A recent HBR article (“Innovation in turbulent times”, June 2009: http://tinyurl.com/mmpgfg) discussed the need for businesses to have creative, “right brain” types in leadership positions. It suggests that innovation is the result of pairing creative with analytical thinkers - when businesses have too few creative thinkers in leadership positions, innovation is vulnerable to unwise cost cutting, in particular during hard times.

Whilst there is some truth in the need to have a good mix of “left and right brain” thinkers, that is nothing new – diversity of thought is vital to establish the strong funnel of ideas from which to promote those with the most promise. Where the article falls short is in the lack of structure it places around the innovation process as a whole. In fact, it starts with the statement “innovation is a messy process – hard to measure and hard to manage”.

Innovation doesn't have to be messy, and it should certainly not be left to the effective partnership between two individuals in leadership positions. When managed effectively innovation is simply another business process, taking ideas through prioritisation and realisation in a way that meets the organisation’s strategic objectives and takes account of the innovation culture.

For additional information on frameworks and tools to help deliver and measure innovation in your organisation please contact us.

Here is a very interesting talk from Hal Varian, Chief Economist at Google, about the challenges at managing knowledge workers and how it is successfully done at Google: