Building an Innovation StrategyIn this unit, you will submit the Building an Innovation Strategy assignment.In a brief description, identify Tesla and the industry in which it operates, and explain yo

In such challenging times, success will come f rom our ability to differentiate products and services f rom those of the competition. As we in the more advanced economies have largely ceded the battle for cost differentiation to competitors in developing countries, differentiation through product and service innovation becomes the basis for building competitive advantage today. Last year, the European Union placed innovation at the heart of its Europe 2020 strategy 1, recognising that, at a time of public Linking innovation to strategy L&D practitioners have a vital role to play in developing a culture in which innovation can flourish, says Sam Bodley-Scott budget constraints, major demographic changes and increasing global competition, Europe’s competitiveness and future standard of living depends on the ability to drive innovation in products, services, business and social processes and models. The focus on innovation is nothing new. It’s been a mantra in boardrooms for some years and much has been researched and written on why some organisations are more successful than others in this important area. Typical of these studies is the UK Chartered Management Institute’s recent Innovation for the Recovery 2 study, which includes an exploration of the barriers to, and catalysts for, effective innovation. As one might expect in the current climate, barriers to innovation identified in this study include lack of money, time and resources; weak www.trainingjournal.com March 2011 65 The statement of innovation intent is the link between strategy and the operational and people aspects of your organisation leadership strategy; unclear business goals, and the ability to create a ‘culture’ of innovation through, amongst other things, developing innovative people.For those organisations that are investing in innovation, work on the development of a supporting strategy, goals and culture will be becoming increasingly important and it should be remembered that these are not independent variables in the innovation equation. Culture exists, or should exist, to support the business strategy and that strategy should be articulated through the development of clear, meaningful business goals – goals that, in this context, are what we refer to as innovation intent.

So the first piece of this puzzle is to agree the strategic context. Strategy can be formulated by asking some very basic questions about vision, product and market scope, critical issues, competitive advantage, key capabilities and Driving Force. By answering these questions, it will become possible to articulate clear goals around how and where the organisation needs to focus its innovation efforts. This innovation intent will in turn provide a f ramework for effective decision making and will allow for the identification of the skills needed to drive the organisation forward. Your statement of innovation intent must answer five key questions: what is the thrust of our future business 1 that cannot be met by our existing products and services?

what is the scope of new products/services 2 and customers/markets that will and will not be considered? what are the future priorities and emphasis 3 for new products/services and new customers/markets?

what new products/services are required to 4 implement the strategy successfully?

what capabilities will we need to build and which 5 will be priorities?

The statement of innovation intent is the link between strategy and the operational and people aspects of your organisation. It translates the strategic goals into product- and market-specific guidelines that will govern your innovation process and allow you to understand what skills and capabilities will be needed to perform effectively in chosen product and market spaces. For example, if geographic expansion is your goal, will you need access to new languages and an understanding of different business cultures? Will the introduction 66 March 2011 www.trainingjournal.com Feature Sam Bodley- Scott is partner and director of strategic consulting at Kepner Tregoe.

He can be contacted at sbodleyscott@ kepner-tregoe.

com or via www.kepner- tregoe.com References 1 European Commis- sion Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative Innova- tion Union (2010) 2 Patterson F, Kerrin M In- novation for Recovery Chartered Manage- ment Insti- tute (2009) of new products require the building of new sales and support capabilities?

While innovation intent will help you plan the skill sets you will need to perform effectively in your strategic future, it must also articulate the skills you will need to get there. The Innovation for Recovery 2 survey cited openness to ideas, strategic thinking and problem-solving as key employee characteristics and behaviours that drive a culture of innovation, in short the application of divergent and convergent structured thinking. Finding the right approach to the development of such structured thinking skills can be challenging and should involve getting people consciously using four basic thinking patterns that reflect the questions being asked every day by those driving innovation within an organisation: What’s going on? asks for clarification of current events in the internal and external environment. It gets us thinking about internal effectiveness and strategic performance. It reflects a thinking pattern that enables us to impose order and prioritise which threats and opportunities deserve our time and attention Why did this happen? indicates the need for problem solving. This thinking pattern enables us to move f rom observing the effect of a problem to understanding the cause. Few would disagree that it is hard to build solutions to address problems or opportunities unless the cause is understood. Which course of action should we take?

implies that some choice must be made. This thinking pattern enables us to explore new ideas and decide on which course of action to take. From a variety of proposed solutions, for example, which one is most likely to allow us to meet our strategic goals?

What lies ahead? looks into the future. This fourth thinking pattern enables us to assess problems and opportunities that might arise with the design of the solution itself or during subsequent implementation. Of course, the business of innovation will get people asking many other questions and thinking in many other ways. Nevertheless, I would argue that every productive activity that takes place within the cycle of innovation is related to one of these four thinking patterns. Those organisations that can build a common language across their innovation community by providing tools and methods to support them can stimulate new ideas, increase the rigour with which suggestions are addressed and reduce the cycle times of the installation of innovations that are approved. Successful companies start by looking at their strategy to decide what role innovation should play in their overall growth. From the strategy, management must construct a statement of innovation intent, which defines how acceptable an innovative idea is likely to be. Once completed, they must carefully communicate the statement of innovation intent to the community of idea originators, who, in today’s interconnected world, are as likely to be customers and consumers as those special people in their special rooms. Finally, the organisation needs to ensure it has the skills and capabilities needed to perform in its strategic future and the structured thinking capability to solve problems, make decisions, plan and implement the new ideas needed to get them there.