Tendayi Viki explains how to speed up innovation

How to speed up innovation

Alex Osterwalder
Tendayi Viki
Carol Hill
April 23, 2024
#
 min read
topics
Corporate Innovation Management
Discovery Sprint
Ecosystem Assessment
Innovation Portfolio

Although leaders now say they value innovation, there are still several roadblocks within companies that slow innovation teams down tremendously. Let's dive into this recap of a recent Strategyzer webinar with Tendayi Viki, Alex Osterwalder, and Carol Hill.

Why are so many companies so slow in exploration?

One reason is team behaviour. Another is the blockers that hold the team back. In this webinar, Tendayi and Alex outline four challenges they see slowing down innovation and what leaders can do to remove them. These insights will allow teams with the right behaviours to innovate.

After all, if given the right opportunity, innovators will innovate.

For every one of our failures, we had spreadsheets that looked awesome.”
Scott Cook
Co-founder & Chairman of INTUIT

1. Stop analyzing. Prioritize testing actions over analysis paralysis.

Tendayi Viki emphasized the importance of prioritizing action in corporate innovation over analysis paralysis. He highlighted the inherent uncertainty in the innovation process and warned against the illusion of progress through excessive analysis.

The journey from idea to business is nonlinear.

From idea to business

Tendayi illustrated the nonlinear nature of transforming ideas into successful businesses, likening it to untangling a messy thread. He stressed the futility of trying to analyze such a complex process, where early signals can often mislead. Instead, he advocates for a process of designing and testing business models, emphasizing the need to swiftly iterate through ideas rather than getting stuck in overthinking and analysis.

The key principle Viki highlighted was to design like you're right, but test like you're wrong.

He urged innovators to focus on getting started rather than obsessing over perfecting the initial step, as rapid iteration is key to discovering viable ideas efficiently. Getting started is more important than getting the first step right. Let's assume we're going to get the first step wrong and simply correct it as we go. It is in the 'testing like you're wrong' that you start refining your design.

If you know you're going to be right, it's not innovation.”
Jeff Bezos
Founder of Amazon

Ideate/pivot/kill

Alex explained the need to break free from the constraints of analysis paralysis by making small initial investments and pre-allocating funds for innovation projects. Invest a small amount of money in the first step.

Drawing on the example of Bosch, Alex highlighted the effectiveness of this approach in driving rapid progress and minimizing risk. An evidence-based budget enables teams to iterate and refine ideas based on real-world feedback. The value of running multiple experiments in parallel to foster innovation and the importance of being willing to abandon unsuccessful ideas. By embracing a culture of action, generating actionable insights, and allocating resources based on evidence, corporate innovators can overcome analysis paralysis and drive meaningful change.

Remember, you can't pick winners. You have to create conditions for winners to emerge.

2. Innovation is not a hobby. Allocate sufficient time and resources.

It is of critical importance to allocate adequate time and resources to innovation initiatives. Across Strategyzer’s decades of experience in innovation, 90% of the time, it's this time allocation that is lacking. It even poses a greater problem than financial resources. Innovation projects actually take longer if teams are not given sufficient resources and time, and the time aspect is the most important one. Remember, it doesn't always have to be 100% upfront. We actually believe 60% is safer, because then it is easier to retire projects. It doesn't have to be 100%, but 20%, is certainly not enough.

We cautioned against the notion of professional innovators working in isolation, advocating instead for a blend of professionals and individuals from the core business. You generally need people from the core business because they have the knowledge. Ultimately, it is all about creating value for customers and for your business, with or without R&D and technology.

Today, you need teams that are dedicated to exploring ideas. Teams that are capable of rapidly iterating, pivoting or killing an idea when needed. Strategyzer Discovery Sprint’s are designed to guide teams through this messy process in a more structured way. It begins with onboarding people and trying to get leaders to protect their time. Then they learn the Strategyzer tools and methods. Next, they begin to shape their ideas. And then, most importantly, they shape, test, and iterate. Finally, they make an evidence-based presentation to the leadership.

The Discovery program at a glance

3. Find a home for innovation orphans. Align and collaborate with key functions within your company.

We asked atendees about the difficulties of collaborating with key functions such as finance, legal, sales, and HR. Common barriers cited included reluctance to embrace new ideas, resistance to change, and concerns about compliance and risk. Clearly, there is a strong need to foster collaboration between innovators and key departments. Innovation is not just about generating ideas, but also about navigating internal processes and garnering support from across the organization.

An analogy was shared from Tendayi’s experience of working with TD Ameritrade's innovation lab, which referred to itself as the "home for homeless ideas." This highlighted the importance of providing a supportive environment for ideas that may not initially find traction within the company.

One of the biggest barriers that we often see when we're trying to run an innovation sprint is that the idea is stuck in some function.

For example, sales won't let us talk to customers. Now you're slow.

The legal department won't approve the experiment. Now you're stuck.

Compliance won't approve working with a particular experimentation tool to create landing pages. Now you're stuck.

It's a very difficult blocker. It's almost like the civil service—they can just push your paper around. And time just ticks by. You're no longer making progress. It is virtually impossible for innovation to succeed without really collaborating with key functions within your organization.

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4. Kill your zombie projects. Make it risk-free to experiment, fail and retire projects.

If you don't like the word killing: retire or successfully eliminate. You don't need to use the word kill, but we need to start really taking those ideas that have no evidence and consume a lot of resources and get rid of them. Because there is a huge disadvantage of being an extremely well-funded innovation project. The challenge becomes too big to fail. Tendayi refers to these as CEO pet projects.

Alex asked Tendayi, “What is the disadvantage of CEO having a pet project?”

Tendayi replied, “Well, nobody wants to tell the CEO that their baby is ugly.”

A pet project can also be referred to as a lighthouse project. This is a highly visible project with the added pressure of expectation and too much emotional attachment.

Good companies understand that failure is part of the journey. Jeff Bezos used to always say, “Amazon is the best place in the world to fail.” Amazon's Fire Phone resulted in significant losses but valuable insights. Here, failure was a learning opportunity.

Alex stressed the need for a portfolio approach to innovation, where multiple projects are explored simultaneously, allowing for a balance of small and large failures.

CEOs often don't yet understand this portfolio approach. So how do we get senior leaders to buy into this? You need to embrace evidence-based decision-making, emphasizing the importance of showcasing tangible evidence. By demonstrating the drawbacks of traditional approaches and highlighting the benefits of a risk-free experimentation mindset, innovators can garner support from senior leadership.

You cannot move fast if your people are stuck working on projects that are not making progress. By embracing failure as part of the journey and adopting a portfolio approach to innovation, organizations can create an environment conducive to experimentation and discovery.

Streamline your innovation journey

Feeling overwhelmed by the complexities of innovation processes? You're not alone. Many corporate leaders struggle to find the right approach to drive innovation effectively. But fear not—Strategyzer is here to simplify the process for you.

Take the guesswork out of innovation with our proven methodologies and ready-to-use workflows. With this guidance, you can focus your efforts where they matter most and achieve remarkable results in less time. Don't waste another minute on inefficient processes—let our wealth of experience show you a better way forward.

Ready to take your innovation game to the next level? Schedule a demo today and experience the Strategyzer difference firsthand.

About the speakers

Alex Osterwalder
Entrepreneur, speaker and business theorist

Dr. Alexander (Alex) Osterwalder is one of the world’s most influential innovation experts, a leading author, entrepreneur and in-demand speaker whose work has changed the way established companies do business and how new ventures get started.

Tendayi Viki
Author, Speaker, Advisor

Tendayi Viki is an author and innovation consultant. He holds a PhD in Psychology and an MBA. As Associate Partner at Strategyzer, he helps large organizations innovate for the future while managing their core business.

Carol Hill
Program Director, webinar host

Carol is an experienced innovation, strategy and product development leader with a deep understanding of lean, design thinking, agile and scrum methodologies. She has a proven track record of leading teams in complex organisations such as the LEGO Group and Pearson PLC to embed innovation programs, tools and frameworks and in developing innovative products during digital and organisational transformations. She is a Program Director at Strategyzer and is passionate about helping businesses and individuals build the confidence they need for on-going growth and success.

by 
Alex Osterwalder
Tendayi Viki
Carol Hill
April 23, 2024
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How to speed up innovation
Webinars

How to speed up innovation

April 23, 2024
#
 min read
topics
Corporate Innovation Management
Discovery Sprint
Ecosystem Assessment
Innovation Portfolio

Although leaders now say they value innovation, there are still several roadblocks within companies that slow innovation teams down tremendously. Let's dive into this recap of a recent Strategyzer webinar with Tendayi Viki, Alex Osterwalder, and Carol Hill.

Why are so many companies so slow in exploration?

One reason is team behaviour. Another is the blockers that hold the team back. In this webinar, Tendayi and Alex outline four challenges they see slowing down innovation and what leaders can do to remove them. These insights will allow teams with the right behaviours to innovate.

After all, if given the right opportunity, innovators will innovate.

For every one of our failures, we had spreadsheets that looked awesome.”
Scott Cook
Co-founder & Chairman of INTUIT

1. Stop analyzing. Prioritize testing actions over analysis paralysis.

Tendayi Viki emphasized the importance of prioritizing action in corporate innovation over analysis paralysis. He highlighted the inherent uncertainty in the innovation process and warned against the illusion of progress through excessive analysis.

The journey from idea to business is nonlinear.

From idea to business

Tendayi illustrated the nonlinear nature of transforming ideas into successful businesses, likening it to untangling a messy thread. He stressed the futility of trying to analyze such a complex process, where early signals can often mislead. Instead, he advocates for a process of designing and testing business models, emphasizing the need to swiftly iterate through ideas rather than getting stuck in overthinking and analysis.

The key principle Viki highlighted was to design like you're right, but test like you're wrong.

He urged innovators to focus on getting started rather than obsessing over perfecting the initial step, as rapid iteration is key to discovering viable ideas efficiently. Getting started is more important than getting the first step right. Let's assume we're going to get the first step wrong and simply correct it as we go. It is in the 'testing like you're wrong' that you start refining your design.

If you know you're going to be right, it's not innovation.”
Jeff Bezos
Founder of Amazon

Ideate/pivot/kill

Alex explained the need to break free from the constraints of analysis paralysis by making small initial investments and pre-allocating funds for innovation projects. Invest a small amount of money in the first step.

Drawing on the example of Bosch, Alex highlighted the effectiveness of this approach in driving rapid progress and minimizing risk. An evidence-based budget enables teams to iterate and refine ideas based on real-world feedback. The value of running multiple experiments in parallel to foster innovation and the importance of being willing to abandon unsuccessful ideas. By embracing a culture of action, generating actionable insights, and allocating resources based on evidence, corporate innovators can overcome analysis paralysis and drive meaningful change.

Remember, you can't pick winners. You have to create conditions for winners to emerge.

2. Innovation is not a hobby. Allocate sufficient time and resources.

It is of critical importance to allocate adequate time and resources to innovation initiatives. Across Strategyzer’s decades of experience in innovation, 90% of the time, it's this time allocation that is lacking. It even poses a greater problem than financial resources. Innovation projects actually take longer if teams are not given sufficient resources and time, and the time aspect is the most important one. Remember, it doesn't always have to be 100% upfront. We actually believe 60% is safer, because then it is easier to retire projects. It doesn't have to be 100%, but 20%, is certainly not enough.

We cautioned against the notion of professional innovators working in isolation, advocating instead for a blend of professionals and individuals from the core business. You generally need people from the core business because they have the knowledge. Ultimately, it is all about creating value for customers and for your business, with or without R&D and technology.

Today, you need teams that are dedicated to exploring ideas. Teams that are capable of rapidly iterating, pivoting or killing an idea when needed. Strategyzer Discovery Sprint’s are designed to guide teams through this messy process in a more structured way. It begins with onboarding people and trying to get leaders to protect their time. Then they learn the Strategyzer tools and methods. Next, they begin to shape their ideas. And then, most importantly, they shape, test, and iterate. Finally, they make an evidence-based presentation to the leadership.

The Discovery program at a glance

3. Find a home for innovation orphans. Align and collaborate with key functions within your company.

We asked atendees about the difficulties of collaborating with key functions such as finance, legal, sales, and HR. Common barriers cited included reluctance to embrace new ideas, resistance to change, and concerns about compliance and risk. Clearly, there is a strong need to foster collaboration between innovators and key departments. Innovation is not just about generating ideas, but also about navigating internal processes and garnering support from across the organization.

An analogy was shared from Tendayi’s experience of working with TD Ameritrade's innovation lab, which referred to itself as the "home for homeless ideas." This highlighted the importance of providing a supportive environment for ideas that may not initially find traction within the company.

One of the biggest barriers that we often see when we're trying to run an innovation sprint is that the idea is stuck in some function.

For example, sales won't let us talk to customers. Now you're slow.

The legal department won't approve the experiment. Now you're stuck.

Compliance won't approve working with a particular experimentation tool to create landing pages. Now you're stuck.

It's a very difficult blocker. It's almost like the civil service—they can just push your paper around. And time just ticks by. You're no longer making progress. It is virtually impossible for innovation to succeed without really collaborating with key functions within your organization.

4. Kill your zombie projects. Make it risk-free to experiment, fail and retire projects.

If you don't like the word killing: retire or successfully eliminate. You don't need to use the word kill, but we need to start really taking those ideas that have no evidence and consume a lot of resources and get rid of them. Because there is a huge disadvantage of being an extremely well-funded innovation project. The challenge becomes too big to fail. Tendayi refers to these as CEO pet projects.

Alex asked Tendayi, “What is the disadvantage of CEO having a pet project?”

Tendayi replied, “Well, nobody wants to tell the CEO that their baby is ugly.”

A pet project can also be referred to as a lighthouse project. This is a highly visible project with the added pressure of expectation and too much emotional attachment.

Good companies understand that failure is part of the journey. Jeff Bezos used to always say, “Amazon is the best place in the world to fail.” Amazon's Fire Phone resulted in significant losses but valuable insights. Here, failure was a learning opportunity.

Alex stressed the need for a portfolio approach to innovation, where multiple projects are explored simultaneously, allowing for a balance of small and large failures.

CEOs often don't yet understand this portfolio approach. So how do we get senior leaders to buy into this? You need to embrace evidence-based decision-making, emphasizing the importance of showcasing tangible evidence. By demonstrating the drawbacks of traditional approaches and highlighting the benefits of a risk-free experimentation mindset, innovators can garner support from senior leadership.

You cannot move fast if your people are stuck working on projects that are not making progress. By embracing failure as part of the journey and adopting a portfolio approach to innovation, organizations can create an environment conducive to experimentation and discovery.

Streamline your innovation journey

Feeling overwhelmed by the complexities of innovation processes? You're not alone. Many corporate leaders struggle to find the right approach to drive innovation effectively. But fear not—Strategyzer is here to simplify the process for you.

Take the guesswork out of innovation with our proven methodologies and ready-to-use workflows. With this guidance, you can focus your efforts where they matter most and achieve remarkable results in less time. Don't waste another minute on inefficient processes—let our wealth of experience show you a better way forward.

Ready to take your innovation game to the next level? Schedule a demo today and experience the Strategyzer difference firsthand.

related reads
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Building an innovation pipeline in an ambidextrous organization with Bosch
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Analysis paralysis… innovators move fast
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Why killing ideas is key in innovation
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How to measure ROI for innovation—your complete guide
How to speed up innovation

Although leaders now say they value innovation, there are still several roadblocks within companies that slow innovation teams down tremendously. Let's dive into this recap of a recent Strategyzer webinar with Tendayi Viki, Alex Osterwalder, and Carol Hill.

Thanks for your interest in 
How to speed up innovation
How to speed up innovation
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Whether you’re looking for more information or you’re ready to start a project, we’re ready to help.
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