10 Key Questions for Executives on Innovation and Transformation

“The right questions uncover truths
we might not otherwise know.
They pull back the curtain on the wizard and
give us a more accurate view of reality.” 

— Albert Einstein

Here we consider 10 key questions about innovation and transformation management that executives could ask themselves and address in management committees. As someone once said: “Knowledge is having the right answer. Intelligence is asking the right question.”

Do we all see innovation and transformation the same way at the highest level?

Reach a consensus among leaders
on expectations and outlooks
for innovation and transformation

Talking about innovation and transformation opens up outlooks and raises expectations. However, differences can easily arise within various management committees. Will the R&D or IT directors’ agenda match the marketing or HR directors’ one? Such disagreements or misunderstandings, whether overt or not, is not inconsequential.

A clear understanding of innovation and transformation’s objectives and efforts, shared by all managers, allows them to speak the same language and to funnel resources and motivations. This common basis is a springboard to deploy the strategy. Risks of disagreement and dispersion will be all the more reduced.

Have we identified all we need to make our innovation and transformation successful?

Seek out all levers required
to spur and drive innovation and transformation

Supporting innovation and transformation also goes through seeking for all underpinning forces and deploy the needed capacities and practices. But are they all identified and fully exploited? Which ones should be further mobilized or acquired?

Innovation and transformation cannot be decreed. They demand favorable conditions and adequate means to emerge and succeed. This goes through a comprehensive and realistic review of all current strengths, capacities, and practices. Thus, all levers, even the most discrete or unexpected, will eventually contribute.

Are we fully aware of all barriers our managers face on innovation and transformation projects?

Free innovation and transformation projects
from the real barriers that impede them on the ground

In addition to a lack of funding, human resources or appropriate technology, managers involved in innovation and transformation may face a cumbersome organization or have to deal with an unfavorable culture. Cognitive bias may also distort perception and decisions. Are these real barriers or mere pretexts for inaction? Bad habits or “paper tigers”?

Impeding barriers can be obstacles and resistances or traps and pitfalls. The organization must identify and understand what really undermines innovation and transformation efforts. Then, managers will be able to find adequate ways to avoid, overcome or eliminate them.

Are we being heard and willingly followed when communicating on innovation and transformation?

Rally everyone towards a shared vision
of innovation and transformation priorities, choices and objectives

Innovation and transformation also depend on leadership qualities within the organization. Are opportunities to get across the right messages systematically leveraged? Do people feel empowered to contribute to that vision? A few changes of attitude can quickly and significantly make a difference.

Setting the example in accordance with one’s convictions and values, inspiring a shared vision of the future, and enlisting all the staff on a common vision; fostering collaboration and autonomy, acknowledging contributions and celebrating the wins. Beyond good managerial practices, all of these are determinant to ensure the success of innovation and transformation initiatives.

Are we able as leaders to account for our innovation and transformation’s investment choices?

Ensure the overall coherence and balance
of innovation and transformation project portfolios

A business case is set and approved for each innovation and transformation project. Taken separately, every project makes sense, but what about their combination? Many things can also gradually lead to unbalanced or inconsistent innovation and transformation portfolios. A craze for technology, a comforting short-term vision, a fragile consensus, the satisfaction of everyone at all costs, or an imprecise understanding of demand are they not among the most commons ones?

Innovation and transformation portfolio must be balanced and consistent according to relevant criteria. Each project must be substantiated with a strong rationale and serve the set strategy. A process for making trade-offs, mitigating risks and assessing the contribution to the whole must be in place. Managers can thus make the right innovation decisions and appropriately allocate financial and human resources.

Are we able to generate upstream a significant flow of innovation and transformation ideas?

Collect enough innovation and transformation ideas
to only select the most promising ones

Mentioning innovation immediately reminds of the R&D department, while transformation points nowadays to the IT department. But can we confine or leave them to these sole entities, without depriving oneself of other valuable sources? Wouldn’t this restrict it to sole products or services? Are those departments not themselves asking for wider sharing and greater support?

Generating and enriching innovation and transformation ideas must be everyone’s concern. Exceptional ideas may sometimes arise from unexpected parts of the organization. A rigorous selection on a greater number of opportunities makes it possible to retain the best ones.

Do we have that commitment to collaborate and cooperate on innovation and transformation?

Organize to be able to effectively collaborate and cooperate
with partners, suppliers, customers, and even competitors

Who can claim to have all the in-house resources to innovate? Collaboration and cooperation come with so many benefits. Pooling and complementarity eventually make achievable what previously was not. Investment costs, efforts, and risks are shared. Time to market is accelerated while entry barriers are lowered.

The internal organization and processes must enable information exchange and collaborative work with the outside. Expectations, respective contributions, and obligations, and sharing of risks and benefits need here to be explicitly contractualized.

Can we explain our innovation and transformation results and do this with conviction?

Fully grasp all factors that contribute
to achieving innovation and transformation objectives

It is one thing to get results on innovation and transformation, but quite another to be able to explain them. To what extent are root causes known? Understanding the real causes of a failure or a success requires patience. It is convenient to settle for a quick explanation.

A full insight into the state of innovation and transformation practices facilitates the explanation of successes and failures. Conversely, to grasp the underlying reasons for good or bad results is to link them with best practices or their lack thereof. Thus, managers can all agree on the real success factors and opportunities for improvement. Achieving objectives will be all the more facilitated and reproducible.

Can we establish whether and how our innovation and transformation strategies serve our overall strategy?

Align the innovation and transformation strategies
with the organization’s long-term goals and capabilities

Are the innovation and transformation strategies fully documented and always aligned with the former? How to focus otherwise resources towards the same objectives, ensure that various functions and departments work together, and make relevant choices or compromises? 

Innovation and transformation strategies are built with a top-down and bottom-up approach. Leadership sets first the general objectives and overall guidelines. Internal referents, with support of and inputs from partners, suppliers, and major customers, elaborate the details and verify their feasibility before leadership’s validation.

Are we first to adapt our innovation and transformation plans to market and technology evolutions?

Adjust the innovation and transformation plans
to timely seize relevant opportunities that arise

How often a freshly defined strategy becomes already obsolete in the face of unanticipated changes? This leads to discouragement and disinterest, and uncoordinated efforts or resources. Strategic planning is reduced to a mere pro forma exercise. Innovation and transformation are being perceived as a risk.

Developing anticipation, reactivity, and adaptation’s capacities enable to outpace the competition. When viewing change as an opportunity and not a constraint, any evolution is welcomed and generates enthusiasm. This appetite for change becomes as a second nature.