Is a lack of opinions and communication preventing you from creating the ideal innovation ecosystem? Likely!
The traditional silo of input, ideas, and decision-making among both top management and department heads has long been a leading source of organizational conflict and growth stagnation. Proof? 86% of employees cite a lack collaboration as a source of workplace failures. Management is more than qualified to make decisions, but could benefit from further input on approaches and execution from those involved. But for that to work, those parties need to collaborate too.
Top companies are taking notice and rate cross-departmental collaboration as the leading factor (45%) to success for their products and services. Still, opening up the process remains elusive, and innovation leaders are being tasked with creating an innovation ecosystem where collaboration can thrive. With a hand in multiple departments, product-lines, operations, and more, they’re the most qualified to connect people, ideas, and processes to create a more collaborative and effective environment for everyone.
Building the Collaborative Environment
Promoting collaboration and building a stronger innovation ecosystem go hand-in-hand. It starts with providing employees with an opportunity to learn more about topics and problems they are interested in. From there, whether online or in-person there must be an environment and system where people can share their ideas, provide and get feedback, support others, and receive validation. That starts with getting people talking.
“I think there’s not enough face-to-face interaction around these things (innovation strategy)…I would look for as many opportunities as possible to get people face-to-face, and really focus their minds on what kinds of assets the company has and really draw down on what assets you’ve got.”
Haydn Shaughnessy – Innovation Expert, Author, Co-Founder of the Disruption House
When it’s time to take action, communication has to be fast, intuitive, and effective. Instant messaging and platforms like Slack or Hipchat make both individual and group communications faster and simpler than email threads. Collaboration on documents through Dropbox or Google Drive ease the need for in-person meetings. Sharing ideas, validating them, and working together to bring them to life has never been easier and faster than through idea management software like Ideawake.
“(Assessable collaboration) is best provided on a digital platform.”
David Williams – Founder, Total Innovation Management Foundation
With the growing popularity of open innovation practices and advances in technology, innovation leaders have never been in a better position to promote collaboration and build an innovation management platform within their organization. With 80% of managers seeing opportunities to improve how they innovate, they’re being given that opportunity. With buy-in from management and new technologies appearing every day, they have the tools to craft and lead their organizations to be leaner, faster, and more attractive to prospective customers and employees.