In the embedding phase, the full ownership of the innovation will be transferred to the Business Owner(s) in the line organization. From that moment on the Continuous Innovation Board does not function as an ambassador anymore. During this phase, the innovation will become fully embedded in the organization in terms of Architecture, Competencies, Processes, and Partnerships. Embedding the innovation in the organization requires the company to deal with change. Facilitating Organizational Change is difficult, it requires a certain approach and leadership and should not be underestimated.
Innovation Level – Organizational Embedding
All too often, in the last stages of growing the innovation to full operational scale, the innovation is adapted to fit the existing standards of the organization. In most cases, this means that much of the innovative capability is lost to standardization to an ‘old’ guideline. It is the role of the Business Owner and CIB Ambassador to emphasize and drive adaptations of existing standards and requirements to facilitate the embedding the innovation and thus create a lasting innovative effect. Such adaptations include changes to technology architecture, knowledge and competencies, processes and guidelines and partnerships.
Portfolio Level – Continuous Improvement
Continuous Innovation is the process of continuously developing, scaling and embedding innovations in the organization. This process is subject to continuous improvement by applying lessons learned from each individual innovation process. This structured learning is facilitated by the joint innovation coaches and has three objectives:
- Improving the process of continuous innovation itself
- Translate key learnings to Business Owners
- Fuel Innovators with best practices
Organizational Level – Organizational Change
Creating a single organizational structure that allows continuous organizational change seems a contradiction in terms. The goal is not to create continuous organizational change but to create an organization that can continuously innovate. There are three key aspects to creating an organization that can continuously innovate:
- Leadership creates an ambidextrous organization
- Adopt Agile ways of working
- Foster lean change capabilities