Company level: understand your ambition

Often, companies convince themselves that innovation is all about being the next Google or Tesla. But the truth is that for most companies, this goal is unrealistic and does more harm than good. If we keep conveying the message that innovation is only the most crazy, radical ideas, it becomes exclusive and elusive. It can also become a ‘shoot for the stars’ race which is draining and unrealistic. People will feel that innovation is outside of their capabilities, and this in turn will lead to a lower quantity and quality of innovative ideas. A good metaphor for this is that of an iceberg. We’re always hearing about the exciting, radical stuff, but there’s actually a much larger body of innovation that goes on under the surface.

For many insurance companies, who already have a successful book of business, keeping up with the pack or focussing on continuous improvement is enough. If there is limited time and resources dedicated to innovation at your organisation, chances are that somebody has already made that decision – consciously or unconsciously. And that in itself is a completely worthy goal which can in fact sometimes be far more inclusive. It can also maintain the near turn returns – both revenue growth and cost savings which keep an organisation sustainable.

So focus on the simple stuff. Make a big deal out of small changes that employees make to their daily working lives. Work on scaling successful initiatives across departments and business units. Reinforce the message that innovation is not just the tip of the iceberg, but a holistic approach that can include everybody. This will get you to results quicker and will give the satisfaction of having delivered something tangible.

Team level: the power of mindset

We have an equation at Ninety which I like to share when delivering training: people > idea. What this means is that any company can throw money at innovation. They can invest in big projects, agile methodologies and fancy-looking innovation spaces, but if people aren’t brought along on the journey, innovation still won’t happen naturally or successfully. In fact, in our whitepaper on the topic back in 2019, we found that although in insurance companies more innovation leads to more money, more money doesn’t necessarily lead to more innovation (see our Insurance Innovation and Company Value white paper). We actually believe that scarcity in the early stages of innovation breeds creativity. Luckily, there is an incredibly important facet of the people part of innovation which is completely free: mindset.

At Ninety, one small cultural change that we made to keep cultivating the fail fast mindset within our teams was to introduce the ‘innovation graveyard.’ Each team meeting, one member of the team presents a tombstone which represents a recent failure – whether that be a project that we elected not to continue with or something that they attempted in a workshop that didn’t go quite as planned. Then we add it to the graveyard. Learning from (and sometimes even laughing about) things that haven’t gone as we hoped has furthered our entrepreneurial spirit as a team – since we have a cultural understanding that failure is an acceptable outcome and we celebrate the learnings. In our mindsets training, I focus on equipping teams with practical tools like these in order to start increasing the innovation capabilities of its members.

Once team members are equipped with the right mindsets, they will feel more confident in spotting opportunities for innovation that they can execute themselves. Sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is communicate that trying new things is encouraged, and that this is a safe environment in which to do so. And these mindsets can unite and bond teams, bringing individuals together under a common approach, typically in cross-functional groups.

Individual level: start small, and be happy with scrappy

Building and testing new ideas can feel impossible without intensive time and resource, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, at Ninety, our HIIT (High Intensity Innovation Training), teaches individuals how to innovate in just 25 minutes per day. We genuinely believe that you can innovate ‘side of desk’ if you have the will, and that in doing so it can become an increasingly valued part of what you do. By aiming for action (testing your idea’s desirability, feasibility and viability), over perfection (building a perfect product which customers might not actually want), you can innovate with very little time or money. When you’re developing an idea, test it for free by doing things like…

• Creating a mock up using InVision and showing it to colleagues / your mum / people in your local coffee shop

• Drawing the internal process on a whiteboard and asking relevant team members whether it’s feasible or not

• Sharing a description of your idea with customers and asking them to highlight in red the things they’re not sure about and in green the aspects of the idea they like

The most important thing here is to start small, rather than requesting a large amount of budget to develop the idea straight away. Which brings me to my final point…

…create momentum, and the rest will follow

Getting time and resource secured for an innovation initiative is hard work. And rightly so – if we invested heavily into every idea, proven or disproven, it would be a poor commercial decision and lead to chaos. However, I like to think about successful innovation projects / movements like snowballs – the more momentum they have the bigger and faster they get. In order to gain momentum, you will need to create energy and results around your initiative. This means collecting evidence at every step of the way that your idea is a good one, and creating an air of excitement around it and what it can deliver. Through collecting evidence, canvassing stakeholders, and persuading key influencers within your company of the value of your idea, you stand a much better chance of securing that all important resource when you need it. So get out there and start innovating!

Ninety partners with insurance organisations to empower everyone to innovate, from innovation methodologies to facilitation skills. If this article has resonated with you and you’d like to explore things further, please do get in touch – we’d welcome the opportunity to talk with you.