Innovation on the Agenda – Report from AICD Governance Summit 2017
I recently attended the AICD Governance Summit in Melbourne. Many of the key note speakers and experts sought to address the major challenges and opportunities for Australian business, with one theme above all else standing prominent – the need for businesses of all size, business model and sector to prepare for a daunting period of change.
Key note speaker – Elizabeth Bryan, Chair of Virgin Australia
This opening speech was particularly compelling, confronting the scale, complexity, ambiguity and totality of change that the business world will face in the next 20 years. The simple message was change or get overwhelmed by the change. Her recommendation was that organisations need to focus, from Board and Executive level, of the development of culture of adaptability and resilience. She proposed that the enablers of this are trust, respect, purpose and the key people to build these.
Another key point she addressed was that Company balance sheets now only represent 16% of company valuation – the remainder is brand, reputation, IP and human capital. With these combined influences of resilient cultures and complex valuations – the need for businesses to become more innovative across all areas of these valuation assessable criteria was portrayed as clear and a key challenge for Boards and Executive leadership.
Innovation break-out sessions
Two of the most popular breakout sessions over the two days were on Innovation – the first being practical methods for companies to drive innovation process, delivered by Andrew Klapka (more on this in my pending post on an interview with Andrew) and how to create a culture of innovation by Dr Amantha Imber. Both in the process and culturing innovation, the role of leadership was highlighted as key, both at the Executive level and into the senior and middle management, in driving the engagement with innovation to all corners of the bsiness. Good leaders foster an innovative culture by encouraging new ideas to be explored, with a higher tolerance failure than we currently experience in many business, recognised as a mode of learning e.g. Dare to Try award of Tata (see link for more info).
Over the course of numerous conversations I had with Directors and Executive leader the majority had certainly embraced that the gauntlet had been thrown down to Australian business to dare to engage in more innovative practices, in order to best prepare for the tumultuous trading conditions ahead both domestically and in the global market place.
Links –
Tata Dare to Try http://www.tata.com/article/inside/xqkFEPUqPbE=/TLYVr3YPkMU=
