Building an innovation charter

February 5, 2009

All materials © NetCentrics 2008 unless otherwise noted

Welcome• Our goal for the next hour is to examine the

importance of an innovation “charter” and communicating your focus effectively– Innovation charter– Why a charter is important– Using a charter to communicate your goals

What We Want to Accomplish

Goals for this section

• Examine the key components of an innovation charter

• Understand why clear intent and communication is important for innovation success

• Begin to think about the appropriate communications for any innovation effort

Key Points• An innovation charter is similar to any new project

charter– The charter attempts to define the goals, expected

outcomes and scope of the effort• Innovation can be very difficult without a charter and

communication– Innovation requires significant change and the

scope and intent must be clearly defined• Communicating the intent, scope and goals of an

innovation effort is extremely important

Pacific’s CharterUniversity Charter

In the Supreme Court, State of CaliforniaJuly Ten AD 1851 (July 10)

• In the matter of the Incorporation of the President and Board of Trustees of the California Wesleyan College.• Declaration of Incorporation of The President and Board of Trustees of the California Wesleyan College.• Whereas Isaac Owen, Edward Bannister, and C.P. Hester, have presented their application in writing under their hands, requesting on behalf of the

Methodist Episcopal Church in California, that an Institution of Learning, located at Santa Clara, and the Trustees thereof, may be declared by this Court to be incorporated under the name and style of "The Presidents and Board of Trustees of the California Wesleyan College" under and by virtue of an Act of the Legislation of this State entitled an act to provide for the incorporation of College, approved April 20, 1850 and the following persons have been proposed and appointed as Trustees of said College - to wit - Isaac Owen, D.L. Ross, S.D. Simonds, C.P. Hester, W. Grove Deal, William Taylor, ____ Kellog, J.W. Brier, D.O. Shattuck, Joseph Aram, T.J. McLean, Elihu Anthony, Annis Merrill, Benjamin Pierson, M.C. Briggs, E. Bannister, J.B. Bond, William Morrow, James Rogers, Warren Oliver, James Corwin, Charles McClay, D.A. Dryden and A.L.A. Bateman, And Whereas it has been made to appear that an endowment fund of twenty thousand dollars has been secured to said College and that the said proposed Trustees are capable men.

What is a charter?

• In many organizations, a charter is simply a statement of intent, scope and goals.

• A charter is often developed to define the scope and goals of a new project or new product development

• The charter helps determine how the team should work, its expectations and goals in what can be a very uncertain and unclear effort

Innovation Charter

• Likewise, an innovation charter helps define the intent, expected outcomes, responsibilities and scope of an innovation effort

• In most cases, this charter is even more important in an innovation setting, since innovation is so unlike other initiatives or projects

Importance of a charter

• If you are called on to change or update an existing product or service, you’d seek the old project plan to revise and update

• In many cases, you can simply use the existing models to rework existing products and services

• Where innovation is concerned, there’s rarely a defined model or an existing project or initiative to copy

• Additionally, innovation seeks significant change, so few existing models or projects can serve as examples

Challenges of Innovation

• Additionally, innovation tends to be poorly defined, poorly scoped and has indefinite goals

• Innovation requires new risks and new approaches unlike work that has been accomplished previously

• Yet innovation teams and management teams need a clear statement about the effort and its potential outcomes

Innovation Charter

• We have found it helpful to create an innovation charter composed of the following components:– Opportunity– Vision– Mission– Responsibilities– Goals– Priorities

Opportunity

• Defining the opportunity for innovation ties back to the strategic intent

• What are the key opportunities or focus areas for innovation– What is stated is as important as what is left out

• This is a management statement to the organization about the opportunity and focus areas for innovation

Vision

• How will the innovation team or initiative accomplish the goal of innovation and address the defined opportunities

• What is the longer term vision for the organization in light of a focus on innovation

• What should the time horizons be for innovation

Mission

• What is the defined mission for the innovation initiative or team

• In terms of:– Defining a common culture– Building innovation processes– Defining innovation roles and responsibilities– Conducting innovation programs and campaigns– Ensuring education and involvement

Responsibilities

• What is the work that needs to be done to build an innovation project or capability?

• Who owns the responsibility to build the capability

• Who will sustain that capability over time?

Goals

• For this initiative, what are our specific goals for innovation. Do we seek– Disruptive innovation– Open innovation – receiving ideas from third

parties

• What are the expected timeframes for generating these results

• What measurements or milestones will we define

Priorities

• What are our specific areas of focus, or the items we seek to change

• What areas will receive our investment, prioritization and attention

• What concepts or ideas will we de-emphasize or ignore

Building the charter

• Use the charter to negotiate what you are being asked to do, and to help define their goals and expectations

• Start with a “strawman” and revise with your management team

Acceptance

• Once the innovation charter has been approved by the management team and is acceptable to you, share it with your team

• Use it as an “on-boarding” to set expectations and define the effort and scope of the initiative

Communication

• The charter can become a baseline communication vehicle to establish what you are doing and your key focus areas in the larger organization and with competing or parallel initiatives

Key Takeaways

• Innovation is often an unclear, poorly defined initiative with uncertain objectives and scope– Use the charter to negotiate the scope and

outcomes of innovation with your management team

• Innovation initiatives often seem to conflict with existing programs or projects– Use the charter to define your scope and

communicate your focus to other managers

Questions

• Any additional questions or discussion?

Exercise

• Build a charter for your innovation initiative or for Pacific as a whole