Bottom up innovation; this is how it does work.

In our previous post we wrote about the innovation trends that we will see in 2020, after Corona. We received a prompt response from Ina, who wrote that she wants to innovate, but that her organization is stuck. A missed opportunity, because the right energy to change must be embraced rather than nipped in the bud.

Unfortunately, this happens all too often; well-intentioned bottom-up initiatives that die a quiet death, instead of helping organizations move forward faster. But it is not only the organization that is to blame for this; through a better bottom-up strategy you as an employee can make a difference. Here's how.

Apply focus

The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus. - Alexander Graham Bell

"We must become the Uber of the insurance world." In the eyes of many this will sound very exciting, but for organizations it also sounds very risky, time consuming and expensive. All things companies hate. The disadvantage of major changes is that they deter companies that do not want change. They now have all the arguments for doing nothing, because if things go wrong, things really go wrong.

It is better to start with focus. Do one thing much better: create a new customer service script for happier customers, tackle one key point in the customer journey, test a more convenient online web conferencing system, you name it. Making an impact on a small part is much easier than doing everything. 

Do it together

Not Invented Here (NIH) is, according to Wikipedia, "an attitude that avoids the use or purchase of pre-existing products, research, standards, or knowledge because of their external origin."

One of the biggest reasons for innovation to fail is the “not invented here” syndrome. You’ve spent hours enthusiastically working on your idea, only to find out that your colleagues or managers are not waiting for your solution at all. Isolation is the killer of innovation, and your first validation of your idea is your organization itself.

So starting working together; make a small group of innovators and invite some of your stakeholders who you will need for the implementation of your idea to brainstorm together. You will be amazed at the positive energy that comes when you pick things up together and the support that ideas have when they are brought to live together from the first moment.

Create evidence 

The inherent uncertainty of innovation makes it an opinion business. You always lose that in a bottom-up approach; the HIPPO decides. That is why it is important to get out of the opinion zone and into the evidencee zone as soon as possible. Providing evidence means setting up small experiments, measuring results and learning from them.

Make results as concrete as possible, preferably in line with an organizational objective. If your organization is settled on Net Promoter Score, see what your experiment did with it. And if you cannot provide quantitative results, then at least go for qualitative results, for example through photos, quotes or small films about the experiment.

Start as small as possible

I talked earlier about applying focus and making choices in what you do and don't do.

But even with the right focus, it is still an art to start small. Don't be afraid to go too small: big changes start with small initiatives. The experiment forms the basis of this approach. Coming back to the example of the script for customer service; do that for 1 type of customer during a day and measure the result.

Don't believe in small things with big impact? Take a look at this video by Admiral William McCraven in his address to the University of Austin. “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxBQLFLei70

Instant doing instead of endless thinking

You probably know them, the one-liners about innovation: “Innovation is not technology but culture.” "Digital transformation starts with APIs," "We need to move to a new form of leadership." Lots of theories have been written about innovation and the world hangs together from buzzwords; but I have yet to come across the first organization that has ever received an extra customer from buzzwords. Startups don't talk about innovation, they just do it. If you really want to contribute, switch to do mode as soon as possible: “Doing is the new thinking”.

Report more visually

It is difficult to get attention and because of the far-reaching “Instagramification” of communication, people are increasingly visually minded. If you want to make an impact with your innovation, set yourself up for that. Choose a very visual, infographic-like approach in your reporting, so that your innovation comes to life, stakeholders understand what you have done and are tempted to do more.

Reach out to early adopters

In business literature, there are sufficient theories that make the case to innovate. But it doesn't matter at all. Selling innovation to a non-believer is like selling an electric car to a stiff petrol head: that doesn't work. The only result of this strategy is a lot of frustration and negative energy. Change your focus and start a movement with like-minded people. Look across your department and hook on people who are intrinsically motivated to innovate. Your first follower is enough to start a movement, just take a look at this TED movie: https://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement?language=en

Be persistent

Innovation is never easy. People don't like to change and keeping the status quo is a natural way to save energy. This means that it is not suitable for everyone. It is often thought that innovation starts best with creative people. Nothing is less true. Paul Graham, founder of Y-Combinator, one of the world's most successful accelerator (AirBnB comes from here, for example), made a list of traits he found in his most successful founders. Persistency was number 1, not creativity. So don't be put out of the way at the first “no”. Real entrepreneurs find a new yes in every no.

Need inspiration?

As an intrapreneur it is sometimes pleasant to gain inspiration through the stories of others. Do you want to do that in the evening in the coming weeks, a great mini series has just been launched on Netflix: Madam CJ Walker. If you think your bottom up approach is difficult, find inspiration in this series and how you can make something very beautiful from scratch.