What do you imagine when you hear the words Innovation department? I bet it's something similar to a bunch of people sitting in a big conference room, around a table discussing different ideas. If so, then let me tell you what an innovation department really does.
The simple answer is they work towards achieving the goals of the company in innovative ways. They do the research for the vision they have; they offer innovative training, collect ideas, connect them, and communicate to share their findings with the rest of the departments.
In this blog post, we will be learning about a few main functions that an innovation department must fulfill. If your company has an innovation department or if you are thinking about creating one this post is for you.
Introduction of the Innovation Department in Organizations.
The business world is never at a loss for creating new departments and job titles. This is why, between 2006 and 2015 the job title “Chief Innovation Officer” increased in prevalence by 500%, according to a ZipRecruiter analysis.
These CIOs often come into an organization to lead innovation departments, in charge of making an organization “more innovative.”
Main Functions of an Innovation Department.
Research and Vision.
Competitors, customers, employees, and the market are providing multiple cues about where an organization needs to grow and improve. Innovation departments should be scanning the horizon for this information and using it to guide overall innovation strategy that aligns with a company’s overarching business strategy.
Innovation Training.
When an organization invests in its employees, not only do employees feel more valued. But also, they feel as if they too are growing with the company. It creates a shared language and expectation that innovation is everyone’s responsibility. So, teach your staff how to brainstorm, how to support other people’s ideas, how to recognize good ideas, and more.
Collect Ideas.
Ideas can come from everywhere, but everyone needs to know where to take a suggestion when it comes up. Or else great ideas may never result in the corresponding implementation.
Connect Ideas.
Of course, once you have the ideas, the real work begins. You need to connect ideas to other ideas so that they grow into larger concepts and improve. As those concepts become new projects, you need to select the best ones for further refinement, research, and testing.
Then, of course, the best ideas should be connected to the resources and leadership that help launch ideas into new products, markets, processes, and more.
All innovation departments serve some sort of matchmaking purpose in this way.
Communicate.
The innovation department is responsible for the communication and coordination of all the above-listed things. They need to be socializing research so that everyone can keep these new trends and information in mind as they do their job.
They need to share best practices when they’re working so that everyone can adopt them. They need to share “failures” too so that others can learn from them and celebrate the work that went into that discovery.
They need to recognize the contributions from all the stakeholders that made these things possible so that others see that leadership is listening and input from everywhere is valued. If these things are properly communicated, then everyone starts to see a culture of innovation developing in their organization.
Conclusion.
Innovation is the future of business, having a strong and well-functioning innovation department is the key to that.
If you think this post was helpful, then check out the upcoming CX trends. So, that your innovation department can innovate around them to elevate your business.
Also, if you need any help regarding your business’ customer experience connect with us anytime at anjali@c-xcel.com or call us at +91 9599496661.
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