The importance of defining a central purpose (or DNA as we call it in this book) is to have an idea, as clear as possible, of what motivates us in life (personal and corporate). Knowing who we are and where we want to go is the first step, as we saw in the previous chapter. However, when we talk about agile corporate innovation, the first step is to define a guiding team: a small group of 4-5 people who start with the work of strategic focus for the company, in whose number lies precisely the strength of the agile approach. This group of leaders needs to build a vision that later leads to the generation of an organizational structure that allows achieving the mega goals and objectives set for each proposed innovation initiative. The selection of the appropriate human talent and the execution and correct measurement of the proposed actions are the third and fourth steps. This chapter explores the authors' definition of DNA.
TopStep 5. The Importance Of A Collaborative Approach: The Guidance Team
To place ourselves in the process, let’s review the Stragile Model one more time (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Source: Portillo, E. (2016), The Stragile Conscious Corporate Innovation Model. A state of awareness, as explained in chapter one, acts like the trigger for any process of evolution at individual, family, labor, and community levels. To define as clearly as possible who I am, at what point in life I am standing, in which place, before what opportunities and what attitudes skills and competencies I require to face those opportunities; the state of awareness is definitely the first step.
Once the ignition process has taken place, the following reflection is: What do I need to turn my idea into a reality?
There are two ways: Build it with or without help.
The capacity for partnership we have will be one of our main weapons to achieve our goals in the short term.
A lone wolf does not hunt big prey.
It is often seen that individuals who live moments of inspiration (or vision, properly speaking) are more prone to generate creative alternative solutions to the every day problems. Also, much more frequently, individuals tend to protect “their great ideas” resulting in concepts being buried deep into the darkest part of the brain.
Experience tells us that an idea that is not shared, validated, and constructed, is only an illusion.
Creative thinking must be transformed into innovation and, most importantly, must be marketed! We cannot talk about entrepreneurship when the cycle stays still at the stage of the idea, just as we cannot talk about entrepreneurship if innovation stays at the stage of invention.
An invention that does not “live” or goes through the sales process (not only from the economic point of view) is destined to become a museum piece, at best.
Very often we witness discussions between friends or colleagues who feel that someone “stole their idea,” or that by proposing the idea they feel etitled to the highest percentage of the company because of their wrongful belief of contribution. Wanting upwards of 70% of the company sometimes, without realizing that moving from a creative idea to a successful business requires energy and time in order to materialize a dream. Most of the time, after withstanding market validation, the initial dream ends up being a completely different concept to what it was destined in its earliest stage.
Kotter’s model can better exemplify the basis of this stage’s proposal (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Source: Moreno, T. (2017), Adapted from: Richman, R. (2015). A sense of urgency must be provided by the reflections caused from the approach of chapter one: the motivation, megatrends, and DNA of the entrepreneur.
The formation of a guidance team is the next step proposed by Kotter to ignite the organizational change—although the same applies to the formation of a new company. We would like to emphasize in detail the application of this model under the strategic adequacy approach: the guidance team is composed of several elements. However, what is fascinating in the practical application of this methodology during the launch of corporate innovation initiatives (or companies in-the-making) is that the base of a guidance team shall not have more than 5 people with real decision-making power at its definition stage.