INNOVATIONS LEADERSHIP AND ALIGNMENT GAP: MEASURING THE IMPACT OF FUTURE BUSINESS THINKING VS. INNOVATIVE RESEARCH LEARNING IN NIGERIA In today’s fast moving and complex global environment, the ability to innovate and deploy faster and more profitably than competitors is now a requisite for growth and success. For companies that are founded on new products, such as Dell, Apple, Samsang the focus on innovation has always been a fundamental part of the culture. For many companies,the move to dynamic-innovation is more difficult for many reasons which include a diverse customer base, a complex mix of products and services, a focus on minimizing risks and a traditional static-control culture. Linking innovation to corporate strategy, ensuring the appropriate focus on innovation in balance with other key initiatives and establishing corporate governance, communication and language, and shifting the corporate culture to embrace innovation are all key responsibilities of a senior executive. Without these efforts, which must be undertaken by a senior executive, innovation cannot take root in an organization. If executives understand the role that they must play for innovation to succeed, and fill this role effectively, innovation can become a driving force for growth in the organization. Not long ago, strategy was king. Forecasting, planning and placing smart bets created the power sources within organizations. The future of a business (or a career) could fit into an established framework or system. If managed well, success would follow. Today, uncertainty is palpable. Planning for next quarter is a challenge. Even more difficult is committing to decisions that will play out in one to five years. What is the new process, the innovative product, the game-changing service or the compelling vision? They need it for themselves, as they learn to operate in challenging, unpredictable circumstances. They also need to create a climate for innovation within organizations. Innovative systems, tools and thinking are essential for organizational health and future viability. But by pairing the Sunstar e-Vision Project Development Centre partnering with Brainstorm Associates for Creative Leadership Consulting Services and outstand Reserach Learning Practices in Nigeria has showcase Brainstorm Leadership Academy, Nigeria creative leadership expertise and the power of design thinking from Continuum, Brainstorm Associates have being able to show you how innovation leadership can help you and your organization today and in the uncertain times to come. Lillian Iwu CIO-Brainstorm Leadership Academy, Nigeria said that “CEOs and leaders throughout organizations know they need to change the way they work. As they seek to drive results at a tactical level, leaders are looking for new rules of the road to give them a competitive edge and fuel new industries, markets, products and services. We are all Happy for our CEO and underlying the pressure to adapt as individuals and organizations is the need to innovate. But how? When faced with confusion or a problem, our instinct is to repair it with order. We examine and analyze the situation, looking for logic, until we can say: “Aha, I know this. Now I know what to do.” Unfortunately, the rapid analysis and rational decision-making that most managers use to run their organizations has serious limitations. As problems and circumstances become more complex, they don’t fit previous patterns. We don’t recognize the situation. We can’t rapidly or automatically know what to do. What worked before doesn’t work today. To make effective sense of unfamiliar situations and complex challenges, we must have a grasp of the whole of the situation, including its variables, unknowns and mysterious forces. This requires skills beyond everyday analysis. It requires innovation leadership. She also add that, “I ‘m a great strategic planner went it come to business; as a statisitican by Profession, now, I’m sure of the right way to go. I has got to be something else, another way to look at our industry and our Nation Democratic System and its Educational Sector in the future. Therefore if Nigerians come out of the recession with exactly the same stuff we had before, we’re dead in the water. We know innovation is part of the answer. But how do we do it? Obviously, we can’t keep doing the same things over and over again. Our internal systems of mangament are efficient and our best Research Learning products and Consulting Services are all innovative news”. Therefore, as the pace of transformational Leadership increases, innovative Leadership competition increases and it becomes increasingly more difficult to differentiate your products and services, innovation becomes ever more important and valuable. Yet far too often innovation is uncertain, risky, and poorly defined and structured. Companies and Government Organisations/Institutions that wish to sustain successful innovation must create mechanisms that simplify innovation activities, removing risk, increasing speed and improving outcomes. Today’s managers are not lacking ideas, theories or information. They have extraordinary knowledge and expertise. They are skilled practitioners of traditional business thinking. Business thinking is based on deep research, formulas and logical facts. Deductive and inductive reasoning are favored tools, as we look for proof or precedent to inform decisions. Business thinkers are often quick to make decisions, looking for the right answer among the wrong answers. Business thinking is about removing ambiguity and driving results But ambiguity cannot be managed away. Driving results is impossible when the situation is unstable or the challenge is complex or the direction is unclear. Many of today’s leadership problems are critical and pressing; they demand quick and decisive action. But at the same time, they are so complex, we can’t just dive in. Because the organization, team or individual does not know how to act, there is a need to slow down, reflect and approach the situation in an unconventional way — using innovative thinking.Innovative thinking is not reliant on past experience or known facts. It imagines a desired future state and figures out how to get there. It is intuitive and open to possibility. Rather than identifying right answers or wrong answers, the goal is to find a better way and explore multiple possibilities. Ambiguity is an advantage, not a problem. It allows us to ask, “what if?” Innovative thinking is a crucial addition to traditional business thinking. It allows you to bring new ideas and energy to your role as leader and to solve your challenges. It also paves the way to bring more innovation into your organization. Working in most organizations you spend a disproportional amount of time on looking to achieve alignment. This can range from aligning your meeting schedules to the bigger strategic issues by gaining agreement on the way forward. Brainstrom Leadership Academy, Nigeria -Leadership Alignment Strategies provides a unique examination of the executive’s role in innovation, it offer a framework that the leadership of the organization can adopt to ensure linkages and synergies between strategy and innovation, innovation and capabilities, innovation and culture. Often they lack the communicating medium to help clarify and shape the innovation story to tell, so as to provide the guidance necessary for achieving that essential engagement and encouragement they would like, to align organizational efforts required from innovation to the strategies envisioned. Your innovation teams need a defined innovation framework to structure their activities, and need scope and definition in order to achieve their best results. While the tactical and implementation work of innovation is accomplished by innovation teams throughout the organization, your executive teams establish the climate and the frameworks that enable the innovators. Very little has been written on Innovation Leaders, those individuals who lead a new product or service through ideation, design, development, market launch and implementation. These Innovation Leaders will be the catalyst for change by bringing diverse parts of the organization together to launch new products and services.Brainstorm Associates research Learning and Consulting Services focuses on the Innovation Leader, specifically: What are the distinguishing characteristics or capabilitiesof a successful Innovation Leader? What practices do Innovation Leaders follow to enhance their success and conversely, what practices tend to detract from the success of these leaders? What organizational practices support and detract from successful innovation? How to select and develop individuals who will be successful? The ongoing Project 2014 aim to provides some recommendations for Government Organisations/Commissions and Companies that are making the transition to dynamic-innovation. To successfully transition to a more innovative focus, organizations must implement talent management and organizational processes to attract, develop, and empower Innovation Leaders. Brainstorm Associates stipulate that the reason the gap exists is that executives havent done enough to establish a strategic innovation framework within which the rest of the organization can work effectively. Even though executives ask for innovation, in many cases the goals arent clear, the tools and methods arent obvious, the culture is resistant to change, governance is lacking, common language and context are absent and the motivations and rewards are hazy at best. Innovation is uncertain, unusual and risky. Only clear goals, clear frameworks and definitive motivations will accelerate innovation, and these need to come from a committed executive team reinforcing a strategic innovation framework said Mr. Sunday Reuben Jnr. CEO/Principal Consultant of Brainstorm Leadership Academy, Nigeria. He acknowldged the fact that a well thought through innovation framework that is clearly articulated from the top, then cascaded down the organization for it to be further ‘fleshed out’ within the organization, will immeasurably help innovation in the alignment to strategic goals and required attention. Brainstorm Associates Research Team framework that can align, that can engage, and can offer a common set of references, clearly provided by the CEO and his leadership team most begin to delivers a valuable contribution to dispel areas of uncertainty, can steer, guide and determine the essential domains have lasting value. Such a framework bridges that often missing element of conveying the top managements desire and commitment to innovation’s momentum. This will work down the organization to plug into and generate much-needed identification, to energize innovation as the trigger ‘force’ essential for framing growth through innovation across African Countries. Over the two month now Brainstorm Associates has introduced an innovation framework (called the Executive Innovation Management Stratigies inline with the ongoing Leadership in Community Development Project 2014) which comprised of a number of innovation domains partnering Organisations. The ongoing Project still aim to implement such an innovation framework as significant since our research included a survey of the literature and interviews with leaders inside Government Organisations/Commissions, Private and Public Institutions, Non-Governmental Organisations, Civic Society Organisations, Political Organizations and innovation experts, consultant firms that specialize in helping Government Organisations, Institutions and companies create innovative ideas, as well as leading academic faculty. In a nut shell, BLA, Nigeria found that successful Innovation Leaders in the future will take ownership to drive through the organization with passion and dedication for the product and brand. Have the ability to alternate between the creative mind and the technical/operational/business mind at different stages of the process. Are consumer-focused Possess curiosity,intuition, and flexible problem-solving. Provide technical competency and functional expertise Can effectively manage the creative process, collaborate, simplify,and inspire. Essentially, the Innovation Leader must think and act as both inspired, creative genius and the strategic general manager. They must alternate among: 1. facilitating broad, creative thinking about what is possible, 2. bringing disparate ideas and consumer insights together into revolutionary product/service ideas, 3. analyzing the business risk, financial return, and operational implications of taking the product to market, 4. motivating a cross-functional team to collaborate,and 5. building support throughout the organization. Clearly, this role requires a resiliency to accept ambiguity and to toy with, reframe, and abandon ideas. Successful Innovation Leaders employ a common set of best practices that allow them to navigate between generating creative, consumer-focused insights and making hard, analytical decisions about feasibility and strategic fit. The best Innovation Leaders know how to work with the cross-functional teams to allow the process to happen as broadly as possible,pulling ideas from outside, protecting the “wild idea,”and creating a safe environment to make mistakes and have crazy ideas. These leaders also know how to work with the innovation experts and other facilitators to spark creativity while being intensely aware of how to get things done inside the organization. The role of the Innovation Leader is very difficult as the path forward is never clear. These leaders must keep a team motivated and moving forward despite a seemingly constant set of obstacles and failures. Certain worst practices tend to derail the Innovation Leader’s success as well as sabotage the project. With over 50 percent of ideas failing to pass through the Stage-Gate process and lead times of 18 months or more from conception to launch, the Innovation Leader must have a strong desire to succeed and a willingness to experiment. These leaders must also work to challenge the operational status quo. The research is clear on what organizational practices support and detract from successful innovation. Brainstorm Associates can boldly ask; what are the benefits can be expected from these fully engaged, highly aligned innovation domains in Nigeria? Increased transparency and alignment, reducing risk and uncertainty are certainly part of this value of establishing an integrated framework. Brainstorm Associaties Innovative Corporate Cultures and Innovation Environments which embrace innovation rather than resist it, resulting in accelerated idea development and implementation through our Project. Apperently, experienced teams working in a cohesive context with familiar innovation tools, resulting in better ideas delivered in less time with less cost. Therefore, leading domains for Research Learning and Consulting Services Brainstorm Associaties have introduced within the ongoing Leadership in Community Development Project 2014 provide a framework for innovation success. Executives who understand their role in shaping innovation frameworks and activities, and, more importantly, increasing opportunities and engagement for the entire organization based on this framework will drive better and more sustained innovation outcomes in African Communities. Obviously, it is in time to ask why and what benefits are possible, and what benefits should an organization expect, if the senior team commits to leveraging the work mat and sustaining innovation focus, structure and climate? Innovation isn’t necessarily an outcome or benefit – it is how we describe the process to create interesting, relevant new products, services and business models that accelerate organic growth, disrupt adjacent markets or create significant differentiation. The ongoing project of Brainstorm Leadership Academy, Nigeria now defines the areas of focus; it is the combination of all of these domains that create the innovation framework necessary to accelerate innovation. The Ongoing Project of Brainstorm Associates has provides the innovation leadership and guidance to your organization to ‘frame’ the innovation activity to your strategic goals. This allows you to articulate and align the innovation work mat throughout the organization. It will provide the necessary understanding needed to perform the innovation tasks more effectively under this framework umbrella. It offers the strategic ‘frame’ your innovation future requires, it forms the emerging common language and communication necessary across the organization, that provides guidance, inspiration and clarity to your innovation vision and goals.It allows innovation to cascade throughout the organization to achieve that close alignment innovation requires with the strategy to achieve a meaningful and sustaining set of results. Finally having each person fully engaged and accurately rewarded, which means you capitalize on all of your intellectual assets as an Innovative Leader since our research finds that an organization’s ability to move from a static -control to a dynamic-innovative culture is enhanced by the combination of four elements: Innovation Leaders possess a distinctive set of leadership capabilities. Rigorous deployment of a set of best practices. Strategic focus and organizational support for innovation. Organizational processes for innovation. Moreover, organizations that were successful in transforming; A. Had one or more executive champions who actively challenged the status quo and first piloted projects through successful new product launch and implementation, then B. Systemically inculcated each of the four elements. We recommend an approach that combines the latest thinking in innovation leadership with customization to the strategic context to drive change. This approach incorporates the following steps: 1. Strategic Review: Base all initiatives in the strategic direction and goals of the organization taking into co nsideration the competitive market environment and the business operations. 2. Talent and Performance Management Review: Understand the existing processes for performance management, talent development, and competency models. 3. 3.Innovation Leader Profile:Create a customized Innovation Leader. Profile integrating the strategic context with the Innovation Leadership Capabilities. 4. Innovation Leadership Assessment: Assess the current pool of leaders in the Innovation 5. Leadership Dimensions of Creativity and Innovation Leadership. Identify the capability and 6. quantify the developmental requirements to meet strategic goals. 7. Creative Climate and Culture Assessment: Assess the current climate and culture for creativity. 8. 6.Develop the Innovation Talent Management Strategy: Develop an Integrated Talent Management 9. Strategy for innovation. 10. The strategy should consider the development of existing Innovation Leaders and key cross- 11. functional team members as well as anticipating the future capacity required to meetstrategic goals. Elements of the plan include group and individual development plans and a talent identification proce 12. ss including recruiting screens. 13. 7.Develop the Innovation Scorecard: Brainstorm Associates, now advices that you create a scorecard that links strategic goals to innovation goals and to units and individual goals. The Innovation Scorecard balances current, past,and future innovations along with the organization’s current performance review process.This process encourages the Innovation Leadership development process to be linked and aligned with organizational goals and reinforced through performance management. Without a similar process it is possible that innovation leaders may be developed or the innovation strategy could be successful in reaching its goals, but those leaders or the goals would not be supporting the organizations long-term strategy. Mr. Nelson-Social Media Consultant at Sunstar e-Vision Project Development Centre said Sunstar e-Vision Project Development Centre partnering with Brainstorm Leadership Academy, Nigeria shows that BLA, Nigeria is a top-ranked, global provider of Executive Research Learning Education and Consulting Services that accelerates strategy and business results by unlocking the leadership potential of individuals and organizations. Brainstorm Assocaties Research Professional Groups being an embodment of BLA, Nigeria Founded in August, 2010 as a non profit educational institution focused exclusively on leadership education and research, Sunstar e-Vision Project Development Centres will continue to helps Brainstorm Associates and their clients/student worldwide cultivate creative leadership — the capacity to achieve more than imagined by thinking and acting beyond boundaries — through an array of programs, products and other services. So what leaders need now is Innovation Leadership. SOURCE: Sunstar e-Vision Project Development Centre
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 10:00:44 +0000
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