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Collaboration: The mother of innovation
Ford didn’t invent the assembly line. Nor did he invent the automobile. But, he connected the two and transformed automobile construction from one-off custom machine building to a high volume commodity industry.
Tom Davenport, in a recent article titled, Managing a Broad Innovation Portfolio, cites the need for a central coordinator within large organizations to oversee the integration of processes to make innovation work. Without that coordination, innovation fails. He suggests the role should be the Chief Creative Officer.
Davenport, author of Thinking for a Living and numerous other books on knowledge workers and knowledge management, very concisely analyzes the multiple management roles involved to ensure that innovation survives the gauntlet of internal and external obstructions.
Innovation is a series of processes. But, when Ford hit his breakthrough idea, the processes either didn’t exist, or had never been coordinated on a grand scale. There were endless problems to solve. Management systems were not structured to address all the interconnected new processes. Supply chains were not in place to deliver components. The new potential buyer (not the wealthy early adopters) didn’t understand how to use the product. Marketing was required to solve that one. The use of the auto changed from pleasure or novelty to genuine transportation.
But, the infrastructure didn’t support thousands of new drivers on the road. There was no universal system for distributing gasoline, no interstate highway system, no garages for repairs, no tire stores, no car wash, no drive-through dry cleaners and no fast food.
Some of these were essential to make Ford’s vision work. The rest were, consequences of the breakthrough – additional industries that spun off to enhance the customer experience
A century ago, there was more latitude for trial and error. But, the essential fact remains: Innovation on any scale requires long range, flexible planning to test new ideas and respond to market reaction. Inventors are not always the ones who capitalize on their own inventions. That’s often the domain of others who follow and see alternate applications or processes to make an idea profitable.
How many breakthroughs have been discarded because the scope of processes involved was beyond the comprehension of its innovator? It takes a village to raise a child. How many people does it take to launch an invention? Passion alone isn't enough.
Chas Martin
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