In my last article I wrote about what innovation means and why, in a changing world it’s an important survival strategy for any organisation – but how in a changing world do you focus on what to innovate about?

Innovation is not about making any idea happen. It’s about making the ideas happen that get you or your organization closer to achieving its goal or mission. The starting point for all innovation isn’t having ideas. The starting point is asking the question ‘why?’ All good innovation must have a purpose. It must do at least one of the following;

Address an unmet need, for example the online start up Airbnb that allows people like you and me to rent room in their property to others, met the need of choice of providing affordable accommodation around the world

Solve a problem, like Australia’s V-Line trains ‘Guilt Trips’ offering off peak tickets to help parents encourage their kids to visit them. 


Exploit an opportunity, like ‘theFacebook’ a website originally developed in 
2004 to connect Harvard students was overwhelmed with demand. By 
December 2014 Facebook had 1.35 billion monthly active users. 


Provide a better, more effective way to do something for example ‘ode’ a device that encourages appetite in people with Dementia, helping them stay healthy and live independently for longer. 


How to find something to innovate about

Albert Einstein allegedly said, “If I had one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution.”


Time at the beginning of the innovation process to really understand where to focus your innovation is time well spent. Here are five simple tips to get your innovation efforts off to the right start. 

Ask why, if you are new in your role (less than 6 months) then you tend to do this; you have unwritten permission to ask questions, but after about 6 months you become part of the culture and the way things are done and your ability to ask why reduces. Act like you are in week 1 at your new role and ask why do we do it like this? more. (This has been described to me as ‘toddler syndrome!)

Talk to your supporters more, what problems do they have supporting you, and how could you help them solve them, for example do people leave your website before taking an action, find out why, then you can solve that problem for them. 

Talk to your beneficiaries more, what problems do they have that your services could solve, for example do older people prefer to use the phone service as they like the excuse to talk to someone, whilst they can use the internet information service, their problem is not just about obtaining the information they need, its about the need for human contact.

Look for workarounds; people use to make up for the limitations of existing solutions, like Masaru Ibuka, Sony's co-founder, who often traveled lugging a bulky cassette recorder around to listen to music when he travelled. This 
workaround led to the development of the Sony Walkman, a portable stereo cassette player.

Look for why people don't buy; like the scientists at a major global pharmaceutical company developing a drug for depression that had excellent results but was not selling. They discovered that the side effects of the drug, which could include weight gain and sleep loss was overriding its benefits. They made modifications resulting in marginally lower performance but much less intrusive side effects. The new drug sold.

What is the unmet need, opportunity problem or better way that you can start to innovate around to help you achieve your mission?

Lucy Gower is a trainer and coach specialising in innovation. She led the first innovation team at UK children’s charity NSPCC and it was there that Lucy realized that you can have the best ideas, processes and technology, but if you don’t have the right people working together then even the best ideas will fail. Since leaving the NSPCC in 2012 Lucy has worked with over 50 organisations including Amnesty, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Nesta, The Children’s Society and Greenpeace.

Lucy is also author of The Innovation Workout, a blogger and conference speaker, and is often seen on Twitter @lucyinnovation