ABSTRACT
The way most businesses currently conduct ‘innovation’ is through some iteration of the innovation funnel which is the definition of ‘need’. But by calling it a ‘funnel’, we try to keep ideas and projects in the funnel far longer than they should be. The world is littered with examples of ‘innovation’ that limped through the innovation funnel or stuttered into the marketplace when it should have been killed years earlier.
We believe that our pre-occupation with ‘innovation funnel’-type thinking has had a detrimental impact on innovation. For the most part, the consequences of this thinking have been unintentional, but they have converged to muddy the innovation waters and obfuscate results.
It’s not working. Or, at the very least, it’s not working as well as we need it to if we are to lift productivity and embrace a rapidly changing commercial environment.
There are six big problems caused by this old-fashioned type of innovation thinking that prevent us from making real progress. They are:
The ‘why’ is missing
Poor support for innovation within the organisation
From the top
By the system
A pre-occupation with process over outcome
Defensive thinking bias
Thinking/doing is out of balance
Insufficient focus on the ‘valley of death’
