Innovation has been a lifeline of many organizations for survival and growth, but the CXOs and leadership had a ‘peekaboo’ experience with ad hoc activities and very thin consistency in involvement of its people. As they were trying to structure by connecting the jigsaw pieces of innovation in a multicultural business and stakeholder environment to achieve an exponential impact in the age of triple-bottom-line Profits, People, and Planet.

1. Volume 22 | Issue 3
Aug - Sept 2021
“It’s tough when
markets change
and your people
within the
company don’t.”
-Harvard Business
Review.
Viewpoint
The end of CXOs Innovation Peekaboo
Innovation Management System is Recementing Organization to Scale Innovation and for
repeatability.
By Neelima Joseph & Lokesh Venkataswamy
Innovation has been a lifeline of many organizations for survival and growth, but the CXOs
and leadership had a ‘peekaboo’ experience with ad hoc activities and very thin
consistency in involvement of its people. As they were trying to structure by connecting
the jigsaw pieces of innovation in a multicultural business and stakeholder environment to
achieve an exponential impact in the age of ‘triple-bottom-line’ Profits, People, and Planet.
While few are succeeding through Innovation; several organizations across the industry
are stressed to manage innovation, a recent development is the Innovation management
systems (IMS), which is aimed to professionalize the field of innovation management. So,
what is IMS, and why should we even care about it. The ISO 56000 Innovation
management system- IMS is a standard guide to facilities common language and a
framework towards building innovation capabilities and business performance. The
reference of a standard to innovation management is receiving a lot of mixed responses
and is an oxymoron. Before we jump into different connotations, Let’s understand what
IMS means to the leaders and how it can help organizations with innovation management
through a series of articles aimed to provide an understanding of IMS for CXO’s.
Innovation as not only a key driver for organizations’ success but also a key for
organizations’ survival. With the intensified importance of innovation, the IMS has evolved
to lead innovation activities in a structured and systematic way. The need for such a
systematic approach is highlighted by Cooper and Edgett in their research to help
organizations, cope with crises since a lack of approach in innovation makes the firms
vulnerable to hardships. Despite a long-standing history, knowledge for the success of
innovation is limited and there is a need for guidance for organizations to have a common
language and a more credible framework.
The IMS contains eight innovation management principles to guide the effectual
management of innovation activities and as a tool for assessing the innovation capabilities
of an organization. The eight principles are:
1
1. Realization
of Value
2. Future-
Focused Leaders
3. Strategic
Direction
4. Culture
5. Exploiting
Insights
6. Managing
Uncertainty
7. Adaptability 8. Systems
Approach

2. The world is
changing very
fast. Big will not
beat small
anymore. It will
be the fast
beating the
slow”
-Rupert Murdoch
The overview structure of an innovation management system (ISO 56000, 2020) contains
several dependent factors such as Leadership, Resources, Culture to name a few and thus
a systematic approach is required to manage the activities that are linked together.
The structure of the guiding standard for the innovation management system (ISO 56002,
2019) comprises seven key elements, in our first article. We will see in detail about the
first element “CONTEXT”.
CONTEXT: A clause that begins the IMS is that the organizations should keep track of the
external and internal factors, trends affecting the organization’s ability to achieve the
intended goals of the organization. These include user preferences, technology
developments, and internal capabilities, to identify opportunities and challenges that can
trigger innovation activities.
The sub-clauses in this clause are:
• Understanding the organization and its context
• Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties
• Determining the scope of the innovation management system
• Establishing the innovation management system
In clause 4, ISO 56002 dedicates subclause 4.4 (Establishing the Innovation Management
System) to culture and collaboration. The innovation intent that is the basis for
determining innovation strategy is enabled by supportive culture and through
collaboration (ISO56002:2019, p. 4). In developing an innovation management system, a
greater emphasis is needed on culture, which is a possibility to achieve through the
involvement of top management. The standard provides guidelines to promote a culture
that enables the coexistence of creative and operation-oriented mindsets and behaviours
which is helpful to the leadership.
Organizational culture is what gives personality and identity to an organization in terms of
being open, curious, encouraging suggestions, learning, creativity, embrace change,
challenging the status quo, encouraging a risk-taking attitude, and creating room for
failures and experimenting. Every organization has its own culture, infused in the values,
beliefs. These beliefs and aspirations shared by members of the organization form the
foundation of organizational culture which is unique and persists over time - not everyone
has the capabilities to create.
Furthermore, it is of high importance to establish an approach to manage internal and
external collaboration to share resources, knowledge, assets, and competencies which is
achievable through organizational culture encompassing values, strategy, structure,
behavior, communication, and leadership.
An example we would like to relate is the “Know your customers -Job to be done” by
Clayton Christensen et al,2016. Here the emphasis is on the approach that is applied to
solve a problem rather than keeping up with the usual approach using data for analysis
and devising products and services based on numbers. The approach adopted by
McDonald’s to innovate the milkshake product line to expand the customer base was new
and did not rely on numbers that are dynamic with the ever-changing needs of the
customers and environment.
However, the focus is concentrating on the unmet needs and what the customer is looking
for to get the job done in a product or service and evaluating why a particular product is
bought. When customers were confronted about the other products that can get the job
done, the alternatives quoted were from bagels to a banana. The important point that was
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View Point

3. “The pace and
ability at which
an organization
is able to
effectively
innovate will be
the determining
factor of
competitiveness
in the future. The
future is now.”
- Kaihan
Krippendorff
envisioned is that the milkshake was able to get the job done, what is needed for the
customer by keeping them full for long hours. By considering how big the job is for the
customer and understanding the competitors who are also trying to solve the problem, a
new product line could be launched to tap the unmet markets and needs.
To share an another example that emphasis deep reflection of the problems to be
attended and take a back step to navigate the environments inside and outside the
organizations is the idea of “edible cutlery” by Narayana Peesapaty as a solution that
addressed not just the problem of groundwater deficit but also an alternative to
plasticware. The solution of edible cutlery is by using millets was addressed taking a two
paths conformity (using established channels to affect policy ) and originality. Because
grand problems need grand solutions with a divergent and experimental way of thinking.
The reason for quoting the above two examples is to shed light upon how problems are
addressed by adapting solutions with new work methods and deep analysis and trying to
address the crux of the problem. Addressing the context and creating a culture suitable to
the context by experimentation and approaching problems in new ways helped solve the
challenges.
To solve the ‘innovation Puzzle’ of future leaders, we will bring you a series of articles on
innovation management systems in our Viewpoint and the on clause of context, stay
ahead for more readings further.
Authors
Neelima Joseph
Professional Innovation Management Specialist, Sweden
Lokesh Venkataswamy
Design Thinker, CEO & Managing Director, India
About Innomantra
Innomantra is a leading Digital, Innovation, and Intellectual property management consulting and services
firm. It helps organizations to design and achieve their digital strategy from idea to implementation,
Innovation Management Systems, and Intellectual property goals by enhancing culture for amplified efficiency
and exponential growth.Innovation3x and Discover Design Thinking describe the philosophy which it believes
in, that innovative organizations must identify innovation goals that seek to achieve a 3x and beyond to boost
their performance. Innomantra's signature three-fold approach to innovation that looks at overall business
strategy, people, and functional systems in a digital ecosystem is globally recognized. Innomantra has a wide
range of 50+ clients range from small and medium businesses to Fortune Global 500 organizations. It has a
strategic alliance with global leaders in Digital and Innovation. Innomantra is headquartered in Bengaluru,
India, and has a global presence.
Innomantra Consulting Private Limited
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Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bengaluru - 560 001, India
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+91 080 41253444
contact@innomantra.com
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