Driving Innovation – Led Growth

The recent G20 meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Cairns followed a wide agenda, which included global tax provisions, strengthening bank governance, and global growth. Of the 1,000 identified growth measures reported by attendees, some 80% were new. In total the strategies put forward are expected to deliver global growth of 1.8%, just short of the 2% target set at the Sydney meeting earlier in 2014.

In a communiqué following the Cairns meeting The Hon Joe Hockey MP, Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia and host of the conference, said that the G20…

“Are determined to lift growth, and countries are willing to use all our macroeconomic levers – monetary, fiscal and structural policies – to meet this challenge.”

Acknowledging that the world economy is gaining momentum, Joe Hockey warned about the effects of complacency and of residual risks across the world.

G20 members are reportedly determined to redouble their efforts to meet the 2% target but also agreed to move “from government-led growth towards private sector-led growth.” Admittedly some of this growth will be based on infrastructure projects with the G20 agreeing to…

“A Global Infrastructure Initiative, which will include member country commitments to boost investment through best-practice planning and development.”

But if global growth is to succeed it can’t just be up to G20 countries promoting infrastructure projects. The challenge is on for organizations across the globe to take action, to boost growth and that means adopting new strategies to enhance business performance. And organizations can’t rely on ‘same old, same old’ when it comes to promoting growth. Far from it: with 72% of major UK company directors admitting that their organizations are too reliant on fading revenue streams, the drive is on not only to move away from those streams but to adopt new strategies which will create the future.

In short, the name of the game is now innovation. 69% of UK corporates now name innovation in their top three priorities and when 75% of CEOs say fast changing market conditions are forcing companies to reinvent themselves quicker than ever, the only clear way ahead is to adopt an innovation model which leverages Intelligence, Collaboration and Adaptability to drive growth. Something covered in-depth in our ‘Building a Next Generation Organization’ white paper. For many organizations this new model will require a complete overhaul of systems, processes and attitudes. A true innovation culture is not just the preserve of a few, tasked with inventing new stuff; rather it is an organization-wide culture in which every individual constantly looks for fresh opportunities to improve product, process and customer experience.

As a strategic advisor to clients all over the world I’ve seen at first hand the seismic changes, which some organizations have to overcome before they can truly move towards innovation-led growth. Silos, politics, hierarchy, inertia; all have to be swept away in a move towards collaboration and agility. But, with 68% of mainstream directors thinking that their leadership team is better at delivering efficiency than growth the challenge is on. And this figure rises to a staggering 83% in the banking sector, perhaps one reason why the G20 finance leaders acknowledge that there is still some work to do in further strengthening the banking system.

The G20 Finance leaders can only do so much in driving global growth. They can look at global conditions, make sweeping recommendations about changes which are required to finance, taxation and trade models and commit to following up on the 1,000 growth measures identified at the latest meeting. But ultimately, all of this work will be meaningless unless the businesses of the world step up and develop their innovation capability in order to drive global growth. I will shortly be issuing a white paper, designed to help organizations drive innovation-led growth. But in the meantime if you want to find out more about driving innovation-led growth perhaps it’s time you got in touch? Feel free to email Cris at cris@thefutureshapers.com or browse our website for more information on how Cris and his team help some of the world’s smartest companies succeed through innovation.