by Fran Hoey

Introduction

Anyone can come up with an idea.

Fran H: ‘I’ve got an idea…’

James C: ‘Interesting. I get where you’re coming from with that…’ *

*it’s a terrible idea, I’m just being polite’

Plenty of people come up with REALLY GOOD ideas.

Fran H: ‘Ooo, that’s interesting, I’d love it if we had that/did that’

Everyone: ‘Did you ever realise your idea?’

Fran H: ‘Hang on, just heading into this meeting’

And yet, so few of these great ideas ever come to fruition. Why is that?

What does it take to convert your idea into something tangible?

We hear lots of buzz phrases or approaches in the business world that all have interesting concepts at their heart. Things like ‘disruptive innovation’, Google’s 70-20-10 rule, micro-innovations, ‘Jobs to be done’.

I have a simpler view of the world. To foster true innovation in an organisation, I believe that you need the following components:

• • Clarity on the problem to fix
  • Interested, constructive, supportive people
  • Completers that turn the idea into reality
  • A trusting organisation that learns from the process, no matter the outcome

Identify it, refine it, deliver it, test it, learn from it… easy right?

Nope. Not easy. There are so many barriers to making it easy. Margins are tight, no time to do anything, a lack of spare brain capacity to develop ideas… the list goes on. Capacity, distraction and competing priorities are normally what make things come unstuck, but I find the biggest blocker is not having the right mix of people in your team.

Innovation thrives when you have a broad set of motivated people, with complementary skills, working towards a common purpose.

How can a working environment be the make or break of it?

A while back, I took a year away from ‘conventional work’ to dream up product and service ideas with the intention of developing them and hitting the jackpot with one. I had some wacky ideas (including a portable cigarette bin), and some that I dithered on and someone else then came out with (golf trousers with Teflon inserts – niche I know, but Puma got there first).

In the end, I took none of them to market. Why? I enjoyed the ideas stage and then lost interest or hesitated when it came to putting in real investment, whether in time or money. I needed someone to challenge me, to take my idea and explore it, refine it and simply, to help me get it out there. A team of colleagues, friends, critics was what was missing; I couldn’t be all the stages of the process myself.

Over the years, I’ve worked with many people in many different organisations. With the benefit of hindsight and some hard-earned wisdom, I now know that these people were exactly what I needed to turn my billion pound ideas into something real (or more accurately, quickly throw them in the bin!).

I’ve now been with 4OC for a bundle of years and I have to say that I’m in the lucky position to work with a lot of people with the skills needed to get ideas over the line – innovators, doers, polishers.

It took me a long time, and the acceptance, to understand what parts of work that I don’t enjoy or am not particularly good at. And that’s ok. In fact, it’s better than ok. Whether innovating or not, I fully recognise now that I need the right mix of people around me to find success.

Quick advice

So, what’s my advice? Just remember to take a breath when you are gearing up to focus on innovation or enhance the organisational culture or environment to foster great ideas. Really try to understand the skills of the people you have in your organisation or team. And try to understand yourself. Recognise that you might need a few extra ingredients to get that cake to rise.

Innovation in 4OC

To check out what innovate projects we have been involved in, take a look at ‘things we’ve done’. Using data to baseline, track and upskill your people might be the key to fostering true innovation within your teams. If you think it might, have a quick read about what we did at Notting Hill Genesis.

Oh, and if you need a chat, or someone to bounce ideas around with, give me a shout – fran@the4oc.com.