INNOVATION, THE PROFESSIONAL WORLD
Innovation: back to basic or free style
September 18, 2019
By dint of harping on our ears with "Start-u pp Nation", we had forgotten that it is above all companies: large, medium and small that who innovate. Our two events in June: Marc Giget, President of the Paris Club of Innovation Directors, and Olivier ClanchinChairman of the Triballat, were on hand to remind us. Two tones, two backgrounds, two generations. Two visions and two experiences of innovation in France.
Start up, move along, there's nothing to see
Let's face it, we were blown away by Marc Giget's diatribe, bordering on French bashing, at the start of our lunch: "In France, we're not pro-innovation"; or, "Nobody comes to France for French Tech". Start-ups, unicorns, incubators and consultants all had a field day. We even blinked at the mention of France being mocked for its position as "world leader in start-ups". And yet, we realized that it's hard to find the "French nugget" that has achieved exponential growth of €1 billion in 10 years, and ensured its survival by forgoing public subsidies...
Innovation, the premium on time and experience
We were ready to pack our bags for a country where innovation would not arouse the mistrust of our fellow citizens, and where "government storytelling would not verge on mythomania by exalting a sector under artificial respiration". When, fortunately, the horizon brightened and Marc Giget's enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and large French groups took flight. For him, longevity and experience are the keys to innovation. The proof is in the health of the French jewels: L'Oréal, LVMH, Accor... They are organized to prepare for the future and, above all, to move from innovation to production. And to quote La Redoute, which has pulled off an unexpected and remarkable "remontada" in the face of Amazon. It is now No. 1 in smartphone commerce and has the most modern logistics platform. The first point of convergence between our two guests lies in their belief in the long term and in the ability of companies to organize innovation - whether in products, production processes, management styles or CSR - and to have the time to measure performance. For, as the Chairman of the Triballat Group reminds us, "financial performance is ultimately fundamental to sustainability".
Putting people at the heart of innovation
The second point they have in common is their conviction that the innovation of today and tomorrow must place people at the heart of their projects. For Marc Giget, this is reflected in the current rise of the SSE. And the way it has gone astray: Bottom of the pyramid, since, in a world where the middle classes are becoming poorer, the challenge for major brands is to offer more accessible and less complex goods and services: Citroën's Cactus, Dacia's Duster, or Total's Total Access and SNCF's Ouigo offers... Olivier Clanchin believes in the virtues of the circular economy. He cites Gunter Pauli and his concept of the blue economy, based on zero waste and biomimicry. In his view, the answer can only be local.
In concrete terms, he uses a wood-fired boiler for one of his plants, sourced from forests less than 80 km away. In eco-design, he uses new enzymes, with bacteria fed by the products. A whole new model is guiding the Group. For the company, waste, like energy, is becoming more than a source of value - it's becoming a competitive lever.
Innovation leader: long live agility!
At first glance, the positions of Marc Giget and Olivier Clanchin are far apart. For the former, the innovation leader can only be a specialist in a research center, laboratory or BU. The concept of "fresh eyes" doesn't hold up over time, especially not when it comes to demanding results. This would be the end of the CIO, propelled into companies, right up to local authorities, to disseminate and orchestrate innovation within the organization. In short, he doesn't seem to have much taste for the "all innovation leaders" trend . And yet, when he praises the "controlled, objectified agility of intrapreneurship": these teams mobilized internally around innovative projects, made up of motivated employees, and judged on the results obtained - units operating almost biologically in the mode: "if you find it, you test it, you develop it, you launch it" - isn't he precisely evoking the mutation at work within the Triballat Group? For Olivier Clanchin, this approach to innovation, which involves not reserving it for R&D or marketing, is new. But, like quality before it, innovation is cross-functional and must be embraced by everyone. This means instilling in the organization a logic of "liberation", which draws its source from the "liberated enterprise", in a setting in motion whose key is collective intelligence. Olivier Clanchin describes the Group's Advise Process approach, which consists of allowing anyone to take up a subject if, and only if, they have consulted all the experts and stakeholders, with impact measurement and cost study.
Towards empowering management
Olivier Clanchin speaks of a real challenge to traditional organization, which is not painless, and requires support, the right to make mistakes and guidance in making choices. This new field of possibilities means that teams have to take responsibility. The condition is to provide the keys within a given framework. He confides that this has led the Group to reflect on a new role for managers: from expert manager to empowering manager, or resource manager, in the vein of agile leadership, with a major training program for managers, to train them to train themselves.
As a result, organizational methods and human resources now seem to be THE area of innovation to invest in, since they are just as strategic as technological innovation.
