How can you create a digital innovation lab that encourages experimentation?

In creating an innovation lab, it can be useful to pursue a vertical focus area. Rather than trying to innovate across all areas, focus the lab on breakthroughs in one high-potential vertical like healthtech or greentech. In addition, pursue both incremental and disruptive innovation through a balanced project portfolio to capture short-term returns while experimenting for the long-term. #innovationlab #disruptivetechnologies #digitaltransformation

The most common outcome is failure. It's the natural state of organizations to kill, stagnate, or remove anything that tries to change it. Utilizing an instinctual desire to protect its mission and purpose for existing. It doesn't have to be noble, but it does drive all efforts and outcomes. If your innovation is counter to this purpose, then your efforts will ultimately fail. It has to align with the organizational incentives.

To build an innovation lab for digital ideas, focus on a dynamic culture. Support taking risks and see failure as a chance to learn. Allocate specific resources for this. Encourage collaboration across different fields, hire diverse talent, and use an agile framework for fast changes. Keep communication open, celebrate small successes, and make sure leaders are involved and supportive in experiments.

Having a well-defined purpose and scope is rather important, as a lab would involve many experimentations working on fresh ideas and that would also mean dealing with failures. If the vision is unclear, then motivation will die down quickly. If not, then every failure will be progress.

I helped quickstart a couple of innovation labs within companies and should agree with Seth White's opinion. The vast majority of them don't succede for the simple reason that innovation should be in the DNA of the mother company and not inside a lab. Usually when a company starts a lab is geared much more towards getting external awareness and PR tha actually really trying to change anything. Groundbreaking innovation hurts the corporate culture and it is somewhat chaotic. Most companies don't like that. So, the labs are mostly short lived.

Recently finished reading The Five Dysfunction of a team and it shows how you can prevent a team from achieving its full potential. Some of which are an absence of trust, lack of commitment, avoiding accountability, no attention to results and fear of conflict.

If you haven't already read about how Navy Seals build their elite teams. Your success is entirely dependent on the team. Prioritise thought diversity, mindset and fit when building your team. Empower the team to fail forward and celebrate failures to create the right mindset. Ensure you provide political cover sufficiently for the innovation team and ensure senior leadership is aligned. Governance needs to be implemented with the right balance to allow flexibility and innovation culture.

When working with innovation, having unique perspectives can add a lot of value. And that comes with a diverse team. Innovation cannot happen if you stick to a certain preference, you will end up getting similar ideas. With a collaborative culture in a diverse team, thinking out of the box will come naturally.

I strategically employed an internally executed Alternate Reality Game (ARG) at Ogilvy & Mather to meticulously identify individuals best suited for the impending innovation lab. In navigating through a pool exceeding 100 employees, the game seamlessly blurred the lines between real-life and the digital realm. This unconventional approach allowed me to discern the most engaged, curious, and open-minded colleagues who actively participated in the game, showcasing not only their professional skills but also their adaptability and creative thinking.

Crafting an energetic digital innovation lab starts with an empowered, diverse team. Think of it as your superhero squad—each member brings unique skills and perspectives to fuel creativity and empathy. Here's the twist: we celebrate experiments! No fear of failure here; it's all about learning and growing. Set clear roles, rules, and support structures, providing all the tools needed for hero-level innovation. This creates a space where cool ideas thrive, fostering a culture of resilience and constant evolution.

Foster an experimental mindset through psychological safety, autonomy, and permission to fail. Rapid prototyping beats protracted planning, so I found it useful to ship imperfect but functional MVPs early and often. Then, iteratively improve based on user feedback rather than internal assumptions.

When implementing agile, it's essential to ensure everyone is trained to the same standard and the team has plenty of agile coaching to ensure alignment and shared understanding.

Adopting a Lean and Agile Approach in Your Digital Innovation Lab: 1) Embrace Rapid Prototyping and Testing: Focus on quickly developing prototypes and testing them with real users to gather feedback and iterate effectively. 2) Utilize Collaborative and Efficient Tools: Implement methodologies like design thinking, user research, lean canvas, and MVP creation, coupled with agile sprints to enhance collaboration and efficiency. 3) Aim for Continuous Improvement: By adopting lean and agile methodologies, strive to minimize waste, accelerate development cycles, and enhance the overall quality of your innovations.

Picture your digital innovation lab as a bustling bazaar of ideas, not a museum of plans gathering dust. In this dynamic arena, perfection is the ghost of progress. Be agile, be lean – think of it as a tango with innovation, not a waltz with bureaucracy. The insight here is that in the ever-evolving digital landscape, the tortoise gets left behind; it's the hare with nimble moves that wins the race.

If you're running a digital innovation lab and treating it like a secret society, you're missing the boat, big time. Interaction isn't a nice-to-have; it's the lifeblood of innovation. Get your stakeholders in the mix – and I mean really in there, co-creating, brainstorming, tearing ideas apart. This isn't a polite tea party; it's a think tank on steroids. And your ecosystem? It's an untapped goldmine. Dive in, leverage those networks, and seize opportunities like you're on a treasure hunt. But be warned --- you aren't going to like everything that others offer, and that's the point! Everything is better when you've gotten more data and insights from your stakeholders and ecosystem.

I found connecting the digital innovation capability to external vendors, universities and research partners directly is essential. It allows the innovation team to connect with the latest ideas and thinking.

Engaging with Stakeholders and Ecosystem for a Digital Innovation Lab: 1) Involve Stakeholders in the Innovation Process: Actively involve customers, partners, and other stakeholders in co-creating solutions and soliciting feedback, fostering a sense of ownership and collaboration. 2) Build and Maintain Trust: Regular engagement with stakeholders helps in building trust, which is crucial for gaining valuable insights and support for your innovation endeavors. 3) Leverage Ecosystem Resources: Utilize the broader ecosystem, including networks and opportunities, to enhance the lab’s innovation capabilities and access a wider range of resources and expertise.

Your lab isn't an island; it's a thriving city in the digital archipelago. Stakeholders aren’t spectators; they're co-authors of your success story. Think of engagement as a dialogue, not a monologue. It's not just about sharing; it's about co-creating a narrative that echoes across your ecosystem. The pearl of wisdom here is that in the digital realm, relationships aren’t just connections; they're the currency of innovation.

Continuous Learning and Iteration in a Digital Innovation Lab: 1) Establish a Robust Feedback Loop: Implement systems to collect and analyze data from experiments, users, and stakeholders. This feedback is essential for informed decision-making and continuous improvement. 2) Utilize Impact Measurement Tools: Employ tools and frameworks like KPIs, ROI calculations, and specific innovation metrics to assess and communicate the impact of the lab's initiatives. 3) Embrace Ongoing Evaluation and Adaptation: Regularly review the lab's performance against its goals, and be ready to iterate and adapt strategies to optimize outcomes and maintain relevance in a dynamic environment.

Totally agree with this one. Innovation. Is all about finding the ideas that work through failing. This quote from Winston Churchill stuck with me: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”.

Set up a feedback loop that’s like your lab’s heartbeat, pumping insights from experiments, users, and stakeholders through its veins. Utilise the best tools and frameworks to measure your progress, be it through key performance indicators (KPIs), return on investment (ROI), or innovation metrics. With each step, refine your approach, ensuring your lab stays fresh, relevant, and always ready to adapt.

Your innovation lab is a perpetual voyage, not a one-time expedition. Imagine it as a ship that sails not just on water but also on a sea of data. To navigate, you need a compass of constant learning and sails of relentless iteration. The intriguing truth is that in the digital cosmos, stagnation is the black hole, and momentum is the shooting star that keeps your innovation galaxy alive.

Craft innovation org as a unique/independent/separate entity Treat the innovation lab separately from other departments (especially in finance/accounting books) At a company level - the innovation division needs to be treated separately in order to shield it from other orgs competing for resources and/or scored on short term wins. Examples - Follow the model on the lines of Facebook(Building 8), Walmart (Store No 8) etc

In the vast expanse of innovation, don’t forget the secret ingredient – the human touch. Behind every byte, there's a heartbeat; beyond every line of code, there's a story. So, amidst the algorithms and data, remember that innovation isn’t just about the 'what' and 'how,' but the 'who' as well. The uncharted territories of innovation often conceal treasures in human connection and serendipity. So, when the digital labyrinth gets perplexing, let the human spirit be your guide. After all, in the realm of innovation, it's not just about navigating the currents; it's about creating the waves.

Establishing a Culture of Experimentation in a Digital Innovation Lab: 1️⃣Define clear goals, metrics, and a safe space for risk-taking. 2️⃣Assemble a diverse team with the necessary resources and tools. 3️⃣Foster collaboration, open communication, and knowledge sharing. 4️⃣Adopt agile methodologies and iterative processes for rapid prototyping and testing. 5️⃣Measure impact, demonstrate value, and continuously refine strategies.

You can't change and innovate in an organization if your goals misalign with the organization's purpose. An org no matter how big or small (U.S. gov't or family) is centered around a common purpose. If your desire to change and innovate is counter to the purpose of the org, no matter how smart you are it will fail.