Wanted: Leadership to Spur Innovation

Call it the innovation gap.

Talk with the top executives of virtually any company, and they'll tell you that they understand the importance of innovation in driving growth and profitability, especially in a competitive global economy. Trouble is, most organizations today are falling short in building the internal capabilities needed to deliver new ideas to the marketplace on a regular basis.

Survey Finds Critical Shortcoming: Ability to Sustain Innovation

In a Towers Perrin survey, more than 1,200 executives in Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the U.S. agreed that their organizations are good at creating ideas. They also said they're fairly competent at selecting among different ideas and deciding which ones they want to invest in and bring to market. But when it comes to implementation, they admit they need to do better.

So how do you create an organizational culture that sustains innovation? How do you make sure innovation is a deeply embedded capability, rather than an internal initiative that stops short of creating real business value? How can you build a workforce that thrives on new ideas day in and day out, with the processes and infrastructure in place to consistently bring innovative products and services to customers? 

A Wake-Up Call to Leadership 

According to the survey report, leadership is vital in building a corporate culture that sustains innovation, one with the right external (market-facing) and internal (process and structure) capabilities. Leadership sets the tone and communicates what's important. Key attributes of a leadership-driven culture that fosters innovation in the workforce include:

• a bias for action among top executives
• knowledge of the marketplace to help set priorities
• reward and feedback mechanisms for people who provide breakthrough ideas and move them forward quickly.

Does this sound like your organization?

Keep the Machine Running

Most companies (63%) reported that they recognize and reward people for creative work. But only 42% said they do a good job moving quickly from idea to implementation, and fewer than a third (30%) said they had metrics in place to regularly evaluate the company's ability to innovate.

Companies do seem fairly adept when it comes to market-facing activities associated with innovation. They recognize changing needs and trends, and where new products and services might be successful. But they're not as adept at building the internal parts of the organization to drive innovation. Confidence wanes when it comes to having the needed business and management processes.

However, there are specific changes organizations can make in their organizational processes, culture and leadership behavior to encourage innovation in the workforce. The report identifies 23 organizational and cultural attributes that tend to correlate strongly with successful innovation. When companies learn where they stand with respect to these areas, they can identify where they need to make significant improvements.

If you would like more information about these findings, download Pulse Survey Report: Leadership  and Innovation. Or, if you'd like to discuss approaches your company might take to strengthen its capacity for innovation, please contact us.