22-Innovation leader academies
How do innovation leaders secure broad support of a comprehensive, if not transformational, change agenda?
INNOVATION LEADERSHIP ACADEMIES
Effective project managers know that breaking down large, complex, messy projects into crisp, well-defined smaller pieces makes projects immensely easier to grasp, manage, and complete.
Innovation leaders build upon the proven best practices of project management, harnessing the social networks and cultural norms of their organizations.
The figure to the below depicts an emerging best practice (or what we call a next practice) for driving innovation and solution deployment: innovation leadership academies. Over the course of two days, an enterprise convenes operational executives and managers in a planning workshop.
Small groups (tables of eight) scope 8 to 15 projects. The academy facilitator puts each project to a vote within the larger group or academy: “Do it now? Next? Later? May be someday?” And, then, the facilitator tacks the project to a four- to seven-lane roadmap. It just 30 minutes in the large group, we produce a two-year transformational roadmap—all self-declared and, therefore, an accountability of a primary owners. In two days!
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Following opening remarks by leadership and a presentation of the visionary futureproof of customer engagement—both essential for activating a shared context and purpose—the planning workshop breaks into roundtables with eight participants, including a facilitator and an independent subject matter expert who is not part of the firm.
Each table of eight takes approximately 45 to 90 minutes to scope five to eleven small projects related to one enabling capability.
Scoping one enabling capability starts with making a long and valuable list of forces that may hinder and facilitate successful and rapid deployment—grist for the mill of change management or risk mitigation.
Scoping one project at this stage entails little more than a name (written on a large sticky note), a one-sentence description, and random notes on a session worksheet.
DO IT NOW, NEXT, LATER, OR MAYBE NOT
The figure above also depicts the sequencing of projects: do it now, next, later, and someday/maybe.
Innovation leadership academies comprise as few as two to as many as nine tables of eight, each producing a set of projects.
Upon completion of the scoping sessions, the group designates a presentation leader who will in turn present the group’s findings to the plenary session of all stakeholders.
Stakeholders from other groups may ask questions, challenge assumptions, or suggest a new bridging project.
The academy leader then takes each large sticky note with the name of the project, asking all stakeholders to play a game: place the sticky note in the right operational track and sequencing state.
PLAYING THE ACCOUNTABILITY GAME
The playful, collaborative positioning of small-scope projects on a master project roadmap accomplishes three results:
- Collaborative definition induces co-ownership of the entire futureproof.
- Project scoping with force field analysis by affected stakeholders defines initial accountabilities—who represents the best owner of the project.
- Master project roadmap provides the framework for who’s accountable for driving innovation deployment across the enterprise.
In the spirit of true leadership, innovation leadership academies deliver comparable value of a four-month management consulting project—in just two days and at a fraction of the cost.
Need help organizing an Academy for your customers. Call us!
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