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Guido Petit, Director of Alcatel-Lucent Technical Academy, Alcatel-Lucent
Monday, May 14, 2007
Summary from the Front End of Innovation Conference in Boston, May 2007.
Mr. Petit is passionate about innovation. His presentation gave a clear outline for the Entrepreneurial Boot Camp process and how it provided clear and convincing value to Alcatel-Lucent’s future, and to the individual participants.
Alcatel-Lucent was restructured in 2002. New goals for the Belgium-based organization were: First, to stay at the front of the industry as innovation powerhouse; Second, to repeat the success of ADSL by continuing to generate breakthrough innovations; Third, to make innovation the responsibility of every employee - not just the research people.
Idea solicitation for innovations within the company was not a new concept. Previous solicitations suffered from an inconsistent business plan process; silos of individual or department ownership; the weight of existing responsibilities; and knowledge to convert ideas into practice. Telecom is a complex industry of interconnected technologies. The innovation process has to be integrated.
The formation of an Innovation Board was the first step, chaired by CEO and other members of the major business divisions. This broad, high level participation was essential for the program’s success.
The CEO launched the Alcatel-Lucent Venture Council to create new businesses and revenue opportunities for the company. The premise was that the organization had many talented people, ideas and silos scattered across real and virtual space. If connected, these should generate unique innovations.
The program began with the formation of an Innovation Boot Camp, a program to empower teams to pursue innovative business ideas, support of proposal development, fund selected plans and engage external venture capital.
The process created a relatively inexpensive approach to develop proposals. It also created an opportunity for participants to move beyond silos and collaborate with business schools to expand potential for ideas and network with VCs.
Ideas were submitted to the web site to engage others in the discussion and to promote broader interest and participation. Solicitation of ideas was communicated through a “Stretch your mind” campaign which tripled the number of ideas previously generated.
Projects outlined in the initial phase were screened by the Exec board. Teams had to be cross functional and consist of 3-5 participants. Those chosen to participate in the full program committed to three weekends to learn how to develop and present the plans.
The process began with discussions on the Innovation Web Site. An event provided face to face interaction between idea owners. Integrated groups formed organically to develop initial ideas. These ideas were defined, submitted and then reviewed by the Innovation Board. Teams whose ideas demonstrated potential value qualified to participate in the Boot Camp.
The Boot Camp program began with a 3-weekend learning phase to prepare participants to further define their innovation, create a business plan and deliver the presentations to the Innovation Board. The Board reviewed proposals and identified which would go to HQ. The final round gave each team 20 minutes to present their pitch to external venture capital partners.
Conclusions:
The program moved people to think more like entrepreneurs than managers. It involved new combinations of people throughout the company in identifying and generating concepts for future profit opportunities. It moved innovation from a concept to part of the culture. It also revealed new perspectives for Human Resources. The project helped people self select their future contribution and align their work with their passion. Their skill and enthusiasm can be leveraged for the betterment of the organization. Additionally, the program is likely to attract new, enthusiastic, innovative talent from the partnering business school.
Innovation is a complex and critical interplay between people inside and outside our company.
The program served as a mini, customized MBA program which focused on innovations of real potential value to the business.
Although it is too soon to evaluate the successes of the individual innovation proposals created, the CEO, impressed with the overall energy and quality of the concepts, has asked to promote concept to all locations in company.
Reader Comments (1)
I love reading about Innovation Boot Camp – it seems to bring those “x hours long thinking sessions” to the next level and actually do something with the ideas.
Managers ->entrepreneurs – wow, great idea, but very hard to do, since our managers are so tightly stuck in higher goals, deliverables that came from above, deadlines…