Our 3 STEP MODEL
We, at EXINN have developed a structured innovation process steps, a model for managing innovation.
Our research shows that every successful innovation process has three distinct steps.
- The Search step
- The Incubation step
- The Execution step
Each step in the innovation process has different attributes for success. And therefore requires a specific approach.
STEP 1— Search
It’s the step where we look for new ideas to offer more value to our existing customers or come up with a value proposition for a new set of clients.
The Search phase requires a solid understanding of the industry and our target client segment. Very often, the closer you we are to the action, the better insight we have.
Searching for new ideas should be done in the field, by local resources that have the time.
Whether or not an idea makes it to the next phase – the Incubation phase – is determined by the rules of competition, the basics of strategy and competition.
STEP 2 — Incubate your Ideas
The second step in the innovation process is all about testing and growing ideas.
Just because an idea looks promising on paper doesn’t mean that it will deliver the value you expect. Incubation demands a trial and error approach and mindset. If you cannot handle failure and start over again, you will never succeed. The aim of the Incubation phase is to test value – to find out in the real world if customers are willing to pay for a certain value that you are offering.
At EXINN, we target disruptive strategic innovations that offer a different value proposition from what the established players offer. As a result, we can attract customers that are different from the customers that the established players focus on. Because the same customers will always lead you astray.
Once the testing is finalized, we then detail a business case based on real data, and not only on wild guesses and random assumptions.
So whether an idea makes it to next phase – the Execution phase – depends on the test results and their translation into an honest business case.
Incubation at EXINN is done by passionate people, by entrepreneurs who believe 200 percent in what they do.
We believe that one of the first things that a company wanting to boost innovation needs to do is look around for entrepreneurs who can pick up the ideas that come out of the Search step, test them with passion in the marketplace and hand them over to the managers that grow them further in the Execution step.
We reward ‘intelligent’ failure; mistakes are allowed, and we want people to start from a specific set of tested assumptions (rather than just shooting from the hip), learn from mistakes and adapt.
We also promote and encourage drivers, that small group of entrepreneurs in our organisation who are able to take an idea and passionately fight for it.
STEP 3— Execute the Idea
This is the third and final step in our innovation process.
In this step, it’s all about growing the identified value of a specific idea.
Our tests show that the customer target group is willing to pay for the value offered. Our honest business case indicates that the earnings from the idea will be large enough – in terms of earning potential compared to your company size and relative to other options you have.
Our goal is to reproduce the success of the test and turn it into a factory approach, a streamlined day-to-day activity that brings in the expected returns.
The key word is here in this third phase of our innovation process is called ‘streamlining’. We try to turn this into business as usual, a factory that grows the value.
The new activities can be integrated into the existing organisational structure, added alongside or set up separately.
The role of ‘the manager’ as we know it is predominant. As a company, we want to reward results, encourage execution heroes and, importantly, improve and push further the low performers.
As one Japanese proverb says: “None of us is as smart as all of us.”