WARSHBR’s 10 must reads on innovation

Stop the innovation

Vijay Govindarajan,Coxe Distinguished Professor at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business

About Authors:

Chris Trimble,Adjunct Associate Professor at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business

Full Article at HBR (2010)https://hbr.org/2010/07/stop-the-innovation-wars

Li WeiTechnology commercialization managerExploit Technologies Pte Ltd (ETPL)Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR, Singapore)

Summary and presentation by

B. Eng & Ph.d (Engineering)Nanyang Technological University Singapore

M.B.A.INSEADFontainebleau, France

Special team dedicated toinnovation initiatives inevitablyrun into conflict with the restof the organization

The people responsible for ongoingoperations view the innovators asundisciplined upstarts

The innovators dismiss the operation people as bureaucratic dinosaurs

It is natural to separatethe two warring groups

But …

This isdead

wrong

Isolation may neutralize infighting, but it alsoneuters innovation

Nearly all innovation initiativesbuild on a firm’s existingresources and know-how

We need a team with different incentives and culture norms to have

new innovation breakthrough

The dedicated team

We also need the people who maintain excellence in ongoing operations

The performance engine

We need both of them

We need both of them

To work together

Ok … ok.. Umm …

?

There are

three stepsto make the unlikeliest partnership work

#1Divide the

labor for newinitiatives

Limitations of performance engine:The new task is too disruptiveThe working culture is difficult to change

So, the performance engine shouldtake on tasks that flow along thesame path that ongoing operations do

Any task that is beyond the capabilities of theindividuals within the performance enginemust be assigned to the dedicated team

10/90 50/50 90/10

It depends on the nature of the initiativeand the performance engine’s capabilities

or or

The proper division of labor

#2Assemble the

dedicatedteam

The common mistake

Thinking about who you know beforethinking about skills you need

Performance Engine

A dedicated team

Forming a dedicated team withonly insiders is easy, cheaper,

and seem less risky

Performance Engine

A dedicated team

It is actually a little performance engine,which is practically guaranteed to act

like one

Building an effective dedicated teamrequires breaking down existing workrelationships and creating new ones

Populate dedicated teams withboth insiders and outsiders

Resources & relationships withthe organization

Bring in new skills, perspective and

cultures

Differentcultural norms

Differentincentives

Differentperformance metrics

An effectivededicated team

#3Proactivelymanage theconflict

Conflicts between innovation initiatives and ongoing operations are normal and can easily escalate

The key here is having an innovation leaderwith outstanding relationship skill, who can

collaborate well with the performance engine

The leader also needs a senior executive who supports the dedicated team, prioritizes the

company’s long-term interests and adjudicates contests for resources

Anticipateand mitigatethe strains

Let’s recap …

Three steps to make the unlikeliest partnership work

Divide the labor for new initiatives

Assemble thededicated team

Proactively managethe conflict

#1 #2 #3

Innovation requires a partnershipbetween a newly formed team and

the long-standing one

The dedicated team The performance engine

Such partnerships are challenging, but they are manageable and they are indispensable

Without them …

Without them …

Innovationgoes

nowhere

More presentations atwww.innodiary.org