Some people think innovation is needed in all parts of the organization. The truth is organizations need to be rigorous and disciplined in regularly assessing where innovation can have the greatest impact, whether helping to get more customers, making employees more loyal, eliminating cost, or something else, according to Ric Merrifield, a Partner with Seattle-based Strategy firm Level 11. Merrifield, a "business scientist," and author of Rethink—A Business Manifesto For Cutting Costs and Boosting Innovation , will offer up examples of the companies who have been the most successful innovators and will highlight the methods that many organizations use today in his presentation "The Prioritization of Innovation—A Crucial Step Too Many Organizations Overlook" at the Consulting Summit in New York on Oct 24. Merrifield sat down with Consulting One on One to discuss his upcoming Summit presentation.
Consulting: Why is the prioritization of innovation so important?
Merrifield: It's crucial because you have to be very deliberate and disciplined in looking across the entire organization and looking at where innovation is and isn't relevant. Investing in innovation across the board is not a sound business strategy, and way too many companies don't spend enough time on this part of the equation. You have to first figure out which parts of your organization will and won't benefit from innovation. Where will it make the most impact and what is that impact going to be?
Consulting: I know you talk about different levels of innovation within companies. What do you mean by that?
Merrifield: You can have different levels of innovation in terms of its size and scope. Any one could be the right fit for that team at that time, but the point is to get people within the organization talking about it and excited about it. What kind of dramatic change could this bring to the organization… or at least or one particular aspect of the organization? It all comes down to what's driving the innovation effort.
Consulting: What are the drivers of innovation and why are they important?
Merrifield: There are different drivers of innovation. Amazon is a good example; they've done a variety of significant innovation just in the interest of creating a business and creating new markets. Other businesses have to innovate just to respond to market pressures to survive. Kodak is a good example of that. They've had to use innovation to re-invent themselves. It was sort of forced to innovate rather than what we see companies like Amazon and Netflix doing, which is more opportunistic innovation. The consulting profession, by the way, is probably more responsive rather than opportunistic.
Consulting: How so?
Merrifield: One quick example would be the way firms were forced to innovate over the last decade or so because of client demand. In the 1990s, you had these big, huge consulting projects with 50 or 60 people and those just don't really exist like they've used to. Consulting firms have had the opportunity to innovate and come up with different kinds of offerings. It's becoming a necessity, consulting firms are under market pressures to come up with new offerings and solutions that clients expect of them.
Consulting: In terms of people and talent, are all organizations equipped for innovation?
Merrifield: When it comes to people, it's sort of like comedy. There are people who are funny and there are people who aren't funny. Getting someone who is not funny to be funny is a hard thing to do. Well, it's sort of the same thing with innovation: there are people who are going to be innovative and there are people who are not. Some of it can be learned and trained and some of it is a maturation process. Knowing where and when to innovate are big challenges for companies.
Consulting: What are some of the biggest mistakes that companies make?
Merrifield: I think companies make a lot of assumptions about what makes them unique or special, but they may not be what differentiates a particular company. Making assumptions about what makes you unique or special closes the door to holding something up under the microscope, which provides an opportunity for innovation. Companies need to take those horse-blinders off and look across the entire organization for opportunities. Don't get too hung up on those traditional observations; you'll often miss the biggest opportunities if you hang onto those traditional assumptions.
To hear more from Ric Merrifield and more insights from his "The Prioritization of Innovation—A Crucial Step Too Many Organizations Overlook" presentation, or for additional information about the Consulting Summit, please visit www.consultingsummit.com.
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