There is a recent article over at HBR.org from Ron Ashkenas about innovation. He talks about small companies, and their ability to innovate ‚compared with smaller companies. It was a good article overall, but towards the end he makes three points, the last of which got me thinking.
The specific point I’m talking about is that Ron talks about the use of innovation contents, an idea which was around for a while, but seems to have dwindled. It’s a valid concept, and I think the reason it’s been dropped is probably down to implementation.
You see, most people think in terms of now. They focus on what can improve the current situation, and less on what will help into the future. This leads to a situation where you run contents for employees to come up with innovate ideas, bound to improve the next fifteen seconds.
What really needs to happen is that we need to think on a bigger scale. Don’t run contests for somebody to save four dollars on coffee a week. Run contests for people to uncover the next big product, the next emerging market or even the next great new talent. That’s where the real reward is.