Ownership in the Innovation Process

by Robert F. Brands with Jeff Zbar


"Excuse me, is this yours?"

If someone asked members of your Innovation Team about "ownership" of a current initiative, would individuals reply, "Yes"?

Or would the people involved point to the team leader, the CEO or someone else - someone other than themselves? Would they reply, "No, that's his"?

I spoke recently with a CEO of a consumer products company who expressed disappointment that an idea for an exciting new wrinkle in sunglasses technology had faltered. In doing so, others had beaten the company to market.

Why did this happen? The "Leader" admitted he'd failed to sell the idea. "Others just didn't get it," he said. "Their hearts weren't in it. They were moving forward out of duty, not out of passion. And we dropped the ball."

In the world of Innovation, it's the Chief Innovation Officer's job to marshal forces, to empower, to inspire, and to transform team members into stakeholders of the process or project. In short, it's to create and encourage a spirit of Ownership.

As one of the 10 key Innovation Imperatives "Ownership" ranks up there in importance with Ideation, Risk, Results, Idea Management and all the others.


Ownership = Accountability = Foundation of Innovation


Put as a business equation, Ownership Equals Accountability Equals the Foundation of Innovation. Without accountability, ideas stall. Progress dies on the vine of best intentions. Any real chance at success is lost.

Without ownership, positive results are almost impossible to achieve. A team member cannot point to the Chief Innovation Officer or team leader as a project's or initiative's owner. Every participant along the innovation process's chain must embrace accountability as a champion of the idea, the development process, the success - and the failure - that may come in tow.

To be sure, Champions at the highest level - like a CIO - have the authority and (and should have the passion) to garner organizational respect needed to push Innovation from the idea stage to development and ultimately to fruition. Champions build consensus, convince others to take calculated risks and to work outside their comfort zone.

But Ownership must extend beyond one single Champion. To be sure, a champion at the highest level ultimately drives projects forward. But "ownership" must be claimed by all involved, encouraged by the senior project manager, but wholeheartedly embraced across the organization.

How will you know a project has been welcomed into the hearts of its team? Ask one question:


"Excuse me, is this yours?"


The response will give you your answer.


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Robert F. Brands is President and founder of Brands & Company, LLC. Innovation Coach Robert Brands has launched a new site - www.RobertsRulesOfInnovation.com - to complement his upcoming book.

Innovation Perspectives - A Place to Reside

This is the seventh of several 'Innovation Perspectives' articles we will publish this week from multiple authors to get different perspectives on "Where should innovation reside?" Here is the next perspective in the series:

by Paul Hobcraft

Residing in something we own is desired by nearly all people. Creating the same desire is what is needed with innovation. It needs to 'reside' in us all and we need to feel we 'own' or identify with part of the innovation process. It is not just what we do...it is the way we set about and do it, so innovation becomes part of our natural everyday thinking. Getting to this ideal state, for a person, a team or for any organization is hard work and needs many things to come together.


So where should innovation reside?

Innovation can only be encouraged, managed, tracked and measured if it is a core element in organizations growth aspirations. So it needs to be fully integrated into the strategic-management agenda and the executives top down need so as to create the conditions that allow a more dynamic innovating environment to emerge by setting out and providing the context. The very same people must be explicit in their steps to foster an innovation culture where trust, ideas are valued, these can be freely expressed and can help oversee risk collectively.


So who should own or manage innovation?

Clearly it starts at the top in making a serious, deep personal commitment to innovation in time and understanding, vision and passion and ensuring it has the right context in place in direction, systems, processes, support, structures and incentives and most importantly adequate investment to move it from a desire to a sustaining part of everyone's lives within the organization. The management of innovation is complex and difficult. There are multiple roles and levels of influence that need to be brought to bear on making this happen, the larger the organization, the greater the multiplicity. To start, employees' primary role is to generate and influence, the team or group leader level is to nurture, support, listen and provide and the organizational leadership is to communicate, decide, relate and sustain the culture of trust that is needed. This 'state' to allow innovation to flow needs champions at all levels to stimulate and encourage this climate that 'promotes and allows' us all to engage within the identification and ownership of innovation.

We all want to 'reside' or identify and have an ownership stake - it empowers and liberates us to be more creative, innovative and satisfied. We all want to feel that ownership that we are contributing to something that gives greater value than previously, that is innovation.


You can check out all of the 'Innovation Perspectives' articles from the different contributing authors on "Where should innovation reside?" by clicking the link in this sentence.

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Paul Hobcraft runs Agility Innovation, an advisory business that stimulates sound innovation practice, researches topics that relate to innovation for the future, as well as aligning innovation to organizations core capabilities.