Innovation Barriers

1. BARRIERS TO INNOVATION

2. BACKGROUND
• Associate Professor, Entrepreneurial Engineering,
Lassonde School of Engineering
• Chief Innovation Officer, Canadian
Innovation Centre
• Professional Engineer (Imperial College,
London and MBA, London Business School)
• 15 years with technology multinationals
• Cofounded four technology businesses
• Innovation subject matter expert with IRI
• Founder Innovation Cartography
• Active in Innovation Management Community
Dr. Andrew
Maxwell
3

3. • We don’t fully understand what innovation is
• We design our organizations to stifle innovation
• It means stopping what we are good at
It’s easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two years
ago, but will soon be out of date. Roger von Oech
WHAT STOPS US FROM
INNOVATING?

4. CHALLENGES IN
INNOVATING
Most companies stop innovating because innovation involves doing something different:
• Changing current processes and procedures
• Modifying management style and communications
• Developing new organizational structures
• Abandoning existing products and finding new ones
• Modifying incentives, compensation and recruitment
• Change company culture and attitude to risk
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the
world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man – George Bernard Shaw

5. MAXWELL’S THREE LAWS OF
INNOVATION INERTIA
II.
1. There is a natural tendency for organizations to keep doing what they’re doing and resist
changes. In the absence of a force, they will continue to do what they’ve always done.
2. Larger organizations require more force to change what they are doing than smaller
organizations.
3. For every force there is a reaction force that is equal in size, but opposite in direction.
When someone exerts a force on an organization, he or she gets pushed back in the
opposite direction equally hard.
If you’re not failing every. now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative -
Woody Allen

6. INNOVATION QUOTIENT
FIVE FACTORS
II.
Strategy
Culture
Processes
Resources
Relationships
Culture: Do company leaders demonstrate
a personal commitment to innovation?
Strategy: Does company have a clear
innovation strategy with specific
innovation goals?
Resources: Does the company commit the
required levels for innovation initiatives?
Processes: Are there programs to stimulate
the identification, selection and resourcing
of ideas?
Relationships: Are there processes in place
to stimulate internal/external knowledge
exchanges ?

7. DESIGN FOR PERFORMANCE
•Efficiency
•Repeatability
•Predictability
DESIGN FOR INNOVATION
•Speed
•Impact
•Uncertainty
DESIGN FOR INNOVATION
It’s easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you
two years ago, but will soon be out of date. Roger Von Oech

8. PERFORMANCE (EXPLOITATION) ENGINE
• Follow rules, drive out variance/slack
• Focus on existing customer needs
• Manage/refine existing competencies
• Optimize organization for existing rules
• Make money now
If you look at history, innovation doesn't come just from giving people incentives; it comes from creating
environments where their ideas can connect. Steven Johnson
INNOVATION (EXPLORATION) ENGINE
•Break rules, promote variance /slack
•Serve new customers with new needs
•Develop and lead new competencies
•Develop new organization + new rules
•Make money later
ORGANIZATIONAL
AMBIDEXTERITY

9. Andrew.Maxwell@Lassonde.yorku.ca
INNOVATION ACTION