Staffing for Innovation in the Chemicals Industry

Staffing for Innovation in the Chemicals Industry Tom Regino President, Crossroads Search Group, LLC A part of CDMA 2008 Spring Meeting: Innovation Led Growth

First, let’s set the stage… ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Hopefully, these findings will be interesting and useful, if only to confirm what you already know.

Dedicated innovation and NPD functional groups are absent or phasing out at many companies… ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

A growing combination of factors is driving innovation-related decisions… ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Fire fighting grabs more attention than innovation, even in the best of times.

Innovation functions are often tracked against productivity metrics similar to line businesses, leading to… ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Real-time metrics for innovation are largely unrealistic.

In the competition for limited resources: ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Heroism is difficult to sustain.

The best NPD projects are, by definition, handed off to downstream groups with different skills and resources… ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Most NPD work is collectively done by multidisciplinary teams… ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

These and other logistic and political factors have driven the following changes for individuals: ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],In this industry, NPD/innovation is more a significant skill set than a profession per se.

Things have certainly also changed for company practices: ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Importantly, decentralized NPD is focused mainly on near-term, incremental developments.

Hiring in this way is seen to kill multiple birds with one stone… ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

One last observation on staffing needs: ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],The best conductors will likely be seasoned professionals in “off-the-ladder” capacities, focused on quality and geared to leaving a lasting legacy at the company.

Other comments worthy of note: ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

To further the discussion: ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Staffing for Innovation in the Chemicals Industry

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