In an article recently published at The Daily Best, the Chilean way for innovation is explained with the mega-rescue of the 33 miners last week.  Here are 5 success factors for every innovation process:

1. Fast decision process
   “First, a rapid decision to take action at a high level of intensity came from the top. In general, without direction and buy-in, large-scale innovation efforts will not move at the speed or with the focus that is needed. Bottom-up is fine—and in vogue—in terms of innovation diversity, but direction during a crisis is necessary.”
2. Culture of collaboration and empowerment
   “Second, this empowerment led to an extraordinary culture of collaboration, surprising even to many insiders, that demonstrated a pragmatic willingness to embrace new rules and roles. Recall that this was at its heart a government-led effort to address a private-sector problem.”
3. Exploring alternative solutions
   “Third, the strategy involved developing multiple solution pathways rather than putting all the eggs in one basket. In conditions of uncertainty, all avenues must be explored even at the expense of redundancy and wasted resources.”
4. Business people sponsoring and controlling the process
   “Fourth, the government was in control of the story. It managed expectations around the tempo and potential outcome of the rescue in a way that shielded the work process from undue intrusion by media or an overwrought public.”
5. Multilevel objectives to reach a goal
   “Finally, the desired outcome was defined broadly to ensure success on multiple levels. The goal was not simply to bring 33 people to the surface, but to bring them back in the best possible condition.”

These five factors summarize very well how can we focus on innovation in the service industry.

Note: This post is published in Spanish at Service Innovation Chile (SSME Chile)

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Ricardo Seguel
Service Innovation Chile
http://blog.ssmechile.org