In the US, at the recent State of The Union Address by President Obama, he said
"We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn't just change our lives. It's how we make a living."
He was trying to inspire a nation to attend to the fundamentals that build innovation culture for the long haul. A couple of years ago, our own Bob Eckert was interviewed on this exact issue while presenting in Istanbul. His answers were as relevant for Turkey then as they are for the US (or any other nation) now.
Excerpt:
Is innovation indispensable for organizations?
Absolutely. Some businesses will be the first to think of and implement new ideas that grow value for them. We would call them the innovation leaders. If they are racing a particular group of competitors, and they are first to skillfully energize a new strategy, develop a new process, build a new business model, or introduce a new product, they will grow revenue faster than their competitor, and attract more investors. But the leaders are not the only innovators. The followers separate themselves as well by how well and wisely they follow, which is yet another form of innovation in business model: the fast follower who figures out how to do whatever the leader has done, faster, smarter or more efficiently in some way. Ultimately it is grow or die in business. Growth requires creative problem solving. Growth requires innovation.
Are Turkish companies investing enough in innovation?
It would be the epitome of arrogance for any country, culture or organization to believe such a thing. The most urgent questions are: “Are we investing in innovation wisely?
Are we developing our employees to each be better innovators?” The companies that do so will outperform their peers. Market metrics are very clear here. Investing in innovation at all levels; business model & processes, finance, delivery and of course product and service offerings, is required to remain competitive. A nation’s long term pipeline for innovation is its educational practice. To remain competitive and prosperous over the long range requires national policy that supports educating students, from the youngest through university, to think creatively, to read widely, to be curious and to collaborate well with others.
In the future will there be new roles specific to innovation?
It is already the case that smart companies are defining roles, responsibilities and metrics to drive a sustained culture of innovation. This will continue to expand as more companies understand that they will have to do this to remain viable. We are helping companies all over the world, in many sectors to define these roles and responsibilities in ways that will work for them.
Could you give examples of local or global HR innovation?
I’ll focus on two. First, accountability. A number of companies have figured out that they must hold their people accountable to both the behaviors that support innovation culture, and some measure of growth in value via innovation in their line of business. General Mills in the US, Tata in India, and Cemex in Mexico are the currently popular and well known benchmarks. But there are many others, big and small. Where it works well, the CEO and the Board of Directors are the ultimate drivers of this new accountability. So, HR practitioners are thinking through how to move these accountabilities into individual performance metrics based upon the company culture they support. Secondly, HR has grown to understand that because innovation is about much more than new products and services, it can appear and bring significant return on assets from anywhere in the organization. Consequently, the training departments of companies, along with their organizational development specialists, are working to roll creative collaboration and innovation skills training throughout their employee pool. Zimmer, Kraft Foods, Invesco, Johnson & Johnson, and Tyco Electronics are examples that are working to develop a wide range of employees in this way. The marketing group in Pfizer Turkey has had some great results by focusing on both accountability for innovation fostering procedures and innovation training for its people. We're beginning work with other firms in Turkey right now, but it’s too soon to know how committed they will be.
So we ask the provocative question: Which of these lessons apply to your country or organization?
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