Make Innovation Business as Usual

To grow, a company must constantly create new offerings. But for many large corporations, innovation is an unnatural act. Why? Resistance stifles new ideas, and silos block the cross-functional cooperation needed to commercialize innovations.

One way to dismantle these boundaries is to establish distributed innovation groups (DIGs) that foster innovation throughout your company. DIGs scout for high-potential ideas -- for example, by identifying customer needs and new technologies that could lead to breakthrough offerings. They counsel unit leaders on how to conduct rapid prototyping. And they serve as a home for developing pilot projects.

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Teaming Up to Crack Innovation and Enterprise Integration," by James I. Cash, Michael J. Earl, and Robert Morison.

By washingtonpost.com Editors  |  May 18, 2009; 9:00 AM ET  | Category:  Management Tip of the Day
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