Innovation Management Day 1: How to Launch Your Program

Organizations implement innovation programs for three main reasons: to drive more innovation, reduce costs, and increase employee engagement. To launch an effective innovation program, it's important to have a clear goal in mind and align the program with your organization's culture, skill sets, demographics, and geography. You should consider factors such as participation, innovation management skill sets, collaboration culture, and demographics. Once you've taken your cultural baseline into consideration, you can deal with the moving parts you can and need to influence prior to establishing your program. These moving parts include positioning, raising awareness, sponsors and topics that engage, and building belief. Finally, you need to communicate your goals and show your outcomes clearly to your employees to encourage their engagement.