I have encountered many innovation lessons over the last 15 years during my business innovation tenure, as a contributor, as digital innovation management software owner and as initiative leader. These are my top 10 innovation lessons that any organisation thinking of starting an innovation initiative / program should be thinking of embracing in order to be successful.

1. 10
Innovation Lessons For Success

2. 66% of the 800+ executives surveyed worldwide
confirmed that their organisations could not survive
without innovation.
Source: PA Consulting Innovation Matters 2017 report
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The quickest way to engage employees in innovation is
for them to see their own leadership teams active and
engaged themselves. Lead and others will follow!
It is this type of active engagement that sends a ripple
effect through an organisation and encourages
employees to also participate.
And probably not surprising, the quickest way for any
innovation initiative to fail is to see their leadership teams
disengage.
01leaders must show the
way

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This is true for most company initiatives but particularly
true when it comes to innovation. There are generally two
main causes for this:
1. poor (or lack of) communications
2. little or no engagement by leadership teams
The first is fairly easy to resolve with a clear
communication strategy and regular updates.
The second however is much more difficult to prevent as
leaders become distracted by other business priorities.
02don’t let that initial
momentum die

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Innovation is a business critical initiative, though by many
organisations today it is still seen as a second tier
objective.
Innovation needs to be an initiative that every company
embraces as part of the overall business strategy. With
the right leadership, success is only an idea away.
03lead with passion and
influence

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Choosing the right innovation management software to
capture and refine ideas is critical to the success. Any
innovation digital platform ideally should:
• be simple to use
• be easily accessible (including mobile)
• allow discussions around an idea
• integrate into the existing digital landscape
• include Artificial Intelligence
04not all innovation
platforms are the same

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People are inherently creatures of habit who do not
always embrace change easily.
A standalone open innovation platform is much more
difficult to attract employee contribution than one that
already integrates into their existing company’s digital
landscape.
Having the latest business challenges, ideas and
discussions feed into a company’s intranet, allows
innovation to filter through and become part of the daily
business work flow.
05don’t make it standalone

8. See how WIDE IDEAS can
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365 product suite into a powerful
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Business innovation today will struggle to be successful
without the inclusion of Artificial Intelligence!
Over the years there has inherently been two major flaws
with innovation platforms once employees begin
submitting their ideas.
1. How to identify Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) to
collaborate on ideas to turn them into potential
innovations
2. How to identify the right ideas to progress with
06artificial intelligence is your friend
The Solution:
Artificial Intelligence can help in both these situations by
analysing all the Big Data captured, including all user
interactions with each idea, and applying a machine
learning algorithm.
AI accelerates the decision-making process.

10. idea management software
did you know?
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decision-making: AI vs human
In a recent scenario, the Wide Ideas unique Artificial
Intelligence predicted 8 out of the 10 ideas in
under 5 seconds that a management team took over
2 months to identify and agree on!
Can your idea management software accelerate the
decision-making process?

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Whilst money is the natural go-to incentive to engage
employees in ideation, after a recent survey it may
surprise you to know that the top response was actually
“recognition by ones peers and leaders”.
Therefore, including a way to recognise and reward
successful contributors to innovation and making it a part
of the communication strategy, is often a great way to
organically influence other employees to get involved.
07acknowledge the idea-
makers and contributors

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Many employees interact with customers regularly and
therefore they are a critical knowledge asset to solving a
company’s business challenges.
And for employees to continually participate in innovation
they need to be kept motivated.
So avoid ideas falling into a black-hole, and demotivating
employees, by creating a feedback process on ideas.
This can be done by appointing Ambassadors which
leads me to…
08avoid the dreaded idea
black-hole

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“Build it and they will come!”
This is something I have heard many times when it
comes to digital platforms. Unsurprisingly, it is very rarely
true. And even less true when it comes to digital
innovation management tools in large enterprises.
Creating an Innovation Ambassador role, where the
primary responsibility is to drive awareness, encourage
engagement and showcase wins, will ensure success.
This role should be an add-on to an existing role and
shouldn’t be more than 5-10% of someone’s time.
09bring on the
Ambassadors

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Ideas flow best when the environment created to do so is
enjoyable.
For example, some companies like to host Innovation
Days where employees come together and collaborate in
a relaxed and fun way.
So don’t be afraid to get creative when encouraging
employees to engage in innovation.
10make it fun!

15. author
Hi there! I hope you enjoyed my
presentation. If you are hungry for more,
you can find similar articles over at
Innovation Insights.
David Christopher,
Head of Digital Marketing, Wide Ideas

16. about
Wide Ideas
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features
✓ Office 365 integration
✓ Artificial Intelligence
✓ Decision Analysis Tool (DAT)
✓ Smart and clean design
✓ Accessible across all devices
software
Wide Ideas innovation software
empowers employees to share
ideas to business challenges on a
global scale, helping to foster a
culture of innovation.
more info
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