Did some of your past innovations fail internally and never get a chance to beat the competition in the market? Well, this is likely for one of two reasons.
Why your innovation doesn’t kick-off? Two barriers to intrapreneur innovation.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but most of your innovation will probably end up in a bin or the “old files” folder at best. It is ‘ok’ to some extent but equally ‘not ok’ in two cases. It is natural if your innovation fails because of a lack of market demand, intense competition, or low efficiency. Do not worry; you may still improve. But you had better be worried that your innovation process would not kick-off.
Innovation = Implementation
Implementation is an inherent part of the innovation process. It is not merely my opinion; and it is part of the definition:
Innovation is “a new or improved product or process (or combination thereof) that differs significantly from the unit’s previous products or processes and that has been made available to potential users (product) or brought into use by the unit (process)” (Oslo Manual, 2018)
If you do not implement, you do not innovate. Therefore, reducing barriers to implementation should be interesting to you, too. There are two significant barriers that all corporate innovators (#intrapreneur) and managers (#sponsor) must be aware of.
The first one is external and beyond your control. It is called “NIH” and stands for Not-Invented-Here. It is often why other people within the organisation do not engage in implementing the innovation made by you and your team and usually even actively sacrifice it for their agenda.
The second is within you and your team: unnecessary striving for perfection. Constant iteration, planning and testing consume your efforts. Instead, you should focus on a quick launch, which would give you far better insights anyway.
NIH = “Not Invented Here”
It is rarely the case with startups (#entrepreneur). They invent something, and there are no “other people” who further implement the idea. This is because startups are usually entirely focused on a single business model. However, in large organisations, your new business model will compete for resources with others (existing and new). Do you already feel what I mean?
However great your new concept is, in a large company, you won’t succeed unless you have the support of many other employees. Pragmatically thinking and selling your ideas and concepts to internal customers does not differ much from typical B2B sales. You must face a decision-making process, decision-making units, budget, people, know-how, and climate or cultural constraints. Yes, I had to face these, too.
There comes a point in the innovation process when you must commercialise the idea, which is what all your sponsors (the board, CFO, and budget holders) are waiting for. Ultimately, they already invested some cash in your project, and now it is payback time. The person who invents and creates most likely differs from those who kick the business off later.
Research has proven the so-called “Not Invented Here” syndrome (see the list of Google Scholar articles for it: 208,000 results! LINK). In layperson’s terms, people and cultures, for their reasons, avoid buying or implementing things created outside and prefer their solutions over external ones, even if often irrationally. The latter behaviour is also the key to managing the syndrome before it becomes problematic.
Causes for NIH syndrome and how to address them
From my experience, there are three main reasons for the syndrome appearing inside organisations.
Personal engagement – since any company is not an abstract entity but a group of real people, you need to consider them. They do not know, understand, or see potential in your innovation or, sometimes, simply do not like working with you and won’t give you any favour. If one day you show up with a truly game-changing innovation, you will face these obstacles. Be prepared in advance.
In the past, my colleagues and I developed a habit of early engagement of all stakeholders. As said above, it was similar to building B2B relationships: We sent small gifts and printed postcards with project updates; we asked for active participation and support (even when not indeed required); and we nurtured our future partners.
Define and engage your key stakeholders and future business owners early in a project.
Resources scarcity — two budget constraints hinder implementation: money and people. Cash is easy (relatively!). Simply remember to plan a roll-out budget early in development and have it on your to-ensure list.
When introducing an innovation to any team, bring extra cash for implementation. Why? If you ask them to push “your” agenda at the expense of theirs, you will almost certainly fail. Ensure you do not damage existing or planned jobs by introducing something new.
It takes more work to engage people, especially in a short time. Be prepared to move with a project to a new team of business owners permanently, or at least join them temporarily. This way, you will ensure someone is still closely watching your project. Moreover, by helping a new team from within, you will release their capacity to support the roll-out. You can’t simply push your baby to others and forget about it.
Another way is to form a project team in which you engage its future owners. They do not have to work much in it but should be more like advisors. When they finally take over, they will know it, feel responsible, and act as ambassadors.
Goals misalignment — another thing is whether your idea fits the broader picture and long-term strategy. It often happens that we, entrepreneurs, pop up with our innovation attempts out of nowhere and cry to find a so-called “landing spot” for it (landing spot = a dedicated place within an organisation where the innovation will be implemented). We often risk not aligning on a roadmap by not aligning in advance.
Innovation only happens after some time. You have enough time to meet people, educate them about a problem you will address, and ensure a dedicated space for your solution when ready. Technically, you may ask to write your solution on a roadmap, even if it is not yet prepared. Having it on a roadmap will also make the people in the landing spot impatient about your results, supporting the outcomes.
The NIH syndrome is an external factor, but you may also impact it. And you should. It is the same as it is your responsibility to manage internal barriers.
Perfection is the innovation’s enemy
It has become my motto: better to do something well enough than to perfectly not do it at all. Your constant striving for perfection may be one of your most considerable restraints. I call it the “perfectionist’s delay,” and I would love to have a nickel for every time I see it (in myself, colleagues, or clients).
From my experience, there are two reasons people constantly iterate and delay a launch:
Perfectionism – being 100% perfect at any time is already a fantasy. Not to mention being 100% perfect from the beginning. To be stuck in a constant iteration process is – nomen omen – a ‘perfect’ vicious circle. There are two steps to escape it.
Step one is realising the meaning of the saying: the further you go, the less you know. One must admit that perfection is out of reach. You will always discover issues you were previously unaware of. Welcome to the world of continuous innovation.
At best, one may achieve 99% good, but even that is unlikely (and how can you tell that it is 99% good ). The relatively small difference in iteration from 70% to 80% is far from a significant iteration from 98% to 99% good. Realising it is admitting you will make some mistakes no matter how hard you try. Giving yourself an underlying explanation for launching innovation with at least a few flaws is a liberating thought.
Step two: once you know you can only achieve a result within an unspecified margin for mistake but never perfectly to the point, you need to weigh the value of holding back from implementation in favour of minor iterations. Is your project’s ‘gap to perfection’ a true chasm, or is it only a minor bump we all can tolerate?
As soon as your product or process is good enough, move forward because iteration based on implementation results brings far greater results than those in-lab minor improvements. You want to be the first to learn the lesson and make it your competitive advantage.
Now, I publish articles at uouee.com, realising later that I missed a few spelling mistakes or that they were not perfectly SEO-ready. So what? Since you are so deep in the article, would you instead read it when it is good enough, or would you recommend that I keep it hidden for a few years longer (like I did in the past)?
Procrastination –it happens when you are afraid of unsatisfying results, do not feel fully competent, and avoid risk-taking or all three. Well, not surprisingly, you are not alone. It is a common feeling when working in innovation. If it is temporary, it is ok. When the feeling is gone, you will be back on track, but if it keeps repeating, maybe you or your team shouldn’t work on innovation.
Innovation is sexy and fashionable, and many people like to show how “innovative” they are. It is often a magnet for talents, including for risk-aversive people who hardly cope with failure. However, if you are one of them, you either change your attitude (hard, aimed at the long term) or someone will change you (easy, aimed at the short term).
To be proud of our handling of innovation, we must admit that it is only a job for some. It is precisely what makes you so exceptional. You face the risks, and you are known for how well you mitigate them and how you learn from mistakes. You are not paid to avoid launches or nurture precious ideas that are kept forever on PowerPoint slides.
Needless to say, if you won’t ever reach perfection, striving for it is a waste of time. You better accept your margin for mistakes. NASA and Space X also planned to launch their first rockets with failures. Good luck if you want to beat them in the category of in-advance preparations. However, you can also learn from their attitudes towards risk handling and their accepted margin for mistakes.
How wide your margin should be and how to handle those mistakes is another topic that deserves another blog post, but for now, at least you know what to review.
Pushing innovation forward
Knowing what to do is one thing, and doing it is another. By now, you are aware of the above issues, and hopefully, I saved you some wasted effort by bringing your attention to these two threats early enough.
Some of you may have already experienced the NIH or “perfectionists delay.” Feel encouraged to comment here and share your thoughts. Dealing with both is hardly quantifiable, so there are no copy-paste tools. I love learning new ways of handling them and am happy to share more specific tips. Let me know and stay in touch!
