Open innovation can be a great way for organizations to get new ideas and perspectives. However, it’s important to understand the potential barriers to this type of innovation before getting started. This resistance is often due to our natural human tendency to oppose change. To realize the full value of open innovation, organizations must be aware of these barriers and take steps to address them.
There are some common patterns among organizations that have successfully adopted open innovation. By understanding these barriers and challenges, organizations can overcome them and reap the benefits of this type of innovation.
Adopting a More Open Culture
Organizational absorptive capacity is a strong barrier to collaborative innovation. This isn’t simply due to the ‘Not Invented Here’ syndrome, but also because individuals are resistant to different ways of thinking and doing things that they’re not used to. Change can be uncomfortable, and people often prefer the stability of the familiar over the unknown. But in order for innovation to occur, individuals must be open to new ideas and willing to embrace change.
Organizations that embrace innovation can help create a more open and accepting work culture. By instituting organizational activities that require collaboration across internal groups, they can develop a cadre of people who are not only innovative themselves, but also have a keen sense for spotting and engaging with innovative opportunities.
Such initiatives not only give the organization an advantage in unlocking internal potential but also foster a more open and accepting environment. Organizational success depends on employees embracing collaborative innovation. When individuals in an organization realize the potential of this type of innovation, they can begin to unlock its true value.
Managing Performance of open innovation
Innovation performance can be measured in different ways, such as the number of ideas generated, the number of ideas selected, or the cost-benefit of new processes. But it’s not just about coming up with new ideas; it’s also about working together to make those ideas a reality. That’s where the power of collaboration comes in. By bringing many minds together, we can polish an idea and make it better than ever.
It can be tough to quantify ownership or gauge the level of contribution, as there are many intangible factors at play. This is a major challenge for many organizations, particularly when they need to assess the return on investment of their collaborative innovation efforts.
As your organization begins to manage more external partnerships, you will quickly find that the costs of doing so may outweigh the benefits. To make sure you are on the right track with your collaborative innovation journey, it is important to measure not only the end value or organizational metrics but also intermediate milestones.
Realizing value from the ecosystem
Different-sized organizations coming together in a collaborative effort can often lead to imbalances. Larger organizations may have different perspectives and see more value in the partnership than smaller ones. To prevent this, the leading organization must take on an ‘orchestrating’ role to bring everyone together and create a productive ecosystem. This includes coordinating with individuals, universities, suppliers, and vendors – which can be very time-consuming for the organization.
In order to thrive, organizations must see themselves as part of a larger ecosystem, not as isolated entities. This is increasingly important in today’s connected world, where organizations are deeply involved with the social and market structures around them. In the long term, maintaining good relationships with their ecosystem is the only sustainable way forward.
Any organization wishing to innovate and acquire new knowledge needs to be open to collaboration. By being prepared to handle the challenges and barriers that come with collaboration, an organization can realize its full potential. However, it is up to the leadership of the organization to create a culture where open innovation is always considered a strategic option. Those who wish to remain closed need to prove their case.
Cultural challenges of open innovation
Open innovation can be a great way to bring new ideas into your company. However, a lack of collaborative, cross-functional company culture can be a major challenge. Often, people may have a fixed mindset of “this is how things are done here.”
This type of culture may be problematic if people aren’t committed to executing ideas that come from outside the organization. skepticism towards even great ideas may lead to a situation where these ideas will not be given a chance and no resources will be allocated to their development.