempts to straighten out blatant
misconceptions and myths.
We hope you enjoy it with as much pleasure and satisfaction, as we had writing it.
Gert Staal and David Williams
TIM Foundation
February 2016, Deventer, The Netherlands and Toronto, Canada
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Developing better innovation capability
starts with a clear definition
Innovation definitions
The simplest definition of innovation usually runs like this: “The Creation of Something That Provides
New Value”. You can alter and add to this definition to suit your purposes, however the barebones
underlying concept is, that something needs to be created that offers new value to someone, this
typically applies to any innovation.
Conversely, however, innovation as a term covers and is applied to a multitude of activities, contain many
interacting and interrelated components, which on a different, higher level may form a complex whole.
The fact is, that this level of interrelatedness is typically not perceived. But the interrelatedness is there
in any innovative organization, particularly in iconic ones that professionals look up to. In any successful
organization, innovation is not taken for granted, not incidental, but a lasting capability that is
improved, worked on, repetitively revisited, time and time again. In other words, innovation
management should function as a system: innovation should become a string of repeatable,
documented consistent activities.
An organization that is not able to innovate consistently and repetitively over time, fades and eventually
will wither and die. For those organizations that do not evolve, at one time in their lifecycle, they will
face their extinction (slow in slow markets, fast in fast-paced environment), but it is a fact of life. These
interacting and interrelated parts of innovation are a combination of processes, techniques, tools,
conditions and people. They are coherent, relevant, and fulfil a purpose. They are also continually in
development.
Types of Innovation from different perspectives
There are three basic types of innovation: product, service and process innovation, if you look at it
with the end goal in mind. There are also two main types of innovation that are applicable if you look
at its nature:
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Radical innovation: completely new, ground-breaking innovations (technology, business model etc.). This may
be new to the world or new to the company, depending on the perspective.
Incremental innovation: improvements to existing products, services or processes, which may be further
subdivided into incremental improvements to existing products, services or processes, and those covering
maintenance and/or support innovations which cover minor releases that should correct problems, offer
small insignificant enhancements).
The big confusion is, that different types of innovation require radically different tactics when creating or
improving processes, tools or methods which may be at odds with themselves.
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What is Innovation Management?
Innovation management is the act of governing innovation as systemic, repeatable activity over time.
If only its defining act were so simple. Why is it so hard to be precise?
Because innovation itself is a container term
Everybody uses the word innovation in totally different contexts. There are many self-declared
innovation experts pushing their own methodologies. Many people are in the habit of sticking the term
to denote concepts that may only connect to innovation loosely. Sometimes people use the word in
meanings, while it is very clear they are referring to change management instead, and sometimes these
themes are definitely intertwined.
Innovation is in some ways like the weather: a complex system verging on chaos
Everybody talks about the weather. Everybody has opinions, expectations, explanations. Those
opinions, expectations and explanations are often divided. People who engage with the matter as
professional meteorologists will state time and time again that this is a complex system, with certain
universal truths, laws of nature at work explaining how cold air moves down, hot air moves up. They
may use these to explain why it rains, why the wind blows in certain directions, etc. At the same time,
innovation has chaotic inputs (new market conditions, new technologies, technology trends). On top of
this, we all experience the weather’s phenomena and consequences, getting wet or dry, warm or cold
on the daily commute, like we experience innovations’ effects on daily life.
The two main types of innovation are actually extreme opposites
What is the true meaning of the word innovation, then? Innovation is about developing added value to
existing or new customers. There are two main types: Radical innovation: completely new added value:
(with either sustainable or disruptive technologies). Often this type is technology- or business model
driven. The target is to develop entirely new propositions, find new customers or undertake really new
activities. Incremental innovation: here the focus is on developing additional added value, for an existing
product or service (a new version of it). Often this involves process innovation, using quality
instruments, new process models. The target here is better, cheaper, faster, more features, more
service. Operational excellence in other words.
Example: the introduction of iPhone™ in 2007
What made the introduction of iPhone™ in 2007 so special, was that it was a combination of radical
(an entirely new ecosystem of content in iTunes™, software in the AppStore™) and incremental
innovations (introduction of GPS on cellphones, touchscreen controls, a motion sensor). This
combination made it extremely hard for competitors to respond to, so that it took the alliance of a
whale of an electronics corporation like Samsung™ and software/Internet giant Google™ years to
come up with anything close to a reasonable copy of functionalities and features. Other competitors
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like Nokia™, RIM™ (Blackberry) and Motorola™ almost completely fell by the wayside in the struggle
for the smartphone market and barely survived, if at all.
What does innovation look like?
The three phases of Innovation
There are always 3 innovation phases. In every innovation cycle you can recognize these three phases.
Independent of processes, approach, tools and techniques, innovation types. They are:
Discovery
Often referred to as the Front-End of innovation this phase addresses ideation, inception, ideas
management, conceptualization, strategizing. In the Discovery phase, often referred to as “Fuzzy”
Front-End, you are working on idea generation from inception to selection of final concept. Ideas and
concepts should align with the vision and objectives of the organization,.
Development
Once the ideas and/or concepts have been generated and selected they need to be developed in this
Middle phase. This may include typical activities like prototyping, testing, market testing or test
marketing. In this phase the emphasis is on developing ideas into viable products and services. In this
phase experimenting, prototyping and testing are typical activities.
Deployment
This last phase involves the (preparation for) launch of the developed idea/concept into a particular
segment of the market, or internally. The issue many people have with deployment, is that it is often
considered to be a moment in time (a real event) rather than a development over time (which it truly
is). Deployment is sometimes called the Back end. In Deployment you are engaged in rolling out
developed concepts as viable products and services, or processes. This can include commercialization,
internal and external launch.
By default they appear in this order. They may be repeated, or to some degree mixed up (squeezed),
but they are always there as recognizable discrete activity phases that mark the stages which any new
product, service or new process will go through once or repeatedly.
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We looked at what innovation is,
now let’s look at what it is not
Many activities have been used as substitutes/surrogates/placeholders for the entire cycle of innovation
activities. These concepts as placeholders of ‘innovation’ are definitely important elements, but they
only address or constitute parts of the entire spectrum of activities, and should not be confused with
the entire string of activities. Let us look at some of the candidate terms:
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Invention – its occurrence may contribute to innovation, it may play a role in the entire process but equally
so, in many cases it does not play a significant role, as in e.g. business model innovation or process
innovation.
Creativity – as part of a set of innovation capabilities, a personal quality or competence required for certain
innovation activities (but not for all).
Ideas/idea management – they are in some stages, the raw material of innovation processes to work
with.
Ideation – the process of the creation/inception of ideas, see above.
Research & Development – R&D as an activity may contribute to or constitute certain parts of innovation
processes, or even be a function of the organization, but R&D does not cover the entire cycle. (Hence R&D
spending is not a true measure of innovation but of outputs at certain stages). There are many organizations
that are very innovative, but spend no money on traditional Research & Development, Apple™ or
Microsoft™ being prime examples. Equally, there are organizations, that spend a lot of money on R&D and
see it as a core part of the business (pharma or biotech industries). Likewise, the number of patents may be a
measurement of invention output, not to be used as a measurement of innovation effectiveness.
We emphatically say that all of these activities are important to innovation management, but on the
whole they are mostly components. Successful inventions are at risk, if they are not properly deployed
and brought to market. An innovation is only successful if you have gone through the entire cycle.
Why is it so hard for people to ‘see’
system in innovation?
We saw earlier, that innovation management is a complex system verging on the chaotic, like the
weather. We also saw that innovation covers two types of development that conflict internally
(incremental versus radical innovations). That in itself offers an explanation: the very fact that these
entirely opposite innovation types co-exist, veils the fact that these two will go hand-in-hand. Each
radical innovation may be followed up by strings of incremental improvements. At the end of a string of
incremental improvements, there may be a new radical innovation in the works.
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Innovation management uses a confusing multitude of techniques and tools
There is a deluge of innovation techniques and tools available to assist in the implementation and
running/operating parts of an innovation management system. None of these techniques and tools
cover all the parts of innovation collectively as a single technique/tool. They are also at odds with each
other. Few of these, barring a few exceptions, are used in all phases of development and sometimes
collide. These techniques and tools may e.g. include (just examples from hundreds of available
toolsets):
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Brainstorming: high-volume idea generation
TRIZ – problem solving methodologies
Open Innovation – tackles the inter-operability of an organization with other organizations in its
surroundings
Business Model Innovation – a combinatory approach where existing propositions are re-engineered
Design Thinking – method to apply methods of design to innovation management
Big Data – using large-volume datasets for inception, for corrections, changes
The list is endless. These are all subsets, components, of innovation management as a systematic activity across
the innovation phases. They will only serve specific purposes and perform certain activities. Compare this to the
tools used building a house. You will need a saw, a hammer, tweezers, or a crowbar at different points in time
for different purposes. The crux is, that they should be used at the appropriate time, be relevant, and
connected, i.e. interrelated and interoperable.
What are management systems, anyway?
Management systems are common, shared activities within organizations for consistently and
repetitively managing important aspects of an organization such as quality, environment, and security,
etc.
Innovation Management Systems
An Innovation Management System helps people to consistently manage all innovation activities in an
organization. An Innovation Management System has been described in an innovation management
maturity model and standard such as the TIM / PDMA Innovation Management Maturity Model,
including the Standard and its toolset. In this model there are six important elements of Innovation
Management that emerge: Culture, Leadership, Resources, Processes, Monitoring & Measuring and
Processes.
The six elements represent six questions to ask yourself
In essence, with these six elements you want a reply to these six questions: Is our organization ready?
Are we clear why we want this, and what the proper course is? Do we have the means to innovate?
Do we have a common understanding of all steps and activities that are necessary? Do we measure and
monitor what we do? Can we act if things aren’t going well?
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The importance of connected, comprehensive, consistent,
contextual and repeatable innovation management systems
As we said above, for an innovation management system to function properly, all processes, tools,
methods used should be connected to each other (i.e. lead to each other, have bearing on each other),
and they should be used consistently (meaning that their application should be consistent across all
cycle phases in every context). They should also be contextual (i.e. relevant in the context they are
used) and repeatable, which means that successful practices should be replicable over time and
distance. Ad-hoc, disconnected innovation practices have limited to no structure and do not
adequately address the three innovation core phases (Discovery, Development and Deployment).
These practices may be part time or occasional initiatives, having limited commitment and support.
Truly lasting, sustainable innovation capability is the holy grail of management. It requires much time and
investment to make an organization truly competitive in a lasting way. As a matter of fact, it costs more time
and money than many organizations can, or are prepared to spend on it up-front, because of short-term
pressures.
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The need for innovation management
Innovation is the single biggest driver of economic growth
Innovation has been labelled by world bodies such as OECD and innovation experts all over the world
to be the single biggest driver of economic growth, productivity and prosperity. Open any book on
innovation management, and you will find this mantra somewhere on its pages. The statement places an
importance and sense of urgency on innovation as something that should be understood and adopted
by all organizations worldwide. Why is it then, that its core concepts are so terribly misunderstood?
Why is innovation management now needed more badly than ever before?
This is because of the fast development and roll out of technology, the speed of which only goes up.
The cycle speed has gone up 4 times in the last 30 years. Internet has blasted competitive borders,
there is one world market. The pressures of creating a sustainable economy increase. There is
increased competition by disintermediation. On the whole, continuous innovation has become a
condition of life, for the growth of prosperity and well-being. Adapt, embrace innovation, or become
extinct seems to be the motto. Disruptions galore. The biggest drawback of increased cycle time is, that
literally everything (even innovation methodologies themselves!) becomes a commodity, very rapidly.
Where are the frontiers in innovation today?
They are in for example the realm of digital technology: Big Data, the Internet of Things, wearables,
self-driving cars, artificial intelligence. They are in material sciences, nano technology, life sciences,
energy transition and sustainability, Cradle-to-Cradle and Circular Business Models besides sharing and
digitalization. Relevant to all sectors where innovation takes place, and regardless of whether the technology is
hot or not, is the disruption of current business models. Recent examples of that are Uber, which is tearing
through the taxi business, and AirBnB, which lets the hotel business shake on its foundations. What
you see in many sectors outside of the frontier technology areas (where there are radical changes in
technology), are big disruptions in existing concepts based on Internet transitions, either leading to
disintermediations (knocking out the middle man), or creating new intermediaries where there were
none. Responses to such changes are often very violent, also from governments (see e.g. the headlines
that Uber has been making violating local taxi license regulations). For the information sector, the
digital transition is the biggest change since the introduction of book printing in the 15th Century. This
transition extends well beyond the external development, beyond the technology shift, and has to do
with changing customer behaviors and mindsets. Fundamentally, much success or failure has to do with
the way in which we respond to technological change and disruption, particularly lies in the fact that we don’t
respond at all. Our behaviors both as customer or in the role of producer, for that matter, also reveals
our blind spots, because we don’t see things coming. Often, disruptors themselves in new cycles can
become the victim of disruption. For example, this happened to Kodak™: of all companies Kodak! It
was no less than the original inventor of digital photography, and it completely underestimated the
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speed of development and customer acceptance in digital photography. It happened to RIM™, the
creator of the Blackberry™, which did not see the touchscreen smartphones and GPS coming. Both
Kodak™ and RIM™ stuck to their old models. The success of the old blinds you to really see the
possibilities of the new. We should continually ask ourselves the question: why are we here? Why us?
There are paradigm shifts in innovation management itself
So, many radical innovations themselves are accompanied by a paradigm shift in behavior on the
customer and the producer side. A paradigm shift is a change in the way we look at things, like looking
at an image and seeing a totally new picture. Yet there is also a paradigm shift happening in the way
organizations innovate today. From ad-hoc practices, more and more organizations move to systemic
innovation management. Where and how to start with systemic innovation?
Innovation management is predominantly about organizational learning
From a clear innovation culture and leadership that is driving requirements for innovation, through
expressing them in your values, vision and mission statement, you can start expressing objectives in the
shape of plans for all phases meaning Discovery, Development and Deployment. Having done that, you
can then monitor and measure results, and if necessary conduct improvements on the whole
framework to learn collectively, as an organization. As a matter of fact, you build a Plan-Do-Check-Act
cycle to improve innovation capability. Learning is based on external inputs, internal inputs, most likely
some feedback you got from early customers, from lessons from past experiences. Continual
adjustment of innovation capabilities over time is the end goal as the organization learns from its
failures and adjusts not only on the project or portfolio level for individual products and services, but
also on the systems level, the organization level.
‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’
Keep efforts to improve your innovation capability simple and small. Do one or two small projects in
this way, that require minimal means. Learn how to innovate and how to finish projects successfully
builds confidence. Smaller organizations need simpler tools, but their mission is often as complicated,
but don’t make efforts more complex than strictly necessary. More radical or faster development may
require use of e.g. methods such as Scrum to come to new concepts quickly and in smaller steps and
increase the learning curve.
The Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle of Innovation Management itself
The TIM Foundation Innovation Management’s innovation management lifecycle summarizes what any
organization needs to go through, in order to raise itself from its current level of innovation capability,
and move on to the next. From an awareness about its own current position and innovation capability,
the organization needs to commit itself to an effort that leads to improvement, being led in that
direction by its leadership. An assessment may show what kind of improvements are required for the
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organization to make a step-change to the next level of innovation capability, before the whole cycle
starts over again. This is the Lifecycle of innovation management on the systems level.
IMPROVE
AWARE
ASSESS
COMMIT
LEAD
This picture shows that there is a specific sequence of activities that are required in order to move up
the ladder of innovation capability: Becoming aware - Committing yourself - Leading the change - Asses
your current capability - Improve your current capability, which is when the cycle repeats itself.
What are the largest innovation blockers?
The rewards of innovation are high. Yet: innovation (the act of value creation, developing new products, services
or processes), is a very risky business. Failure rates for new (esp. radically new – the more radical, the
higher the failure rate) concepts are extremely high. However, net revenues from new products and
services consistently outpaces that of the non-innovative ones.
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There are many blockers of innovation. The ‘wordle’ shown here is based on an Internet query, asking
LinkedIn™ members what the largest innovation blockers were that they encountered. The question
generated hundreds of responses within a few days. What characterizes most of these entries? The fact
that they are of an internal nature. Especially by creating good conditions for development, providing
direction, and so eliminating innovation blockers can we achieve progress on innovation capability.
Why are there so many innovation blockers? “Because innovation” (paraphrasing words of a recorded
Steve Jobs interview at an All Things Digital conference), “is so hard, that you have to really love it to
endure it. Sane people just quit”. That’s how much compassion and endurance is required.
Why management books often fail to deliver on the promise of innovation they bring
Five years after In Search of Excellence by Peters and Waterman, the majority of the organizations
studied had fallen from their pedestals. Modern management books still hold the promise of
improvement using a particular designed methodology. Yet there are no easy answers. There are no
quick recipes for success and no single-source solutions. Most management books at best address a
subset of issues that require to be addressed. Innovation management is indeed very complicated:
while writing the innovation maturity model, the standard and guidelines, we have identified 59
different factors which are all influential. It is actually so complex that many organizations simply don’t
succeed: particularly if they have been extraordinarily successful in their old model. You can however, create
conditions under which innovation grows and give direction to new developments. Organizations can
build an innovation management system, that helps them to organize this better.
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‘A bad process model is better than no model’. Really?
It is often said, that a bad process is better than having no process at all, but is that true? Many
organizations have created a simplified, linear decision model for new product development, and have
often adapted an existing linear waterfall model such as Stage-Gate™ or PACE™ to their own needs.
We think this approach is probably quite harmful for real progress, particularly when faced with a
necessity for radical or fast paced development. The problem of such decision flow models, are that
they often become petrified representations of how we did things in the past, not necessarily how they
should be conducted today, let alone in the future. It is like driving your car using the rear-view mirror.
There is a saying, which runs ‘Methods of yesterday, applied today, are tomorrow’s failures’. It
summarizes quite nicely that process models have severe limitations if they become too rigid, too
much set in stone.
Important questions for process design
A good process model tries to find answers to the elementary questions such as these: What can we
develop? - Concept generation. What will we develop? - Concept selection. Is it worth it? - Concept
testing. How and when will we do it? - Planning When are we ready? - Development How and when shall we
launch? – Deployment. What have we learned? - Evaluation. Asking these questions is necessary, again
and again but in different sequences, and always cyclical. The process design should also include the
methodology to adapt the process itself: make the process itself susceptible to change.
Disadvantages of process models
There are big disadvantages to excessively rigorous adoption of process models. Process models often
aim to eliminate projects (they assume there is actually a portfolio). The underlying assumption is, there
is always enough idea matter and entrepreneurship at hand. That is not always the case. Process models
are often quick inflexible and aimed at ‘planning and control’ / using ‘waterfall’ top-down techniques:
define everything up-front. Only: innovation activities are not really linear but circular, they have
parallel development, take steps back, test concepts. They simply demand better process design leading to
improved learning capabilities. For more radical innovation approaches, organizations increasingly turn to
different methodologies, as development is far more chaotic than simplified linear process models
allow. Linear models are broken. Often a degree of linearity is only suited for the middle part of the
overall model (Development phase). Think very carefully about its relevance and use in the Front End,
or as a matter of fact, just about anywhere else.
Innovation management today: a few insights
Innovate exponentially through networks. What are current developments in innovation management
today? Innovation management today is done with your network, by applying open innovation. Survival
with innovation today is often through collaboration. Innovation on your own strength is often not
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enough anymore to get the appropriate development capacity or speed. Making good collaboration
agreements is essential: trust here actually means letting-go.
Cheaper is better. Innovation management today is done cheaply. There is a saying ‘Fail early, fail cheap’:
risks are controlled through speed in development and keeping things small. ‘Frugal innovation’ is
taking place in developing countries, which means with minimal resources create products that are
sufficient to fulfil local demands.
Iterative cycles. Innovation management today is done by working iteratively: develop learning capability
to generate new products and services in short cycles. The learning mode which characterizes use of
iterative cycles (in e.g. startups, learning about customer experience) is the most important asset for
making progress. See also for example Eric Ries’s work in his book – The Lean Startup about Minimum
Viable Products (MVPs).
Handling failure is inadequate. Innovation management today is about handling failure. This is difficult for
people. We are mentally and culturally not geared to embrace failure as a source of learning. Since
there are so many factors that influence innovation, there are a multitude of factors at which it can go
wrong, and from which you can learn. Just to mention a few: Innovation may collapse under
operational pressures. Innovation is not embedded in line management responsibility. The new
proposition has little unique added value. There is insufficient testing accompanied by too hasty
launches. There is no true and felt urgency to change. The existing organization fights the new startup.
The organization must master too many new competencies at the same time, and is unable (sometimes
unwilling) to do that. Management pushes its own ideas. Elementary steps in preparation are skipped.
Decision-making is based on incomplete information. People fall in love with their own product and
don’t stop on time. The list is endless. Did you recognize a few?
Familiar innovation process design pitfalls
In establishing processes to build up new innovation capability, there are also many pitfalls. Such as: too
little information available, and still start or let projects run for too long - The development process
leads to bureaucracy - No process IS the same for any organization: it means for every organization
you should build something unique - No process STAYS the same. It needs to help you, and change
with you - Projects cannot be compared that well (meaning portfolio management does not work
properly) - Senior management support to improve innovation capability is lip service (meaning they
will pledge support, just until it starts to take time or costs serious money) - Team compositions do
not match the need: different types of innovations demand different team types - Inappropriate or
excessive use of management tools & methods. For a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Over-correction on process implementation is also a response: if you start out with a strict model, the
next version is probably too ‘loose’.
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Soft factors are hard blockers, it’s the culture!
Very often, the true cause is not process, lack of means, or technology, but so-called soft factors. Soft
factors are often the hard blockers. The heart of the matter is: Do we have a culture that stimulates
innovation, do we truly facilitate innovation? Does our leadership fully subscribe to innovation?
Supports it in every way? The innovation competencies of employees, and the innovation capability of
many organizations are often not as good as people think they are.
7. What is a proper way to innovate?
We have said much about improvement, and said what not to do or to avoid. Let’s proceed by giving you
pointers as to how to innovate properly: using an innovation maturity model.
Why have an innovation management maturity model?
Any organization, in order to stay alive and relevant, needs to continually adapt itself to its
environment. Many of those changes are small, some changes and developments are significant and
radical. This model describes precisely what it takes for an organization to be truly innovative, to make
those changes big and small. It helps organizations get better at creating new and different services,
products and processes and thereby stay relevant. Saving time, cost, and effort. Get smarter and better
innovating capability improvement.
What is an innovation maturity model?
This is a truly international and universal, sustainable innovation management maturity model.
Utmost care has been given to make this model available and accessible to all organizations, regardless
of their nature, purpose and activities. The maturity model consists of eight main documents:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Innovation Management Standard - the requirements document
Assessment Checklist and the Maturity Grid
Interpretation Guideline, containing assessment notes
Implementation Guideline
Innovation Definitions
Innovation Metrics
The Accreditation and Certification Program.
A whole range of further support documents is available, which help auditors and consultants make
innovation assessments and provide advice respectively.
What does the innovation maturity model cover?
It describes the requirements for any organization’s measures to be truly innovative. This is done
according to three overarching criteria that determine an organization’s innovation capability:
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What is Innovation?
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innovation planning, innovation execution, and innovation deployment. The model covers six major
areas: Culture, Leadership, Resources, Processes, Monitoring and Measuring, and Improvement.
How does an assessment work?
With this maturity model, organizations can perform self-assessments, advice on improvements. They
can also aim for higher levels of capability by asking an accredited Certification Partner to rate them
against the 3 dimensions mentioned above, which provides an image of where improvements could be
made, so as to be able to continuously improve their capabilities to innovate and increase overall
performance. Attention has been given to incorporate principles of sustainability.
Can you innovate with an innovation maturity model?
This is not innovation from a box, or a panacea. They don’t exist. Although you cannot manage all
aspects of innovation, you can facilitate innovation, give it focus and direction, and so manage the
facilitation process. The Innovation Management Maturity Model is a cooperative initiative of the
Product Development and Management Association, holder of the Registry, and the Total Innovation
Management Foundation, which manages the model on behalf of PDMA. More information? Check
www.pdma.org for the standards and the maturity model, or www.timfoundation.org for more
information.
Currently approved additional guidelines that have also been adopted by the PDMA and which are now
released are the following:


Sustainability Guideline
Supply Chain Innovation Guideline
Additional publications, guidelines and reference documents are continually under development to
provide specific knowledge by organization sector and for innovation methods, techniques and tools.
Currently in draft are the following:






Reference Document on Innovation Decision-Making Processes
Reference Document on Venturing Programs
Reference Document on Small Organizations
Reference Document on Planning
Reference Document on Planning Templates
Cross-Reference to PDMA Handbook and Toolbooks
All PDMA and TIM maturity model, and supporting publications are subject to continual user feedback
and a two-year evaluation and review process, under the supervision of the Total Innovation
Management Foundation’s Board and the PDMA’s Standards Committee.
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What is Innovation?
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All trademarks and sales marks are the property of their respective owners. Should there be reason to
bring this issue to our attention, please do so addressed to the TIM Foundation and we will take
appropriate measures.
Applicability and Scope
The Innovation Management Maturity Model, its guidelines and reference documents are applicable to
all types of organizations in all sectors, startup or established, for developing an Innovation
Management System (business, government, non-profits, sports and entertainment, etc.). The
Innovation Management Maturity Model is applicable to the development of new technologies,
products, services and processes. Organizations can assess their innovation maturity to the model’s
requirements and systematically adopt the six elements to develop their own unique Innovation
Management System. In general, every organization will have to adopt its own selection of underlying
components, build its own system. The model provides the criteria necessary for individual learning,
knowledge and management of an innovation framework and innovation pipeline and portfolios.
Innovation objectives and subsequent projects may include creating new or improving existing
technologies, products, services and processes. Companion documents such as Assessment Checklist,
Guidelines and Reference Publications are available to support the model and assist the consultant and
the end user in developing and implementing an Innovation Management System (IMS).
Conclusion
We have looked at the definition of innovation to understand what it is, what it looks like, and what it
is not. We’ve shed some light on why it is hard for people to see the system behind innovation and
why it is necessary to innovate, now more than ever. We’ve closed with looking at where the
innovation frontiers are today, and how people can improve their innovation capability thoroughly,
We hope that this e-book contributes to a better understanding of how to develop systemic,
sustainable innovation management. We are curious to learn from you as well, so by all means, please
send us your remarks if you like. For more background information and for feedback, visit
www.timfoundation.org. Thank you!
Gert Staal & David Williams
©TIM Foundation, April 2016
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