Insights | Innovation

Read why you shouldn't innovate top-down, and how to involve employees in the solutions instead.

If you have worked with strategic change initiatives, you may have experienced that the implementation can be challenging and that it takes a long time before the benefits are realized.

One of the reasons for this could be that the practical part of the innovation process starts too high up in the organization. Naturally, it is the management's role to set the goals and direction. However, it is not always optimal for the management to also define the solutions. The higher we are in the organization, the more tendency we have to search for perfect, general, and all-encompassing solutions.

This means that there is a risk of overlooking simple and focused solutions that could have an equally significant impact with much less effort.

Let me give you an example.

If a company has set a goal to increase customer retention, the management's solution would often take the form of a comprehensive customer retention program that covers all types of customers, all the company's products, and all departments. This includes everything from major customer discounts, loyalty programs, and customer clubs to Formula 1 trips for the biggest clients. If all of that succeeds, it's certainly great.

However, there are 3 disadvantages to such an all-encompassing solution.

Firstly, it is difficult to execute because there are so many components involved.

Secondly, it is unclear how significant the actual benefits will be for each individual component.

Finally, it is uncertain when the benefits will materialize since most large projects end up being delayed or truncated.

If you want to find simple solutions that will yield the greatest benefits with minimal effort, you need to turn the practical part of the process upside down.

This means involving employees in finding the solutions. They are the ones who know what prevents us from performing better today and how even small changes can lead to significant improvements. They also know why some solutions that look good on paper will not work in practice.

At Benelizer® Ideation Workshop, we have a proven process that ensures employees translate their knowledge into simple and achievable solutions that will have a significant impact on the goals set by the management. This means that you will advance the benefits and significantly increase the likelihood of achieving your goals.