Innovation mechanisms

Why mechanisms

Good intentions do not scale past the line of direct sight. Energy, mandates and enthusiasm produce results where a leader is personally present, and decay everywhere else. A mechanism removes the reliance on good intentions by making the desired behavior the path of least resistance.

Some people hear "mechanism" as bureaucracy. It is closer to the opposite: structure that helps people execute in a complex, fast-moving environment, and that can be measured and improved instead of merely exhorted.

The five parts

1. 1
   Business challenge and results

   Get clarity on the organization-level business challenge you want the mechanism to address, and define the outputs you want from resolving it. A mechanism without a named challenge becomes a process nobody can retire.

2. 2
   Mechanism design

   Design the organizational levers that convert inputs into outputs. These may include mental models, formal and informal roles and teams, tools and technologies, frameworks, resources, policies, rewards, message flows, processes and activities.

3. 3
   Adoption

   Identify the stakeholders inside and outside the organization the mechanism touches, and plan how adoption is actually won. This is the part most often left to chance, and it is the usual cause of death.

4. 4
   Inspection

   Establish how you will know whether the mechanism is producing the desired outputs, whether it is being adopted, and where the gaps and barriers are.

5. 5
   Iteration

   Determine how the mechanism will be improved from the metrics and feedback you collect. A mechanism that cannot change is a policy.

What we deliver

• A mechanism outline design covering inputs, outputs, tools, adoption and iteration.
• An action plan for developing and establishing it.
• Adoption activities, either delivered by us or prepared for your team to deliver: inspiration sessions, hands-on workshops, implementation consulting for champions and leaders, and self-driven activities run by your own people.

Where the method comes from

The approach draws on documented mechanisms at Amazon, Pixar and Bridgewater, on systematic innovation practice, and on the ISO 56000 family of standards for innovation management.