Unlocking Innovation: A leader's guide to getting started

Exactly what is innovation management?

The process of capturing and managing organisational innovation is essential for business growth. Download the guide to discover how to unlock innovation in your business.

Traditionally the territory of R&D teams, today many companies have organisation-wide innovation management programmes. This is due to increased recognition that innovation is essential for driving business growth and maintaining competitive advantage.

Successful programmes capture the creativity of employees at every level of the organisation so ideas for new products, business models or process improvements, can be quickly discovered and implemented for maximum value.

Wazoku’s Idea Management Software provides a tool for managing innovation wherever and whenever it happens. Ideas can come from anyone within your business, and be shared with a community of peers. The best ideas are routed to your experts and decision-makers to make sure that only those that will drive your business forward are put into practice.

Optimisation, not control

Effective innovation management requires three things: a defined process model, a focus on innovation, and the right tools to manage it. It’s important however, to make sure that you’re optimising the process, not controlling it. A strict, hierarchical chain of command can stifle innovation. Instead, employees need to feel individually empowered to drive change and recognised for their innovation.

That’s why Idea Management is organic, social and democratic.

It allows everyone in your business to create and evaluate ideas with an equal voice. Informal peer networks can then collaborate, refine and vote on ideas so that the best ones make it to the top and individual innovators are rewarded.

Making sense of innovation is the key to building a more innovative business today. Download our guide to find out how to get started.

Bottom-up emergence and top-down management

Great ideas don’t usually come from prescribed brainstorming sessions. Inspiration can come from anywhere and at any time. Your innovation management programme must support idea capture from bottom-up, via employees, as well as top-down from management requests.

This flexibility allows you to solve known problems as well as capture unsolicited, spontaneous ideas.

Using Wazoku’s Idea Management Software, employees can submit ideas on anything, wherever they are, on any device. All they need is an internet connection.

In addition, managers can request ideas on specific subjects to help address existing problems; just think of it as a virtual brainstorm.

Start to strategically manage innovation in your organisation.