Moderated by Jeanna Zguris, Executive Director, Hair Care Innovation and Analytical, The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc.
Members of the Frost & Sullivan Growth Innovation Leadership Council participated in a brainstorming session centered on identifying effective leading indicators of innovation success. Led by Dr. Jeanna Zguris, an experienced innovator, members shared tips, ideas and guidelines, learning from each other as they discussed how key performance indicators are selected and the purpose they serve for projects, portfolios, and teams.
Brainstorm topics/challenges discussed:
- How do you define success – business, team, portfolio, program?
- How does the type of innovation and business model impact the selection of key performance indicators?
- How do you select the data source and time point that is relevant for your KPI?
- How do you leverage your KPIs to help your team, business, portfolios, programs?
Jeanna began the brainstorming session by asking members: What part of the innovation process are you looking to improve your metrics on, and why? Responses included:
- I am working on developing metrics. Running my (government) group is very challenging. Metrics depend on the project – we must explain and assess “failures” and sunk costs, and that doesn’t always work.
- As a business strategy manager, I am sometimes challenged showcasing value or outcomes.
- As a global manager, I am seeking process improvements, especially for new product development. We currently employ a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) strategy but are open to other approaches.
- Metrics can mean different things in different project scenarios and that must also be accounted for.
Key takeaways from the council discussion:
Fail fast when warranted
In the government space, innovation initiatives are more uncommon, even novel. Often, the first challenge is bringing about a shift in organizational culture. Specifically, helping teams and organizations adapt an innovation mindset. Knowing when to pull the plug on an idea or concept that’s not working and convincing stakeholders to do so was also discussed. It can be a challenging process. Putting a 6-month timeline on most projects is how one member chose to address this challenge.
Organize for success
One member recommended the approach found in the book Zone to Win: Organizing to Compete in an Age of Disruption, as a guide to innovation and transformation success. The book posits that dividing the organization into the four zones described below and aligning them with growth horizon models will provide a strong framework for success:
- Performance Zone – your current/core business
- Productivity Zone – the shared services like HR, legal, marketing, etc. that drive efficiency for core business and help during transformations
- Transformation Zone – the zone where ideas come to scale up and become part of the core business
- Incubation Zone – where ideas are grown slowly apart from existing business before they are ready to scale
Seek validation from your customers first
Determining whether customers like and have a use for the product or service being developed and continually validating that is key, as is a strong value proposition. Testing in early stages and determining whether the product is viable and will be profitable is also critical. Consumer insights and technical insights should align.
Cultivate creativity and innovation
Fostering creative problem solving in innovation teams and aligning innovation efforts with individual team skills and talents was recommended. You need a balanced team that leverages individual strengths.
It’s important to cultivate a creative environment and a culture that understands and supports innovation challenges and processes. That might include telling employees “you didn’t fail, the project did.” Conversely, innovation teams need to understand the organizational culture and metrics they are dealing with. Ask: “how healthy is your innovation team overall?”
Generating ideas
One member shared that they made sure to create space for engineers and other less “creative” team members to offer out of the box ideas. Using a platform to share ideas or crowdsourcing internally was also discussed. One member shared that when they used an internal crowdsourcing strategy, a product went commercial quickly. Asking, “What problem are you trying to solve?” or standing up an internal accelerator are other valuable innovation tools. Leveraging the right people, process(es) and technology for successful innovation was also discussed.
Mixing up the innovation portfolio
The importance of a balanced portfolio that combines short-term wins with longer-term – and sometimes higher risk initiatives was also covered. Letting leaders know when key milestones are met, particularly with partners are involved, was endorsed. Meeting and sharing milestones can serve as a metric tool. Ideally, you want to keep the innovation funnel mixed (with short- and long-term initiatives) and be able to share milestones and achievements regularly.
Metrics and lessons learned
The importance of leveraging both qualitative and quantitative metrics was underscored. Data has a central role in measurement but qualitative factors should also be considered. There is value in identifying key lessons learned from “failed projects” and examining where the team needs to focus efforts next or what they might need to do differently to improve the original idea. Performing a post-mortem on failed projects was encouraged.
Closing reminders
Metrics and data will become increasingly important in the innovation field. Mastering the art of effective storytelling is another critical innovation-related skill. Successful innovation leaders remember to ask for help and support when needed and know how to build an innovation community. Lastly, be aware of your own biases – we can only see problems from our own framework. And make sure you understand the decision makers you are working with.
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