Page 187 - 100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

80 INNOVATION CULTURE

Encouraging people in your organization to see things differently
attracts the best employees and increases the distinctiveness and
value of your business.

The idea

A British innovation company, ?What If!, shows clients how to make
their organizations more innovative. Their processes challenge
people to see things differently by stepping out of their comfort
zones and risking ideas that may seem to make little sense. Two
key, but separate, processes are needed for innovation:

• Idea building, where people propose ideas and then develop and

nurture them.

• Idea analysis, where these ideas are assessed.

Companies that struggle to be innovative often do so because
ideas get stifled in their infancy by an excessive rush to judgment
and analysis.
Having the right kind of processes for idea generation and
innovation is important, but processes are not enough. Innovative
organizations also have a general environment and culture that
values and fosters innovation.

In practice

Research by the Talent Foundation identified five catalysts for
successful innovation:

180 • 100 GREAT BUSINESS IDEAS