Beating the innovation scaling blues…

A checklist for climbing Scale mountain

Last week I was helping run a series of workshops supporting social innovators from across the United Nations system in thinking through how they were going to scale their great innovations now that they had successfully piloted them and proved their value.

Scaling innovation isn’t easy but it’s increasingly important if we’re to have real impact with our ideas. It’s got a lot in common with mountain climbing — a visible goal but a long journey through very uncertain conditions to get there. It needs a strategic approach, a clear idea of the pathway to the summit which we’ll follow and plenty of preparation and pivoting to help us get there.

In particular we should pay attention to three key questions:

· Have we got a solution which is ‘scale ready’? Is our innovation stress-tested to make sure it is replicable, adoptable, ‘rights ready’ and otherwise configured to be scaled in different contexts?

· Have we got an organization in place which can build on our strong innovation team but also grow to meet the very different demands of scaling? Do we have the right structures to help us retain fast, flexible and inclusive decision-making? Have we got cash flow models which support us on the journey, balancing new sources of revenue and reducing our costs?

· Have we got a value network of ‘complementary assets’ — the ‘who else?’ and ‘what else?’ that we need to bring our innovation to scale? Can we find relevant partners, form them into an ecosystem and then align their varying interests to get that whole to perform, delivering more than the sum of its parts?

One way of helping the participants in our programme to think about and reflect on these challenges was to create a short song with the highlights embedded in the lyrics. So in the spirit of helping reinforce the learning I thought it would be worth sharing — you can find it here….

Lyrics below:

Innovation isn’t easy, it’s more than just a stroll

It’s much more than just walking in the park

You’re not sure of your direction, you’ve got to rock’n’roll

Prototype and pivot, stop and start

If you’re lucky you’ll accelerate, if people like the things they see

You’ll get closer to that very special day

When you launch your new solution, pat it on its head

Send it out into the world to make its way….

Well done for getting that far, you deserve to celebrate

But you need to recognise the job’s half done

If you want to create impact, move it on from good to great

There’s a lot more of this marathon to run

Climbing innovation mountain’s going to mean some uphill work

From where you are right now, it looks so high

Before you start your journey better have a strategy

If you’re serious ‘bout reaching for the sky….

Chorus

Scaling ideas — you’re going to find you’ve got a mountain to climb

Scaling ideas — so much to work on, it’s gonna take a long, long time

If it all seems scary, all seems like it’s bad news

You’ve got yourself a bad case — of innovation scaling blues

You might please some of the people but can you please them all?

There’s a lot more of the market still to win

Can you cross the chasm, get most of them on board?

Or do you have to turn around, start again?

Is your solution even scalable, is it fit to grow?

Have you figured out how to make it strong?

Have you got the right resources, have you got a balanced team

Are you organized to move things along?

Chorus

Then there’s complementary assets — who or what else do you need

To help you take your great idea to scale?

Need to build an ecosystem, get everyone on board

Pull in the same direction — or you’ll fail

You need to find your partners, recruit them to the team

Get them working with you, right there from the start

And then get them performing, find emergent properties

Make the whole much more than all the parts…..

Chorus

But there’s no need to worry, don’t let it get you down

You’re not the first to travel down this road

Lots of people make this journey and they’ve shared what they learned

Lots of tips to help you lighten up the load

There’s tools to get you thinking, tools to help you plan

Tools to help you build your strategy

A way to move beyond your vision, find a pathway to the top

A roadmap to get you where you want to be….

Scaling ideas — even though you know you’ve got a mountain to climb

Scaling ideas — even with so much to work on, you’ll get there in time

It can all seem very scary, feels like it’s bad news

But if you work together you’ll get over — your innovation scaling blues…..

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