The fastest thing your innovation team can give you

Couple of years ago I coached a cohort of twelve innovation teams. They were running weekly experiments in a B2B industry that could be generously described as "not in a hurry." Most of the teams, as well as the their portfolio manager, were worried about demonstrating value early.

Around week six, two of the teams observed something interesting. What the customers were telling them did not match what their colleagues from another division had been telling them. Same customers, different story.

They did the sensible thing and met with their colleagues again, eager to learn more. Since each experiment they ran was written up with the data kept apart from the team's reading of it, they could show the other division what customers had actually said and done.

Within minutes, people from the other division understood what the source of the discrepancy had been. Their core product had not been updated in quite some time. Since it was part of the customers' everyday operations, and perceived as "immutable," customers never told them what annoyed them or what they wanted.

The two teams learned that this was not the right opportunity for them. The internal division, now equipped with validated customer insight about a specific performance gap, quickly improved the product without disrupting anything.

Tangible results were visible in less than three months, from insight to intervention.

Why does this matter to you?

Genuine innovation is rife with uncertainty and unknowns.

It rarely pays back in three months. In fact, depending on the industry, it might take from three to seven years before any meaningful revenue.

Innovation managers are usually measured on a set of nebulous metrics. While there might be some leeway for the first two years, by year three, someone will start asking about revenue, margins, and returns.

The Best performing innovation teams run an experiment a week. They surface assumptions, turn them into hypotheses, and test them in the market. They experiment with prices, offers, and more, all with customers. They gather first-hand data about how customers actually behave.

This learning is such an amazing asset!

And unfortunately, most organisations fail to capitalise on it.

The antidote is two-fold.

First, make sure your innovation teams document their learning. There is no need for elaborate software platforms, templates, or arduous procedures.

Each experiment should be captured on a single A4 page. What did the team want to learn, how did they go about it, what data came back, what did they make of that data, and what did they decide. Make sure that data and interpretation are separated.

Second, make the learning visible and accessible. Act like a bee. Take the insight to the people who might benefit from it. Do so humbly. "This is what we learned from our customers, and I thought it might be worth sharing with you. What do you make of it?"

Then follow up on who used it and what were the results, be it savings or revenue. That is your short-term performance while the new revenue is still years away.