Innovation Insights

The pain points of innovation solutions

Excerpt from Evolve Blog: The Value of Innovation Work with Mark Kaiser, an Independent Corporate Venturing Consultant (CVC):

3 Types of Innovation

There are 3 types of innovation ranging from the least disruptive to the most disruptive. One example of innovation occurs when a company adapts an existing product or service to a new customer need or desire, otherwise known as a product extension. On the other end, a company may choose to create an entirely new business, like Uber or Airbnb, completely disrupting the market. In the middle, a company may choose to create a new product in an existing sector.

Many times, innovation is spurred by disruption in the marketplace, requiring companies to respond to competitors, respond to new technology, or defend their core business. Mark gives the example of a product line he worked on for Goody where they were at risk of losing line reviews to Conair at Walmart. This was due to the fact that Conair had heat styling tools included in their product line while Goody had only hair accessories. Mark helped to design a new line of styling tools for Goody to compete in the line reviews and defend their core business. In this example, the strategic decision to create a new line of heat styling tools was not about the incremental revenue generated by the new styling tools but rather strategic innovation to prevent the loss of a massive line contract.

Occasionally, companies choose to fund innovation projects because they impact how financial markets view the company. Financial markets typically look favorably on innovation work, and it attracts investors who expect higher returns linked to the potential of a new product or service to generate higher earnings for the company and a rise in stock value. However, financial markets have a short memory, and it’s vital for innovation work to generate a quick win, even a small one, to show investors that their faith is not misplaced.

Orange Sparkle Ball Perspective:

As Mark emphasizes in his Evolve discussion, there is great importance in scoring a quick win, even a small one. Across our innovation work at Orange Sparkle Ball, we work to communicate small wins to key stakeholders in innovation initiatives for a multitude of reasons, including to generate support and to secure funding for innovation teams. We refer to this kind of communication as ‘’storytelling the gap”.

No matter what your initiative looks like or where it falls among the 3 types of innovation Mark outlines, you will need to communicate progress to stakeholders that aren’t involved in the day-to-day work. These stakeholders may be leadership figures or funding entities that don’t see the challenges and the overcoming of obstacles but still need some level of insight into the work to maintain faith and support of the initiative. For these reasons, it’s important to develop an internal communication plan with your stakeholders that effectively relays progress and pain points at a level of depth that aligns with their needs and is delivered in a medium that fits their capacity. Case studies, dashboards, and monthly update videos are some of the many methods we have employed to help client teams communicate wins and pains to their stakeholders, or ‘storytell the gap’ in understanding or knowledge.

What are the gaps between your initiative needs and your leadership's ability to address those needs? Take a look at the OSB Gap methodology below to better understand how we approach these gaps and leverage opportunities to communicate quick wins to show investors and stakeholders that their faith in an innovation initiative is warranted.

Writing by Nick Fisch, Digital Media Strategist at Orange Sparkle Ball, Inc.