Innovation: Process or Culture?

Is sustained innovation best served by process or culture?

Innovation is one of the most over-used and under-delivered cliches in the business world. And yet it is key to sustained success. There are scores of trends and consultants vying for the opportunity (and the contract) to tell you how you too can innovate by using some formula. Well,,, how well does this work?

Innovation has been claimed as a process, but experience has shown that when presented as a process, it tends to be adopted as a commitment to a series of steps defined by the post hoc interpretation of a few select case studies. There are indeed valuable learnings to be had by reviewing these hindsights, but they seldom translate into meaningful results for your business.

Startups will claim a culture of innovation in contrast to a more established business. By definition, they *are* innovative simply because they are different. However, this is no guarantee of success. And what a startup might label as a culture of innovation is often little more than a constant scramble to address the latest problem at hand. Without an ongoing business concern, they have no option other than to do-whatever-it-takes. This does not translate well for a more mature business.

But it is precisely these "mature" businesses that stand to benefit the most from a potential innovation. A more effective approach can be found in a flexible framework for "agile innovation". A specific class of integrated resources is deployed to address the inevitable unknowns guaranteed for any innovative venture. A structured approach to managing the risk with a carefully selected team will improve the odds of meaningful results and a better ROI.
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