Top 5 Innovation Killers - #3

#3 - A desire for a magic pill, not a daily exercise regime. This requires innovation as a way of life rather than as an isolated change programme. 3M is the avatar of this approach, allowing its developers to spend a proportion of their time on their own development projects as a way of encouraging a stream of bottom-up ideas.

General Mills Analysis -- currently, the word 'innovation' is most often used in reference to new product development. As a result, the idea of innovation is considered to be a separate activity from the core business and functional responsibilities. We currently have a culture of executional excellence, as opposed to a culture of innovation. In other words, while there are pockets of real innovation (primarily driven by our technology organization), innovation is not part of General Mills' organizational DNA (i.e. innovation isn't considered to be part of everybody's responsibilities). Furthermore, we often lack patience when it comes to innovation. When teams do not deliver big results right away, there is a tendency to disband teams, or at the very least, adjust the scope of the team. We need to start inching towards the 3M example above, in which innovation is a way of life.

This is not an insurmountable challenge. As current initiatives continue to gain traction and continue to deliver tangible benefits, Senior Leadership will begin championing (and perhaps mandating?) more innovation across the company. Once that senior leadership support is in place, we will execute against it in a big way. After all, we have a culture of executional excellence......when we align around a goal or objective, we make it happen!