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Build a framework for fostering ideas and learning from failure.
Ideas to improve products and processes can and should come from all levels of an organization, but support from the executive team and board is essential for fostering a culture where the fruits of innovation can blossom, suggests the authors of a “field manual” on innovation.
There has to be buy-in from management—a commitment to fund ideas that show promise and to send the message that “it’s OK if some ideas don’t pan out as long as we learn from them,” says David J. Neff, who coauthored the book IGNITE: Setting Your Organization’s Culture on Fire with Innovation with Randal Moss.
A good starting point for creating an innovation culture is “hiring people and bosses who are naturally entrepreneurial, willing to dive in and test and solve problems,” Neff says. “They understand that solutions might not work on the first attempt. We failed, and that’s OK. We can apply what we learned.”
Entrepreneurial thinkers need a process in which to develop ideas, and that’s the role of a formal innovation program—to gather and assess ideas, implement those with the most promise, and celebrate successes in ways that encourage others to get involved by sharing new suggestions.
Innovation is not the end result—“another cup holder for a minivan,” as Neff puts it—but a repeatable process that leads to new directions that may be either incremental or disruptive in their impact on the organization, its customers, and the marketplace.
Successful innovation programs rely on having the right people, processes, technology, and culture in place. The second element is often what holds nonprofit organizations back, he suggests. Neff and Moss both previously worked with the American Cancer Society, and their first book, The Future of Nonprofits: Innovate and Thrive in the Digital Age, offered solutions to the challenges facing not-for-profit organizations like credit unions.
“Because of concerns over how they spend their money, nonprofits tend to be more risk-averse,” Neff says. “They have more concerns around the return on their investment in innovation. Big companies can look at it as a learning opportunity, but nonprofits worry about the costs of failure.”
Karen Bankston is a long-time contributor to Credit Union Management and writes about credit unions, membership growth, marketing, operations and technology. She is the proprietor of Precision Prose, Portland, Ore.
