innovation spirit in banking

- an 8 steps formula for global corporations

Summary

innovation spirit in banking - an 8 steps formula for global corporations

Between 2005 and 2010 I was able to start and lead a global innovation initiative in a service company with more than 100,000 employees. I was interested to create an „innovation spirit“.

As part of my teaching assignment at the Mannheim Business School, I was able to meet with many innovation managers and leaders of other global companies, like BMW, Deutsche Bank, Google, HCL, IBM, IDEO, Lufthansa, SAP, TCS, Telekom and TUI and analyze their innovation processes. From this I developed an 8-point plan, which I have already presented more than 30 times across the world - from America via Europe to Asia.

1. Create a mantra

2. Involve all

3. Mobilize pirates

4. Unleash creativity

5. Encourage

6. Give recognition

7. Celebrate success

8. Communicate, communicate, communicate

1. Create a mantra

In the first step it is all about to give innovation and the underlying corporate culture an overarching sense.

A good example is BWM. At BMW, you do not buy a car, but a "sheer driving pleasure".

"sheer driving pleasure" is the same for all BMW employees and a perfect tool of thinking – a mantra. Everyone in the company knows what it is. And decisions are always made in favour of this mantra.

A mantra should be a catchy formula:

♦easy to understand

♦easy to remember

♦easy to articulate

2. Involve all

To create an innovation spirit in a company, it is important to involve all hierarchies. Not all employees, colleagues, supervisors, customers and partners will participate. But it is very important to address all the interest groups and basically give them the opportunity to join. In the context of individual locally organized innovation days, globally organized innovation jam sessions like at IBM or creativity workshops like at Deutsche Bank you can inspire many people for the topic.

3. Mobilize pirates

In the course of time you can find some people in all companies that drive with passion the topic of innovation – I call them pirates. Pirates can be found in all levels – you just have to search for. They spread the message, become opinion leaders and often drive innovation topics and content.

4. Unleash creativity

Once are pirates and innovators found you should give them creativity tools and an environment that supports creativity. All people are born creative. Everyone can be creative. This needs to be unleashed.

For example, the individual creativity can be promoted by "Einstein's paper clip", „increase“, „Visual Thinking“ or „Mind mapping“.

And with techniques such as „1001 thing“, „Method 6-3-5“, „open space“ and „brain storming“ you can unleash the creativity of groups.

Essentially this will stimulate both halves of the brain.

Finally, it helps if you are also creating a space that supports creative work. Beautiful examples of this are the launchlabs in Berlin and the work environment at Pixar.

5. Encourage

In my experience, success is as follows:

success = 1% inspiration + 99% perspiration

A brainstorm, then five years of hard work and sweat.

To create an innovation spirit in a company, it is important to encourage employees to take risks and not to punish mistakes. Mistakes are OK as long as you do not repeatedly commits the same. In innovative companies like the American design and innovation consultancy IDEO, the rule is:

„Fail faster to succeed earlier.“

6. Give recognition

Of course, the innovators must be rewarded for taking risk and hard work. This is human. For good performance, a great idea and a successful innovation a financial reward is good. But, public recognition in front of the peers is usually even more motivating for many business innovators, e.g., in context of idea competitions as the tour operator TUI or innovation days as India's largest IT provider TCS.

Sometimes it is the little touches that make it something special on employees

such as shaking hands, to congratulate or a traditional letter of recognition from the boss one can share at home with the family.

7. Celebrate success

Successes should be celebrated. Failures also.

"Our policy is we try things," the Google CEO Eric Schmidt said, hours after the company announced it was halting development of Google wave, the complex real-time communication tool. "We celebrate our failures. This is a company where it is absolutely OK to try something that is very hard, have it not be successful, take the learning and apply it to something new."

It is now proved that such corporate behaviour increases employee retention. In addition, it enhances the innovation spirit.

In the context of a celebration of innovators and innovations a long time employee of a company said that this was his best day in the company in 30 years.

8. Communicate, communicate, communicate

Especially in global business communication plays a crucial role. To announce via Email: "From now on we're innovative" does not work. In my experience, it takes a colourful bouquet of communication activities and channels to convey innovation spirit. As part of Town Halls you can promote personal meeting of all stakeholders. The intranet can provide tools such as forums, blogs and wikis to the development and documentation of ideas and innovations. And in the employee newsletter ideas, innovations and innovators should be emphasized.

Frank Schwab