The Perennial Struggle: Continuous vs. Breakthrough Innovation

Google will be at the 2007 World Innovation Forum to talk about how they develop breakthrough innovations. Meanwhile, GE uses Six Sigma continuous process improvement (CPI) to stay near the top of Fortune’s most admired companies list.  Google is all about rule-breaking creativity; GE is about the incremental pursuit of excellence. Both companies succeed with very different innovation cultures, but is it possible to combine the best of both worlds?

An only-slightly-geeky article from CIO Today points out that CPI and breakthrough initiatives can, in fact, coexist in the same company.  CPI focuses on ever-increasing levels of efficiency, one-stepping through the innovation cycle to mitigate the risk that comes with change.  Breakthrough innovation, on the other hand, seeks to leap ahead, which can be rather messy and extremely risky.  Each technique tends to breed a distinct corporate culture, however, so to keep CPI and breakthrough efforts from butting heads, the CIO Today article offers this advice:

Communicate a compelling mission: For employees, understanding the big picture and how leadership aims to achieve its strategic goals is critical to readying the organization for change. It's when management doesn't link the big picture with a credible implementation plan that valuable people are driven "nuts" -- and often go elsewhere.

Separate the efforts: Don't expect people running mature businesses to behave the same as those running startups. The ramp-up phase for newer efforts is especially tenuous due to the inherent instability of rapidly evolving enterprises.

Appoint "ambidextrous" senior managers: Staff the position with someone who has the ability to understand the needs of very different types of businesses. It helps if that person possesses deep organizational knowledge. A general manager with responsibility for both the traditional and new businesses will foster efficiency by sharing functional resources (HR, marketing, finance, e.g.) and promoting integration of the initiatives when the time is right.

Support both teams appropriately: Don't shortchange one effort over another. Innovation methods and processes may be lesser known than Six Sigma but that doesn't mean they don't require an equal level of investment in training, resources, and know-how.