Elijah Eilert is talking to Kumuda Suppayah an Innovation strategist, and business transformation expert in the Oil and Gas sector. 

Part 1 of the episode is designed around three main questions:

• What is innovation?
• How should innovation be measured?
• What are the biggest blockers to innovation in large organisations? 

This podcast episode explores the broad concept of innovation and its various facets. It begins by defining innovation as a departure from the norm and highlights the importance of tying innovation to specific outcomes. The discussion then delves into different types of innovation, including incremental, sustaining, and disruptive, with real-world examples illustrating their significance. Measuring innovation becomes a key focus, with an emphasis on balancing leadership's need for certainty with employees' concerns about potential consequences. The episode also addresses common challenges in fostering innovation within large organizations, such as miscommunication, misaligned expectations, and resistance to measurement. Overall, it provides valuable insights into the nuances of innovation in organizational settings and offers strategies for overcoming common barriers.

[02:28] What is Innovation?

Kumuda defines innovation as doing something differently from how it is currently done.

She shares her approach to explaining innovation to her own children, emphasizing change as a fundamental aspect. She discusses the importance of tying innovation to specific outcomes or goals to facilitate acceptance and adaptation.

[04:03] Different Types of Innovation:

• Elijah and Kumuda explore the idea that innovation can encompass both large and small changes.
• Kumuda introduces three specific types of innovation:

[04:28] Incremental Innovation

• Something that often involves process improvements. Examples of time-saving changes that enhance performance and employee experience are shared.

[05:40] Sustaining Innovation:

• An effort to maintain market position. Product innovation and its role in adapting to customer needs are discussed. Digital transformation is highlighted as a key component of sustaining innovation, enabling real-time customer interaction and response.

[07:11] Disruptive Innovation:

• Kumuda introduces disruptive innovation as a form of innovation that disrupts traditional business models. The focus is on offering customers new and improved experiences while addressing pain points. The competitive advantages of disruptive innovation, including market expansion, are emphasized

[08:28] How Should Innovation be Measured?

Follow insights on two contrasting perspectives on measuring innovation: leadership's desire for certainty and employees' concerns about potential repercussions. She emphasizes the importance of implementing measurements that serve the needs of top management while also motivating employees with achievable targets.

• Kumuda suggests dividing measurement into categories such as input metrics output metrics or leading and lagging indicators.
• Lagging indicators are described as definitive measures that showcase the results of effort, such as revenue targets. For incremental innovation, examples of lagging indicators include time saved and increased revenue.
• The discussion briefly touches upon leading indicators for sustaining and disruptive innovation.
• The challenges in defining leading indicators for disruptive innovation are highlighted.
• Leading indicators are viewed as essential for employees to feel safe and ensure they are making daily efforts toward achieving future...