Innovation process - Divergence then Convergence

It is easy to think that innovation is born out of being innovative. Or simply in the minds of one or selected few.

Well, the initial times - maybe. But for a company to grow, it has to be a build-in capability to be acquired.

Systems and processes have to come into play as a growing business has no way be dependent on only a few smart people.. This is where the company must tap on every soul's to generate the ideas necessary for next level of growth & play.

I recommend adopting the divergence then convergence concept to innovation. It can well be turned into a process where you first diverge to gather as much ideas as possible without shutting off seemingly foolish or crazy ideas. This gives opportunity to build up more ideas from existing ideas.

Only when it's about to be exhausted, convergence should take place. Filtering process is needed here. Ideas can be grouped and those that can be tested or prototyped fast should be given a chance.. adopting fail early, fail fast concept. And of course, done within budget..

Not all innovation processes are the same. Every company will, in the end, end up with their own unique innovation process. This is because the process is very much influenced by the culture, people, practices, industry,.. So no two company will share the exact same process.. But the macro thinking and concept remain the same.

Some more pointers:

Divergence - motivation, teamwork, brainstorming, field trip, ethnography, ideas generation, build ideas on ideas, forums, leverage on Internet..

Convergence - preliminary & staged filtering, criteria, prototyping, testing, market soft launch, reward system, risk mgmt,..