Lenovo Group has launched Beyond Boundaries, a new report on the state of business innovation today. The study examines how businesses are innovating their way into the post-COVID future, not just to satisfy pent-up demand and unlock growth, but also to improve their social and environmental performance.
The result is the ‘Beyond Boundaries’ report, a deep-dive into changing attitudes to innovation, and the tensions that exist post-pandemic for businesses looking to re-build and grow.
Report highlights include the findings that:
• Businesses recognize that diversity is directly related to successful innovation, but there is more work to do before individuals can be their authentic selves at work.
• Disrupting a stifling, hierarchical culture – also related to effective innovation – is far from easy. The study finds some leaders are struggling to embrace a bottom-up working environment.
• Business agility has led to improved innovation. However, there are fears that these gains will be lost as firms transition back into the office or adopt a hybrid model that balances on-site and remote working.
Tellingly, for all the positive talk about risk-taking and innovation, many businesses remain wary of leaping into the unknown. Six out of every ten companies (59%) say senior leadership often requests that an innovation is discontinued for being too risky or experimental. This rises to 70% in North America.
And what of the much-vaunted environmental impact of innovation? It seems that the bigger the company, the more likely it is to be using innovation to improve environmental sustainability. Encouragingly, almost half (49%) of larger businesses say a key driver of innovation is to improve their overall performance in environmental sustainability.
Meanwhile 60% of larger businesses say the crisis catalyzed their efforts to use innovation to improve their social and environmental performance, compared with 54% of all those surveyed.
Other highlights include the findings that:
• Senior leaders say they want to step back and let innovation flourish, but the experience of junior executives suggests otherwise.
• Innovation relies on diversity, but the ability to “fit the mold” helps if you want to challenge the status quo.
• To unlock the next level of innovation, businesses should use technology to build on COVID-era openness and collaboration.
