Innovation team structure
Anyone can be part of an innovation team. Who you bring on and how you structure the group will depend largely on your innovation strategy and goals.Â
For most teams, this will include people with specific domain expertise (though businesses may often select someone with fresh thinking and less depth of experience), as well as strong leadership.Â
Since many innovation teams run like Scrum teams, this usually means theyâll include a product or program manager who can take the lead on ensuring goals are measured and achieved.Â
Pro Tip: Keep in mind that while strong leadership is important, a key aspect to successful innovation teams is fostering a supportive culture where everyone is welcome to contribute ideas and participate.
Additionally, while not usually direct team members, executive stakeholders should be closely involved in order to lower barriers and provide needed resources and any support the team may need.Â
Often, innovation teams start small and then grow over time as they further narrow their focus and pull in more people to support their goals or add cross-functional insights to their work.
The 4 most important attributes of innovation teams   Â
Once you know what types of roles you need to fill on your innovation team, you can start looking for the specific attributes your final roster should have. For instance, you may have people youâre considering for the teamâbut chances are not all candidates have all four key attributes you need.Â
Remember: These four attributes arenât options; theyâre attributes that innovation team members should each emulate. To build an innovation team, youâre not looking for one farmer, one venture capitalist, and so on. Ideally, all of these aspects are qualities that each innovation team member has.
Hereâs what to look for when assembling your innovation team:Â
1. Secure resources and connections like a venture capitalist
Venture capitalistsâ strength is in making connectionsâwhether thatâs to funding, people, or other key resources.Â
âThey have connections all throughout the organization and the industry,â Rosenbaugh explains. âThe breadth and depth of their network enables them to take good ideas and help them grow. By harnessing these diverse resources, they can take a project to the next level.â
âWhen talking about venture capitalists,â Rosenbaugh says, âWe do focus very heavily on the monetary aspect of what they provide to a startup company. But honestly, the venture capitalists that are the most valuable are not the ones that just provide the most dollars; theyâre the ones that provide the best access to great mentors or to other partner companies.âÂ
The best venture capitalists may even provide great mentoring themselves, as well as access to additional talent that can be brought into the company. Itâs this connectivity that really offers value to an innovation team and its organization.
2. Cultivate growth like a farmerÂ
âNot only do we need to think and act like a venture capitalist, but we also need to think and act like a farmer,â Rosenbaugh shares.Â
âA farmer cultivates a space, and then they allow things to grow on their own. If a farmer actually gets too involved in the growing, that can be detrimental to the growth of vegetation. Instead, they cultivate a great space, and then they step away because they've got another part of the field to go cultivate and provide support.âÂ
Similarly, approaching innovation like a farmer means you need to provide autonomy and freedom to the team. Allow people space to grow on their own and trust the team and the process to generate valueâeven if you canât see the end result yet.
Farmers also cultivate a community. âThere's a whole ecosystem that exists on a farm,â Rosenbaugh says, âand they're actively cultivating [that ecosystem] to make sure that all the different parts of the puzzle fit together and work well together for the overall economic gain of the farm and total value of delivery through the system.â
3. Take risks and make the hard calls like a foreign aid worker
Innovation team members should also think like a foreign aid worker. Foreign aid workers are courageous risk-takers who are often willing to take bigger risks.Â
âBut theyâre also expecting big returns,â Bailey says, ânot only for the community and individuals theyâre serving but also in terms of intrinsic benefits for themselves.â Foreign aid workers are passionate about what they do and why they do it.Â
âThey're really truly on board with the cause. I think that's one of the most important thingsâif we're leading an organization or leading an initiative, we need to have passion about what we're doing. And if we don't have that, we need to find it. We need to figure out why we are doing this thing in the first place.â
This mindset allows foreign aid workers to make the hard calls because they understand when theyâre losing passion or something isnât providing value. When that happens, they refocus their resources on something else with a level of compassion.
Being able to take big risks and make difficult decisions is essential in innovation work because the hits often come to the people recommending big changes. Challenging the status quo or an existing business line or value stream can provoke resistance from an organization. But if you have the passion and buy-in, you can stand by your decisions, knowing it's the right callâeven if it's hard.
4. Invest in data like a stockbrokerÂ
Finally, innovation team members should think like a stockbroker.Â
Stock brokers are very data-driven in their decision-making. Theyâre looking for ways to diversify their portfolio, mitigate risk, and gather a diverse set of data to guide what actions to take next.
âIf your teams are actively engaged in integrating their work with the feedback that they're getting from their customers, there should be a lot of customer anecdotal information, which is extremely relevant data if you're working in a new space and focusing on a new thing,â Rosenbaugh explains.Â
That information and feedback can then help innovation managers understand:
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Where do I need to diversify?
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What are the decisions I need to make?
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How do I need to communicate?
â[Thinking like a stockbroker] can be extremely detached from emotion,â Rosenbaugh says. âGiven the personal side of what it takes to be an innovative person and how much of yourself you're putting on the table when you're doing this kind of work, you have to make sure that as a leader, you're marrying this [attribute] with the other three.â
In other words, innovation leaders should have and rely on all four attributes to guide and inform their work.Â
Rosenbaugh explains, âYou really need to think holistically. What does this person look like that encapsulates all these different attributes? Everybodyâs going to have their own strengths and weaknesses across these attributes, but if you go in saying âI only want to be a farmer,â you may not be making the best choices. The best farmers are the ones who are also really good business people, and theyâre extremely engaged in their communities.â
Kickstart innovation on your team with Lucid
As you build your team around these four key attributes, youâll start to cultivate an environment that drives innovation. Remember that your innovation team members should embody all four attributes, and that anyone can be part of your innovation team.
Start building a culture of innovation today with Lucid.Â
The Lucid Visual Collaboration Suite enables individuals and teams to brainstorm, plan, build, collaborate, and share ideas all from one platform. Between Lucidâs virtual whiteboarding and intelligent diagramming capabilities, you can manage innovation from start to finish.
