Innovation

Nurturing Innovation

A great idea isn’t enough. Leaders must create an environment that allows teams to collaborate successfully over time.

by

and

Rachel Kenny

by

and

Rachel Kenny

From the Magazine (March–April 2024) · Long read

Felicity McCabe

Summary.

Despite a multitude of initiatives in cross-sector collaboration and open innovation, businesses still struggle to support the development of game-changing ideas. The authors argue that the solution to this problem starts by recognizing an important truth: Innovation is about more than an idea—it is a long, collaborative journey. Innovation is more likely to succeed when it is a curated process in which an intermediary takes responsibility for sparking and sustaining collaboration among the people involved.

In this article, the authors demonstrate how intermediaries can support collaboration throughout the entire innovation journey. First, they provide opportunities for innovators to make connections. They don’t simply bring people together; they carefully select participants and curate the experience to generate the best results. Second, they help innovators develop relationships, using structured follow-ups and offering holistic mentoring. And third, they help entrepreneurs sustain their relationships and manage the team over time as the collaborations evolve and team members change.

Idea in Brief

The Problem

Despite a multitude of initiatives in cross-sector collaboration and open innovation aimed at generating innovative opportunities, businesses still struggle to bring to market game-changing ideas.

The Reason

Firms and innovators focus too much on facilitating the collision of ideas and talents without planning for the long term. But innovation is about more than generating ideas—it is a long, collaborative journey.

The Solution

Innovation is more likely to succeed when it is a curated process in which an intermediary takes responsibility for enabling and sustaining collaboration and connection among the parties involved.

Despite an avalanche of initiatives in cross-sector collaboration and open innovation, businesses still struggle to develop game-changing ideas and bring them to market. Many people argue that the problem is that we still don’t have enough new ideas, and we need to work harder at getting diverse people into the conversation. New, imaginative ideas wouldn’t hurt, of course, but that prescription misses an important truth: Successful innovation involves more than just letting a thousand ideas bloom.

A version of this article appeared in the March–April 2024 issue of Harvard Business Review.

Anne-Laure Fayard is the ERA Chair Professor in Social Innovation at Nova School of Business and Economics and visiting research faculty at New York University Tandon School of Engineering.
JM

Jess Majekodunmi is a managing director at The Dock, Accenture’s flagship global R&D and innovation center.
MM

Martina Mendola is a researcher at The Dock.
RK

Rachel Kenny is a researcher at The Dock.

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Nurturing Innovation

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