Research & Tools | Futurist Reports | Cracking the Code of Effective Innovation

Futurist Report: Cracking the Code of Effective Innovation

Does the "size" and "style" of your organization impact innovation?

What separates successful innovators from the rest of the pack? We surveyed 248 executives from around the world, asking them to rate their organizations along the four capabilities essential to innovation: Ideas, Strategy, Process, and Climate. Learn how organizational size and style are driving innovation effectiveness today, and discover what you can do to make innovation more effective. This paper is available free of charge.

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Excerpt:

Innovation: A Buzzword that’s Broken

There seem to be two different and contradictory facets in the world of innovation today. On one hand, innovation has become the latest buzzword in corporate circles. Business publications scream about the latest innovation in their headlines, the calendar is chock-full of conferences that showcase “best practices,” and a plethora of gurus litter the speaking circuit singing its praises.

There is, however, a darker side to innovation. Just turn to the vast majority of organizations that are truggling to make innovation work. Listen to frontline managers who are being asked to innovate by their osses and have no idea where to start. Just drop in at an organization where there’s palpable fatigue fter numerous brainstorms have gone nowhere. The reality is that innovation efforts are impotent in most organizations.

What Separates Successful Innovators from the Rest of the Pack?

There are a few firms that have made innovation a true discipline. Companies like Google, Apple, Whirlpool, General Electric, and Procter & Gamble, among others, have demonstrated that there is a way to ake innovation an integral part of how one does business. What do these companies do so differently from the vast sea of mediocrity and failed innovation efforts? What organizational capabilities do they possess that are so different from the rest?

This report outlines the key findings from our online survey, conducted over an eight-month period. It provides a number of implications for organizations trying to tackle innovation today. For organizations that wish to be successful, it offers a framework to break down the “black box” of innovation into discrete and manageable tasks. It also provides cues on how organizations may better innovate by looking at how they’re currently structured.

Client Quotes

  • “futurethink made my leadership team think in new ways and helped us develop winning business ideas right in the room. My team now embraces innovation rather than fearing it.”
    Mary Fennoglio, Managing Director, Citigroup Corporate Investment Bank Citigroup
  • “The futurethink workshop not only provided an incredible jolt of energy to our collective innovation efforts and established the common understanding of innovation concepts, but it was also a wonderful team-building event. I don’t think it could have been organized and conducted any better.”
    Michael Ripa, Manager, FRI Infomatics
  • “futurethink is the innovation expert. They fine-tune their training to our clients' needs. I'm constantly looking for new opportunities to engage them in our work.”
    Brian Weberg, Director, National Conference of State Legislatures
  • “If you don't make innovation a strategic part of your business plan and you don't drive that into the culture, I don't think you'll have a strong innovation pipeline.”
    Mark Hausfeld, Innovation Manager, Global Business Services, Procter & Gamble Procter & Gamble
  • “futurethink's sessions included excellent examples and energizing exercises that brought innovation to life. They got us to look at our business with new eyes.”
    Joan P. Lawrence-Ross, Chief Learning Officer, AXA
  • “futurethink's proven methodology, research, and tools help ensure we're always ready to meet the evolving public service challenges of tomorrow.”
    Sandy Stosz, Rear Admiral, United States Coast Guard United States Coast Guard
  • “Innovation is deliberate, if done well. There is a science and process to it. futurethink has done their homework to provide a wealth of practical knowledge to their customers.”
    Senior Vice President of Innovation, Wells Fargo Wells Fargo
  • “futurethink is always thinking ahead about learning and 'innovate' it before we ask! Their programs have been a huge success with our teams.”
    Director of Learning & Development, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Sonovian Pharmaceuticals
  • “The futurethink team did an outstanding job in designing and facilitating an innovation event for our senior leaders, many of who regarded this as the best innovation workshop that they had ever been a part of. I would recommend futurethink to any organization that is looking for clear and actionable pathways to Innovation.”
    Wayne Pethrick, Director, Marketing and Consumer Insights, Pitney Bowes Pitney Bowes
  • “Working with futurethink was a very rewarding experience for our team. They brought a great combination of provocative outside ideas, market perspective and a program design that challenged us to think of our own business in more innovative ways.”
    Jim Daly, Vice President of Human Resources, Standard & Poor's Standard & Poor's
  • “futurethink's research and 'how-to' tools have been essential to building our innovation program.”
    Cindy Morgan, Innovation Manager, New England Federal Credit Union New England Federal Credit Union
  • “If you don't innovate, be creative and look to the future and the possibilities of what will evolve over time, you will cease to be relevant.”
    Randy Voss, Senior Manager, Global Strategy & Business Development, Whirlpool Whirlpool
  • “futurethink is enabling us to build critical innovation skills and share best practices across our global organization.”
    Jeff Honious, Vice President of Innovation, Reed Elsevier Reed Elsevier
  • “Any innovative company must develop processes for understanding and responding to consumer needs in a very focused way. Otherwise, they're just inventors, they're not necessarily innovators.”
    Tony Tomazic, Director of Consumer Innovations, Humana Humana
  • “We need to look beyond our organization's walls to innovate.”
    Mehmoon Khan, Global Leader, Innovation Process Development, Unilever Unilever
  • “futurethink made the topic of innovation, which means different things to different people, real, meaningful, and actionable.”
    Steven Rubinow, Chief Information Officer, NYSE Euronext NYSE Euronext Logo