Demystifying Innovation Myths

Innovation may be the most talked about discipline today. 8 years of my innovation journey with various organizations have been very enriching. In this article, I would like to uncover few myths around innovation that I often encounter while I work with organizations.

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Myth 1: Only creative geniuses can innovate. Hence, innovation happens in R&D labs or large corporate have Innovation as a department

Reality: Innovation is a competency. It needs to be integrated across the organization. If an organization wants to foster innovation, it is imperative to enable employees through structure, processes, trainings & it should be in DNA of an organization. It is not something which Hi-Pots in the organization will work on. An innovation champion could be developed & nurtured across any level from a fresher to a veteran. An organization needs to map various processes like reward & recognition, KRA, etc to innovation efforts.

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Myth 2: Innovation needs many ideas & thus brainstorming

Reality: Innovation just needs more homes for ideas, meaning, it needs various platforms/forums in an organization to support the idea. All it needs is an eco-system or a support system to process & implement the idea. Brainstorming isn’t a pre-requisite always for innovation.

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Myth 3: Innovation is random.

Reality: The process or techniques of innovation are quite structured in nature. In fact the random technique of innovation is also very structured. One may find the outcomes of innovation as random coz many a times the solutions are out of the box.

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Myth 4: Innovation means creating something new or radically drifting from past.

Reality: There are many roads to innovation. It often creatively combines various pieces of past. At times, the pieces of past could be mistakes & early mistakes are profitable in long run. Sometimes, the detours in the process may be the destination.

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Myth 5: You are either creative to innovate or not

Reality: Innovation can be nurtured through trainings. Most of the innovation is actually nurtured than being natural. Creativity comes naturally to children, however, as we grow, it needs to be nurtured.