Our world will not be what it is today if no one took the trouble and pain to innovate to make things and life better. There have been misconceptions as to the meaning and expectation of what is innovation.

In Part 1 of this article, I shall first explore ‘What Innovation is Not’, in Part 2 of the article, I shall put forward the meaning of innovation to clear the misconceptions. In Part 3, I shall identify What Innovation really Is’ and a typical case presenting the current problems with the innovation process within a business environment.

Part 1: What Innovation is Not

Innovation is not…Invention

Invention is a creative process that often has an outcome that is not guaranteed of success through an exploratory process. Invention developed from an idea while innovation is idea that is applied successfully and adopted into practice. In today’s business term, invention is the conversion of cash into ideas while innovation is the conversion of ideas into cash. An innovation is the extension of an invention. To put in plain language, if an inventor discovers the “next big thing,” but is unable to find anyone to produce it, then the “next big thing” remains undiscovered to the world.[1] Therefore, we can conclude innovation is NOT invention.

Innovation is not…based on an Individual

It may take a genius to come up with a brilliant idea but often the work of a genius will stay with the individual if there is no collective buy in to support the realization of that idea. Even Albert Einstein’s work has been associated with a long list of scientists as his collaborators.

Innovation involves a spectrum of team members in the realization of an idea to fruition.  This innovation must be publicly accepted to testify that their lives or work have improved in some way.

Innovation is not… Inspired from Brainstorming.

Brainstorming is a group creativity technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution of a problem, a method popularized by Alex Faickney Osborn back in early 1950’s. To inspire innovations, we need more than a collection of randomly generated ideas. According to Dan Fylstra, a pioneer in computer industry “Innovation is hard to schedule”, but I put forth that it is not impossible.

Innovation can be scheduled through facilitation, communication and implementation. Through these avenues, team members can contribute to the innovation by generating insights by working together based on their existing processes that are not optimum and to alter their business processes to achieve a more innovative solution. Innovation requires a whole team to see a holistic aspect within the organization to make it effective. Therefore, brainstorming alone does not result in innovation.

Innovation is not… the Only Solution

Another popular misconception is thinking that innovation is the only solution to the organization’s problem. Often the company’s culture and leadership are two prominent barriers to innovation. If your company’s culture isn’t set-up to accept new innovative ideas from staff, then innovations will not be able to thrive. Critical success factors needed for businesses to succeed are engaged employees, respected visionary leaders that “walk the talk” as well as product or solutions that adds value to their loyal customers. Thus, thinking of implementing innovation alone does not suffice, you need to embrace a culture of creative and supportive environment for change.

What is Innovation then?

The definition of Innovation is…

According to Dictionary.com:

“Origin: 1540-50, Latin ~ innovātus, pp. of innovare, from in- “into” + novus “new.”): n. innovation; v. to innovate, to alter, to make new, to remodel, to renew, to revolutionize.”

Whereas Peter Ferdinand Drucker, the author and man who invented management also known as the “Father Of Modern Management” defined  Innovation as “the means by which the entrepreneur either creates new wealth-producing resources or endows existing resources with enhanced potential for creating wealth.”[2]

Personally, I prefer Microsoft’s simplified version that “Innovation is the conversion of knowledge and ideas into new or improved products, processes, or services to gain a competitive advantage.”  That is much easier to digest and very relevant in today’s business world.

Microsoft’s success is based on their ability to anticipate technology trends and envision how they can be transformed into products, services and business models that create new opportunities for their customers and stakeholders. Microsoft’s commitment to innovation empowers people to be more productive, creative and successful has helped transform the world in numerous ways. Their innovations have been the catalyst for the information age and the knowledge economy[3]. To me, that is an epitome of an innovative company.

Read on in Part 2: The meaning of innovation.

[2] Robert E. Hoskisson, Michael A. Hitt, R. Duane Ireland, Jeffrey S. Harrison, “Competing for Advantage” (2^nd edition, Thomson), at Chapter 12: Strategic Entrepreneurship at pg. 335

[3] Microsoft Innovation Center http://www.microsoft.com/mic/default.aspx

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Agnes’ first encounter with Quality was back in 1992 through Philip Crosby Quality Education System. Since then she has had a mindset of “Do It Right the First Time Every Time”.  Agnes discovered the world of Six Sigma by chance and all her principles and beliefs finally pieced together through the DMAIC Cycle. She can be reached at aolyahb@yahoo.com.

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