Most of us are familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The theory on psychological health is now almost 70 years purpose rather than just profit, in stark contrast to prior generations, a testament to having already met their other needs.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

One could draw parallels between this hierarchy and the hierarchy of needs when it comes to innovation within a large company.

Let’s dig a little deeper into what I’ll dub the Hierarchy of Needs for Corporate Innovation.

Appearance:

Typically, organistions and senior executives tend to first respond to the obvious need to innovate (but the lack of vision or guidance) by calling town hall meetings and making bold proclomations of their employees to “go forth and innovate”. Unfortunately, little is done to build an environment where people can actually do this.

Examples:

• Senior executives visit Silicon Valley
• The word “innovation” litters annual reports and corporate publications but isn’t embeded into any genuine strategies
• Keynotes are delivered on innovation by external speakers
• Senior executives call for the workforce to “be bold and innovate” without creating an environment to support these behaviours

Awareness:

This step is all about improving executive and employee awareness and planting seeds for a mindset and cultural shift across the organisation. Helping people understand whythe organisation needs to innovate and what innovation actually is.

Examples:

• Idea contests and hackathons that tend to focus more on engaging employees and showing them a different approach to business and product development (as opposed to tangible revenue generating outcomes)