How is your organization innovating for resiliency? What can you learn from the experiences of Innovation Executives?

 Written by Janice Francisco

Innovating for Resiliency

Resilience is the ability to face internal or external crises and not only effectively resolve it, but also learn from it, be strengthened by it, both individually and as a group. 

Brensan-Lazon (2003)

Recently I took on the role of Strategic Advisor to the Conference Board of Canada’s Executive Council of Innovation and Commercialization and had the pleasure of leading a meeting themed Innovating for Resiliency.

It was an opportunity to take a deep dive into what’s happening in corporate innovation and for members to look behind the trends and headlines. 

Looking behind the trends 

We’ve all seen the headlines about trends. 

Significant forces are climate change, digitalization, pandemic response, aging populations, automation, and geopolitical tensions. 

These forces have fundamental implications for how society functions; businesses operate and interact with customers and bring significant disruption. 

But the problem isn’t the forces or headlines; it’s how we’re prepared to respond. 

 In Canada, some of the trends we examined point to: 

• A shift in demographics that will leave businesses reliant on young people scrambling for resources and growth
• A consumer shift that will have intelligent leaders rethinking target markets and narrowing their focus
• A split in the workplace with GenX and Boomers wanting to work from home, and younger workers anxious to return to the office.

We also heard in-depth case studies from two Canadian CEO's about how their organizations are innovating for resiliency, one in climate change and the other in the retail sector.

Through peer learning, members had the opportunity to share their own experiences.

Executive Insights

Key takeaways from the case studies and peer learning were:

• Use disruption to rethink what matters.
  
  
• When things are shifting around you, focus on finding the good enough solution – perfect is a waste of time and resources. 

• Your approach to innovation influences where you focus and how you go about it:
  
  • Transformational innovation is about creating change.
  • Performance-driven innovation focuses on continuous improvement.
    
• Future-proofing your organization is a good innovation strategy
  
  
• As technology advances and AI increases, we will see more push towards automation.
  
  
• There’s much to gain when you engage employees in innovation.
  
  
• Businesses need to develop workforces that operate like general athletes – they need people who can flex and work in different ways.
  
  
• Innovation can’t happen without collaboration and the willingness to learn as you go.

How is your organization innovating for resilience?