Innovation is one of several “Strategy Do Jours” getting a lot of attention. Almost every organization wants to increase their rate of innovation in response to ever-shortening product/service life cycles and rapidly escalating customer expectations. But innovation, like many strategies, is more easily understood than incorporated.

Becouse of the inherent “failure rate” among new ideas, organizations can increase innovation by increasing the total number of ideas generated on the front end, or improving the idea-to-innovation conversion rate. The later approach has proved more difficult to do for most organizations, and so tends to be a more prevalent focus in those with a longer legacy of innovation.

Both approaches require a deep understanding of what leads to ideas and innovations, so the work begins there. But in a way, that is the easier part of the work. Moving from understanding to action will require both procedural and cultural change for an organization, some of which will be uncomfortable and challenging to manage and sustain.

SCS can help with education designed to ready the organization for innovation. Then, SCS can facilitate the development and implementation of new policies and procedures designed to foster and support innovation. Finally, and perhaps most important, SCS can provide coaching to help leaders incorporate into their daily work the new principles and concepts needed to sustain the changes that innovation will require.