How to unshackle innovation from bureaucracy

We often associate innovation with freedom and creativity, but too often it is managed through heavy structures, rigid steps, bureaucratic control, and lack of empowerment. This approach dates back from the 1980s, when the product innovation cycle was much longer and more linear than today. Gabriele Rosani and Alessandro Toia advocate for a new approach that puts people and purpose, rather than processes and rules, at the heart of innovation.

 
Innovation and bureaucracy may appear two concepts that do not go hand in hand: innovation is associated with freedom, creativity, imagination, while bureaucracy is synonym with strict rules, procedural control, and hierarchical authorizations.

However, this is not what we find in most large corporations. Too often innovation is managed through heavy structures, rigid steps, bureaucratic control, and lack of empowerment. To make just one example, let’s consider how a giant chemical company structures the product development funnel: a linear multistep process from idea generation to product launch with six major gates and many sub-gates, each with a steering committee. Such a process, at the heart of the company’s innovation management, is described by a thick manual detailing all the steps, responsibility assignment matrix (RACI), and a long list of mandatory requirements. The issue with this approach is that, although rigorous and disciplined, it sees innovation the same way as any other process: setting standard templates and pursuing compliance by checking boxes and filling forms. This way, it bureaucratises innovation as if it were a manufacturing flow, aiming at reducing errors and favouring incremental improvements rather than radical disruption.

 
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Πηγή: blogs.lse.ac.uk