Innovation Integrates into the Business
Tom Flaherty is a Senior Advisor to companies in the global power and utilities industry for PwC Strategy&.
When utilities first focused on innovation, most companies did not fully grasp its purpose, where to place it organizationally, or how to manage it. Innovation awareness was at early stages and longer-term capabilities were not well understood.
Many companies first looked to senior leadership to define how to position innovation within the business. But executives were not as directly experienced with framing necessary innovation capabilities. It was difficult to determine if a natural owner existed, or whether the enterprise was the default owner.
Executives recognized that something as unfamiliar and sweeping as innovation could not succeed if left to natural evolution. This group recognized that successfully standing up innovation capabilities required clear role definition and distinctive purpose. While executives initially addressed it as stand-up, they knew a more robust, long-term model would be necessary.
As time ensued, executives shifted their thinking beyond stand-up and toward a different outcome — embedding innovation organizationally. This changed the outlook from the immediate to the future and the purpose from formation to advancement. But the fundamental questions of where innovation is placed and how it is managed remain.