Embracing innovation adds value company-wide, from eliminating inefficiencies and attracting top talent to increasing customer satisfaction and, ultimately, growing profits, says Geralyn Hurd, a partner at the accounting, consulting and technology firm Crowe.When designing formal processes that fuel innovation, it’s important to keep those goals in mind, says Hurd, Crowe Tax Technology Services leader. “We don’t innovate just to innovate — we innovate to solve problems,” she says.
Articulate your company’s core mission to every member of the company, not just the C-suite, because to add real value, an innovation strategy must be closely aligned with that purpose, says Hurd.A great idea can come from anywhere — an intern, a CEO, even a customer. So a willingness to seriously consider input, no matter its source, exponentially accelerates breakthroughs.
Ideas are actionable only if they reach people with the power to greenlight them, which is why the bigger an organization is, the more important it is to create a technology-fueled infrastructure to foster cross-departmental collaboration and funnel good ideas to relevant decision makers. At Crowe, an innovation orientation for new hires promotes an attitude of risk-taking from the start, enabling employees to work with their peers on idea development and educating them about the process of proposing ideas for consideration.
Nothing encourages innovation like funding innovative projects. That’s why Crowe invests a percentage of annual revenue into innovation, says Hurd. To guide spending, the company follows anthat allocates small investments to vetting ideas and larger investments to developing proven solutions. It then measures the expected return on each investment it makes — and tracks whether those goals are met.
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