The Innovation Opportunity Gap™ – What Is It and How Big Is Yours?
by Wende Jones, CMC
February 2010
Are there opportunities within your organization for you to reduce costs, improve operations or to realize ROI in a shorter period of time? Because of the rapid evolution of technology and the light speed of information, it's highly likely. The good news is that you're not alone if you answered yes. The better news is that there's a way to identify and close the gap between innovation and opportunity.
Innovation is defined as something new or different. What can you introduce into your organization to significantly improve your condition? Alternate work schedules? Different skill sets to round out your staff and deepen your abilities in your weaker areas? Or maybe you need innovative, web-based tools to streamline processes and increase efficiency? What if all it took to increase productivity was to move the shred bin closer to the mail sorting area?
Opportunity is defined as a situation or condition favorable for the attainment of a goal. So what we are really saying is that opportunity is where timing and preparedness meet! If we are talking about your innovation opportunities we are considering those new things that can be introduced when you are prepared and the timing is right – the sweet spot.
Your Innovation Opportunity Gap™ (IOg™) represents that space in your organization where opportunities for innovation exist. When your IOg™ is open, improvements can be achieved to reduce costs, improve operations and realize ROI within a short period of time. Innovation can happen in many ways within an organization but if it is not actively pursued it is often overlooked. We used to talk about continuous quality improvement but now we need to be talking about continuous innovation. Your IOg™ provides a way to assess your innovation based on your “gap score,” and be proactive at narrowing the gap by capitalizing on your opportunities for innovation. When you know your gap score, you can easily identify the “sweet spot” where innovation can bring marked improvement with a significant ROI.
The idea of the IOg™ is to identify the gap and what is causing it. IOg™ allows you to look at new ideas and be prepared so as the timing is right you can capitalize on that opportunity by applying innovation and narrowing the gap.
So, how do you narrow your gap? It starts with keeping innovation at the forefront of your thinking so you are tuned in to the potential opportunities for improvement. This starts with practice as most things do! Start small but start now. Today as you move through your day look for an opportunity to make one change that will improve your organization's condition. It doesn’t have to be big and cause more disruption than good. Just look for something. Innovation comes as you begin to train your eye and conditioning yourself to be aware of it. Practice this and in our next briefing we will discuss how to measure your gap.
