Continuous Improvement or Innovation. Pick One.

In a world of constantly rotating buzzwords, you could be forgiven for assuming that continuous improvement (CI) and innovation are just two words for the same thing. And while they both are broadly about “doing stuff better” they actually perform very different functions. Conflating the two is a bit like saying a center and point guard are the same because they both play basketball, even though they fill very different roles on the team (_{*insert sports metaphor* – check}).

Today I want to jump into what exactly the difference between the two is, how they can obstruct each other, and a couple ideas for how you can help them succeed together.

How are CI and Innovation different?

The below graphic is my favorite way to highlight the difference between these two strategies.

Continuous improvement (CI) is typically focused on local optimization. This does not mean “small”, it’s more a methodology for rigorously exposing and improving the deficiencies in an existing process or product through experimentation and data. Think iPhone4 to iPhone5.

Innovation is a loaded term, but here I’m talking about things that shift how a process or product works, often fundamentally. You’re addressing a need in a completely new way, not building off of the prior iteration. It doesn’t have to be as dramatic as iPhone5 to iPad, but that’s the gist.

So, what’s the big deal?

From the above graphic CI and innovation look like natural compliments – and they definitely should be. But without clear guidance, they often cannibalize each other, devolving into competing strategies that limits their impact and leaves your team burn-out and jaded.

How CI prevents Innovation

This is your classic Innovator’s Dilemma, to distill it into one of my favorite passages;

 The very decision-making and resource allocation processes that are key to the success of established companies are the very processes that reject disruptive technologies: listening to customers; tracking competitors actions carefully; and investing resources to design and build higher-performance, higher-quality products that will yield greater profit. These are the reasons why great firms stumbled or failed when confronted with disruptive technology change.

Innovator’s Dilemma ― Clayton M. Christensen

The challenge is that “innovation” often looks like failure from the standpoint of local optimization. Typically an innovative change doesn’t immediately result in a stunning market share, stellar profits, or great customer feedback. When a team or company’s view is too narrowly focused on quarterly results, innovation dies a perpetually premature death.

How ^{Misunderstood} Innovation sabotages CI

In my experience, the biggest problem here comes when a team or executive misunderstands what “innovation” is. There is a misconception that innovation is a jackpot waiting to be hit, or a treasure hiding somewhere in your process. That if we only look hard enough we’ll stumble upon some hidden Outlook shortcut that will save us hundreds of hours, or a new tool will painlessly eliminate all our defects (for FREE!!!).

With this get-rich-quick mentality is detrimental to continuous improvement, which relies on iterative growth pointed in a consistent direction. If you’ve ever been in an org that’s hooked on the idea of innovation you’ll be familiar with the signs.

• A new innovation program each time there is exec turnover
• Wildly swinging priorities from quarter to quarter
• The mad sugar-rush and then lethargic crash that comes after highly marketed initiatives conspicuously disappear without a noticeable impact

All these things make it near impossible to build the dedicated groundswell needed to create a productive CI environment.

_{ps. check out our recent post on “Why is creating an improvement culture so hard?“ for a deeper look into this topic}

A few ideas to help Continuous Improvement and Innovation succeed together.

“Okay Thomas I get, we’re thoroughly depressed and convinced of the futile nature of improvement. Now what?”

First off – sorry.

Second off – don’t despair! There are some impactful actions you can take NOW to help BOTH innovation and continuous improvement thrive in your team/department/company.

1. Keep them separated: Continuous improvement and innovation fail when they are judged by the same criteria. Don’t expect an innovation strategy to deliver results in time for your next earnings call, and don’t expect CI to reshape your industry .
2. While the tactical aspects of CI and innovation should be run and judged separately, it’s critical they share a common “true north”. By keeping a unified top-level direction you ensure that their individual progress doesn’t cancel out at a strategic level.
3. Use continuous improvement as a feeder for your innovation! A natural byproduct of a well-run improvement culture is a growing list of opportunities and obstacles. CI will winnow these down and experiment to find an optimal path toward your goals, but what about all those ideas you don’t use? Some will be quickly disproven, but there will remain plenty of untested long-shots that may perfectly suited of an innovation launch.

“What if we broke all the rules and did X” probably isn’t a good next step for your CI program, but may be just what your innovation group is looking for.

Have you seen any other ways to make innovation and CI work well together? Let us know!

In the meantime, happy innovating!