Don't Confuse Creativity with Innovation

According to James Andrew and Harold Sirkin at the Boston Consulting Group, there are three approaches to innovation: the integrator approach, the orchestrator approach and the licensor approach. Again the trick is to know which you're best at and work out what suits the specific situation or market.

Most big companies try and control everything (the integrator approach), but this takes time and money. So much time and money in fact that urgency and focus have a tendency to disappear. However, this approach can suit big companies in established markets where a core skill or brand that can be leveraged.

The second approach is to join forces with other companies to implement an idea (the orchestrator approach). This reduces the risk (and the returns), but it's a smart move when you're dealing with an idea that's outside your comfort zone such as a new technology or new distribution channel.

The final approach (the licensor model) is to simply sell your idea to someone else. This suits ideas with a strong intellectual property component where you're too busy (or you lack the necessary skills and brand credibility) to implement it yourself.

So, to sum up, don't confuse creativity with innovation. Identify what you're good at and stick to it. Most individuals and organizations are not great at everything, and it's a sign of strength to get some help or cooperate in the area where you're weakest.

Here are a few tips and suggestions to increase your level of creativity and innovation.

• Work out what your core skill or offer is and innovate around that area.
• Don't look for new ideas until you're exhausted your supply of old (existing) ideas.
• If you're having trouble sorting your ideas use an idea matrix.
• If an idea's great but just doesn't fit, don't waste it -- try selling it to another company.
• People and markets naturally reject new ideas so think about paths of least resistance.

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