Toolkit
Innovation Protocol
Toolkit for Sustaining Innovation
For more information
please go to the Institute
Library for the complete
Playbook titled:
Sustaining Innovation
RBL Institute
From the February 2012 Think Tank Session
Led by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood
Copyright © 2011 The RBL Group
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or using any information storage or retrieval system, for any purpose without
the
Innovation is more than an event if it is to be sustainable.
There is a Protocol
Overview
• Sustainability requires more than an event, it
requires process, The process of Innovation
can be described in six steps.
• HR needs to hold up a mirror to the
leadership team and question if Innovation is
a priority, then they need to spend time on it
and move from rhetoric to reality.
• The key to success is to work through the steps and determine how you
will embrace failure.
• We tend to only look at successful innovation, it’s hard to admit failure,
but the most innovative companies embrace failure.
• Best way to deal with failure is to Think Big, Test Small, Fail Fast and
Learn Always…the protocol is a framework for that process.
3
Innovation: a protocol
Idea
generation
Impact
4
Leaders inspire new ideas by focusing on customers, encouraging risk takers and
forming alliances
 Strategic fit
Will it be credible for our firm to pursue this idea?
 Potential value:
Will the financial margins justify further investments?
 Opportunity size:
Will the value and impact be large enough to be worth pursuing?
 Differentiation:
Will the innovation help the firm distance itself from competitors?
 Employee passion:
Will the firm find employees with the passion and competence to pull it off?
Incubate
Leaders create ‘incubators’ where the idea can be piloted for customer acceptance
and technical feasibility
Invest
Investment will require clarity around product portfolios, distribution channels, and
geographic scope
Integrate
Innovation requires integration of new ideas into old, change management is critical
Improve
Innovation does not end, but evolve, Think Big, Test Small, Fail Fast, Learn Always