Designing a Department of Innovation

Two key leadership roles are absolutely required. Sometimes they are included in one person, but more often in a working pair: a respectful partnership who, police each other and watch each other's back. Innovation departments aggregate around visionary leaders. Ordinary management cannot administer such a team. Management of a team of innovators is best done by incentivizing the team to succeed and then just measuring their success in an open process. Select an inspiring leader of people. 

This leader is not necessarily creative. Most important is they want to understand new ideas and they recognize creative brilliance. Ideally they should wow the troops with insight in how to leverage an idea. They should provide the acceptance such a team of maverick individuals need by understanding each of their contributions. With leadership like this, the group should produce.

But innovation is as much about ideas as people. A visionary idea leader is also needed, an industry bellwether. Many titles are used: chief scientist, chief architect, distinguished engineer, fellow… But the characteristics are well defined. I’ve described this before as the role of poly-architect. “This is an acknowledged expert in their fields with deep experience and understanding. They need to know what has worked and what is expected on the horizon, in order to build a vigorous and future-proof design. Usually a poly-architect will have participated in standards and forums and contributed to or lead major past corporate projects. Poly-architects see the larger picture; they do not replace subject matter experts, but complement them, keeping the focus of the team balanced. We like to say that poly-architects straddle the present with one leg grounded in the past and another in the future.”

So what more is needed for the success of an innovation team that I did not have in 2002? A long runway. Innovation with subsequent development and then deployment takes years of continuous effort. 

Innovation happens when everything above comes together. Important new stuff will get created. But innovation departments do not implement innovation. Good corporate management by sound and trustworthy executives must take these new products, technologies, and approaches and make them the bones, and spirit, of the company.