The Bare Minimum of Innovation

In a recent meeting with a prospective client, I was asked a very interesting question: “What is the bare minimum I can get away with for my company to be innovative?” I laughed, because the inference of wanting to be as minimally innovative as possible was a contradiction of sorts.

I replied, “You’re doing it right now, I think.”

Of course, I knew what he was really asking -  what investments and commitments should his company make, in the very least, to get an innovation effort off the ground. As follows are what I recommend to this client – and other companies of any size and industry – as the basic checklist of innovation (yes, the very bare minimum):

The 5 Minimum Requirements of Innovative Companies

1. 2% of Time. Commit that 2% of your employee’s time each month can be spent pursuing new approaches and ideas. This might be applied to their current role or focus, but could also be for other areas of your business. Encourage teamwork onm this front to get more bang for the buck. Whether it be in product development, process improvement, cost cutting or client interaction – requiring your employees to commit 5% of their time (that equates to 2-3 hours each month for most full time employees) toward innovative thinking and brainstorming can reap huge rewards. By the way, Google gives employees 10% of their workweek to go towards innovation and creative projects.
2. Innovation Management System. You need a process for sharing and vetting ideas that goes beyond an “idea box” sitting outside the bosses office. All ideas need logged and you need to have an innovation leader to vet each submission and oversee a process for review, improvement and decision. This system should include a function to let others contribute to an idea, because sometimes a bad/mediocre idea could be the spark during broader discussion for a great idea worth pursuing. In the very minimum of minimums, a spreadsheet can track the items and the status. I recommend a monthly innovation lunch (with an open-door policy to the whole company) where ideas can be discussed and further explored by a wide range of employees.
3. Compensation & Rewards Program. Innovative companies must provide rewards for creative thinking and contributions of ideas. Provide incentives for both the submission of ideas but also discussion and evolution of a good idea into a great one. Sure, you can give items from the company store (blah!), but be innovative in your rewards too! A few ideas:  An extra vacation day, a VIP Parking spot, lunch with the CEO or other perks that are more about recognizing fresh thought than prizes and tchotckes. Certainly cash is king, but I’d reserve that for successful implementation of an idea that has a bottom line result, rather than just for the ideation process.
4. Idea Capital: 1/2 of 1%. Major innovation companies easily invest 5% or more of gross revenue towards R&D and innovation efforts. At a minimum you should be able to commit one half of 1% of your gross revenue (whip out the calculator) to investing in your innovation efforts. Those funds will act as an internal venture capital seed fund,  providing tools and cash to allow your employees to experiment and pursue ideas. This might include the cost for special “lab” space and technology – or to build prototypes and test a concept.
5. Executive Communication. If your CEO doesn’t openly express what’s happening and give it attention, no matter how passionate your innovation effort leader is, the employees will know that it’s just another gimmick effort to get more out of the employees. When your senior management (include other c-level executives) have drank the Kool-aid and are fired up about ideation and communicating that regularly, you’ll see your other investment pay even greater dividends. So, create an internal blog from the CEO (ghost written most likely) that documents what’s working, what you’re learning from and how that’s impacting the company.

What else do you think should be added to this list of our bare minimum innovation list?