Effective innovation is both a strategic imperative and a messy process of development, testing and refinement. If this process is to work, you need to have regular updates and reviews.
One way of doing this that cuts the chain of command between the ideas and the leadership team is to have weekly big idea reviews. In these sessions, new, big ideas are presented worked on, reviewed and updated.
During the turnaround of UK grocer, Asda, in the early 1990s, the executive team met each Monday morning at a local store that had been set up as a laboratory to run series of experiments and to test new ideas. The team walked the store, reviewed the week’s progress and agreed the priorities for the following seven days.
The pace of innovation at Asda rapidly accelerated, and its subsequent growth and profitability attracted Wal-Mart sufficiently to buy the business.
It can be tempting to review your big, strategic projects quarterly, or possibly monthly, but this can inhibit pace and progress. A weekly review of actions and the evolutionary development of new ideas can step-change the pace at which you can develop new ideas, implement new offerings and grow your business.
© Stuart Cross 2016. All rights reserved.