Staffing for growth and innovation

Innovation work requires a separate team that supports growth and new products. Most organizations fail to think about staffing for innovation and instead focus on how many employees they need to operate day to day. This leads to under-investing in innovation teams and product development. Temporary innovation teams often fail because employees prioritise their day jobs instead. A solution to this is to adopt the Three Horizons model, which suggests having three teams: the current, the new, and the next. The current team keeps existing products running efficiently, while the new team focuses on product extensions and emerging products. Finally, the next team works on emerging trends and technologies. Companies should invest 70% of resources in horizon one, 20% in horizon two, and 10% in horizon three.