Innovation is a difficult exercise, with many failures, but which remains a permanent need, and is therefore the subject of many studies. The Observatoire des Cosmétiques recently echoed an interesting study in this direction¹. It highlights some organisational and development errors that can have a lasting negative impact on activities. These include the youth of the teams assigned to innovative projects, or the lack of obstinacy of brands in the face of innovative approaches.
¹ See article
On the maturity of the teams, let us not forget that obstinacy and patience are more effective arguments than the enthusiasm for new techniques that have not yet proved their worth. This is a particularly delicate point to manage and we have seen everything. Initially,"veterans" were assigned to innovation activities who were no longer well known what to do and how to get rid of them. But they had neither the means nor the power. So they very often found themselves in a situation of failure. We concluded that innovation was not useful or worse, that it is not with them that we should do it.
So, change of tactics. And then we saw teams of young"hip technophiles" flourish on the new techno. A lot of these teams are still active. Their contribution is often just as debatable, both because they do not always propose real solutions but rather incomplete ideas, and often get discouraged quite quickly forgetting that the best synonym for innovation is obstinacy. Moreover, these teams do not often have the power or even the means, even if things have progressed on this last point.
So, what's the solution?
I do not have it, …
