Answer the following:

  • How do your innovation success indicators align with organisational KPI’s?
  • How often is innovation an agenda items in board or senior management reports?
  • How often do you ‘open the books’ to senior management to provide a warts and all assessment of likely outcomes?

Sadly, poor innovation reporting is damaging innovation programs.

The reason for establishing these programs is to transform business activities but often innovation teams are so busy ‘doing’ that they lose track of the importance of managing the expectation of senior management through effective reporting – and not just what is going well.

Fearless and frank reporting is much more beneficial to maintaining long term innovation programs than trying to present a rosy outlook. Most management teams significantly underestimate innovation implementation timeframes, don’t understand that not all innovation initiatives work, and that a certain level of failure is to be expected. By establishing effective management and reporting frameworks that document failures, lessons learned (it is an innovation program after all) as well as successes – the chances of achieving transformative impacts is improved.

Systemised reporting (such as that used by Brightidea) provides innovation teams with a powerful tool.

Wanting to transform your innovation management reporting? Contact us to find out how.