The Art of Innovation

Source: Working Knowledge

This article offers insights about innovation from five Harvard Business School faculty members. Each faculty member answers a different question on the topic. Following are highlights from two of the answers:

1. Can people learn to be more innovative? – Clayton Christensen

According to Christensen, five percent of people are naturally intuitive, 40 percent will never grasp the art of innovating, and the rest may be able to learn to be more innovative. The problem is that true innovators seem to “just know” how to think innovatively.

Christensen says research has identified five key traits that are common to innovators:

• The ability to make problem-solving connections or associations
• Being observant
• Asking questions
• Gaining insights by spending time with others
• Always testing new ideas

2. How do you create a culture of innovation? – Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Kanter says that developing a culture of innovation requires three things:

• Develop your business strategy on innovation. Kanter provides the example of a pyramid in which the biggest risk is on top, developing projects is in the middle, and the bottom is filled with ongoing improvements and new ideas.
• Design jobs that encourage and require innovation. Kanter explains that 3M allows employees to use 15 percent of their time on their own projects. Such an approach led to the Post-it Note.
• Look for and encourage innovation throughout your company. Kanter served as a judge for Gillette's innovation fair, in which each department presented its newest, highest potential projects.

Remaining questions: “How can companies tap their customers for innovative ideas?” “How do you successfully market an innovative product?” “How can a company balance innovation and creativity with the need for process and structure?”

For the complete article, read “Five Ways to Make Your Company More Innovative.”

From Working Knowledge, a publication of Harvard Business School, May 23, 2012, http://hbswk.hbs.edu/.