Exec insight: How to lead innovation, from concept to commercialization

Editor’s note: Donald Thompson, a serial entrepreneur and investor, writes an exclusive column about leadership, equality, entrepreneurship and management. His posts are published on Wednesdays.

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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Earlier this week, MicroVideos by The Diversity Movement, my team’s microlearning platform for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) education, was named one of Fast Company’s 2022 “World Changing Ideas.” As Fast Company announced, “from a 3D printed vaccine patch to an electric truck, a seawater-powered lamp, and countless other bold innovations, the sixth annual awards honor the products, concepts, companies, policies and designs that are driving change, tackling issues from climate change to inequality, and so much more.”

I am proud and excited to see our product among so many other innovative ideas that are supporting the growth of positive social innovation. Beyond that excitement, I want to share the leadership lessons inherent in this win – the reminders I experienced in the course of creating this product about how to lead innovative teams and turn ideas into customer value. With nearly two decades of experience in leadership, this is a process I’ve been part of many times, but perhaps never seen so clearly as I do now. Here are my takeaways.

Donald Thompson

ONLY MARKETABLE IDEAS HAVE VALUE

Most people think their ideas have value just because they thought of them. The truth is that the vast majority of ideas simply aren’t worth pursuing. If your concept can’t survive in the market, don’t waste time bringing it to life.

How did we know MicroVideos would address a specific customer pain point to thrive in the market? It certainly wasn’t a lightning bolt idea. It came as a result of looking at patterns. To figure it out, we looked at how people are consuming their favorite information. On YouTube and TikTok, right? That means people want short, fun, concise and highly-emotive pieces of content.

The other thing that developed as a pattern is that, while we are very proud of our multi-module online courses, we know they require a long time commitment for somebody to sit at their desk for two to six hours. When we really looked at the attention span and the flow of work of our clients, it was clear we had to find a better way to deliver impactful information in right-sized chunks that they could consume within their workflow without substantial time investment.

By paying attention to our customers and shaping our product to fit the way they consume information, learn and work, we managed to create highly functional, highly emotive, highly educational content in micro snippets that increase retention and meet a clear customer desire. The idea isn’t world changing just because we thought of it, but because it addresses a specific need in the marketplace.

INNOVATION MEANS ITERATION

The way we talk about it in the media, it’s easy to believe that innovating means creating some big, brand-new, stretch idea that will change the world as we know it. But innovation is more about iteration. How do you take components of ideas that your team can execute in a way that solves a pressing client need?

Lots of people think innovation is about creating new ideas, but there are so many great ideas that fail simply because they’re not executed well. Usually, that’s because leaders start to develop something before they’ve really tested the idea and gained buy-in from their team. They’re rushing and pushing their own vision for success without giving their employees much ownership over the concept and the process.

One of the things I learned through this process is how important it is to socialize your idea. Have multiple conversations about it, internally with your team and also with customers, potential clients and other leaders. Those conversations will tell you which direction is the smartest direction to go, and they’ll create the initial buy-in you need to get your team up and running toward the vision.

Leaders often rush the buy-in-phase, but if you take it slow, then people can see “Oh, this isn’t just Don’s idea. It’s our initiative, and we own it.” If it’s Don’s idea, people will do it just because Don is the CEO. But if it’s their own idea, they’ll do a better job and find more satisfaction in the process. Slowing down to get full buy-in from the team will allow you to move faster over time.

HOW TO GET YOUR TEAM ON BOARD

Any time you try to transition people away from something they’re currently doing that’s working well for them – from something good, important and valuable to the organization to something new and uncertain – there is a risk in terms of gaining buy-in from your team. And that’s especially true if you have big, visionary goals.

I didn’t just want our team to make MicroVideos, for instance. I wanted a Netflix-style platform through which we could deliver microlearning content at scale for all organizations. I wanted a thousand videos of all different styles, and I wanted the data behind the scenes to be trackable and measurable for client organizations.

So of course, the initial feedback to my idea was, “Oh, no way, Don. That’s totally unreasonable,” but because I also have a great, flexible, resilient team that’s willing to galvanize around new ideas, their second response was “OK, we can do this, but you’re going to have to add some more resources for the team to get this done.”

We hired a full-time videographer. We poured a good amount of financial investment into the product, and in every team meeting for nearly six months, this product was the number one focus and priority. Importantly, we also pulled a lot of other things off the shelf. When you’re asking your already-busy team to take on something new and huge, you have to be willing to take some things off their plates.

One thing I think I did well was slowing down to talk with Jackie Ferguson, our Head of Content and Programming, and explain how the information we were putting into these MicroVideos could be reused across the organization – the research, video production and technology build-out would all become part of our technology infrastructure. Our video processes are now so much better than they ever were before. We understand how to produce short and longer-form content, and we diversified the type of videos on the platform so we’re not only producing scripted videos but also fireside chats, acted scenes and animations. Our team has a new skill set in addition to a world-class product.

What I had to slow down and explain to the team is that this innovation wasn’t just about building MicroVideos by The Diversity Movement. It was about building our internal capacity to deliver high performing, highly impactful content in a delivery distribution channel that is more aligned with the way consumers and organizations digest educational information.

At first, we thought the market wanted structured standalone training courses. But we’ve figured that we need a portfolio of educational tools to meet people where they are, with the time they have, and in a way they’re ready to receive. To do that, we needed to produce content that would be available on mobile devices, through a Learning Management System, through a website, and more. Whichever channel somebody wanted to use to gain that information, we needed to pursue it.

A PARALLEL TO DEI COMMITMENT

One surprising leadership piece for me was to see how my own commitment to innovation parallels the way I tell clients to invest in DEI as an organization-wide initiative. I believed in this idea. I knew it was market-worthy, and I was wholeheartedly committed to the end product. I also knew if I wanted it to live, I had to get my whole team on board.

For leaders committing to DEI action, the same steps are important. First, you have to be wholly committed. Listen to your team’s reluctance while reassuring them the end goal is worthwhile, and in the meantime, dedicate the necessary resources to make it happen. Also, you’ll gain buy-in more easily by connecting DEI with other things the team is already familiar with. Like I said above, any time you try to transition people to something that is new and uncertain, you have to show them how it will build their skill sets and capacities as a team in order to make the new thing feel less scary and risky.

With DEI, it helps to make the first steps easily conquerable – like, watch one MicroVideo every day for a week, then let’s talk about what we liked and didn’t like. That simple first step is important to innovation too, because it reduces the fear your team will feel about pursuing something new and outside their comfort zones. For instance, the first step we took toward MicroVideos was just repurposing things we’d already written from white papers, guidebooks and blog articles into talking-head scripts for video.

BUILDING CONFIDENCE FOR GREATER INNOVATION

Here’s the biggest lesson in my team’s MicroVideo win. People don’t want to risk their self-esteem by moving outside the things they’re already good at. But once they get traction through the first small steps, those new things aren’t so scary, and they’re willing to reach further.

As the leader, you have to create an environment where failure is just part of the learning process. I’ll tell you; we made a lot of bad MicoVideos before we got to the good ones – a lot of bad scripts and bad contractors. It was messy. But that mess was an important piece of success.

When you’re innovating, it has to be messy so it can be magnificent over time. There is wisdom and power in things being messy because people learn that it’s OK – in fact, it’s good for them – to live outside their comfort zones and to fail forward together, repeatedly.

Once they’ve failed and then succeeded and done something great as a team, here’s the most powerful thing. The next time they do it, they can dream even bigger and achieve even more. Next time, the fear and risk are smaller, and the team can more quickly get focused on the win. By making innovation into a habit and by understanding that mistakes are part of the process, you learn that innovation is fun. Failing is fun.

As a leader, innovation means teaching your team that being excellent at work isn’t only about doing the things you’re already good at. It’s about taking risks so you can be greater. Those are the lessons I’ve been reminded of while pursuing this “World Changing Idea.”

About the Author

Donald Thompson is co-founder and CEO of The Diversity Movement which offers an employee-experience product suite that personalizes diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) through data, technology, and expert-curated content. Their microlearning platform, Microvideos by The Diversity Movement, was recently named one of Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas. With two decades of experience growing and leading firms, Donald is a thought leader on goal achievement, influencing company culture and driving exponential growth. An entrepreneur, public speaker, author, podcaster, Certified Diversity Executive (CDE) and executive coach, Donald also serves as a board member for several organizations in marketing, healthcare, banking, technology and sports. His autobiography, Underestimated: A CEO’s Unlikely Path to Success, is available for pre-order now. Connect with or follow him on Linkedin to learn more.