To Shape An Innovation Culture, Start With A ‘Problem Bank'

Much against the widely held belief that innovations start with great ideas, they, in fact, start with ‘well identified problems’

- Pavan Soni

In my consulting practice on innovation and strategy, I have come across several large organizations that struggle with ‘too many ideas’. The leaders and innovation champions are often at a loss as to what to do with those many ideas without hurting the morale of those who submitted those ideas at the first place. Such massive inventory of ideas is often a consequence of idea campaigns, or of late, hackathons, being administered. I confer that such aimless generation of ideas is a counterproductive exercise. It not only chokes the organization’s vital resources, but also hurts employee morale. Instead of looking at ideas, why not look at problems.

Much against the widely held belief that innovations start with great ideas, they, in fact, start with ‘well identified problems’. Identifying and framing a problem is far more an important endeavor than solving it, especially in this connected economy.