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| Bob Schultek Author of The Gauntlet |
The pursuit of innovation is a vitally important strategy for organizations seeking to accelerate their progress. Companies dedicate significant time, energy and investment to it, often optimizing the efficiency of their innovation process with the goal of improving their success rate. But what if this effort does not improve their ability to predict which innovations will succeed?
As Dr. W. Edwards Deming, the renowned quality and management expert observed, every process is perfectly designed to deliver the results it gets. If an organization views its pursuit of innovation as imperfect and unpredictable, relying on assumptions about what customers need, what competitors are doing, or perhaps on a bit of luck, then it builds processes that operationalize the perception of a hit or miss proposition. The results of these processes are predictable – mediocrity and disappointment.
Improving the success rate of innovation starts with asking your customers about their strategies, their barriers, and what job they need you to do so they can achieve their goals. The insights you gain will increase your innovation predictability, and improve your results.
