General Mills Chats about Open Innovation: My Takeaways

Yesterday I participated in a Twitter chat with Jeff Bellairs, the senior director of Connected Innovation at General Mills (GM), who created the General Mills Worldwide Innovation Network (G-WIN). Hosted by Stefan Lindegaard, the chat focused on GM’s experience with implementing open innovation (OI). (For more about open innovation, check out my blog post from last week after the tweet chat with Henry Chesbrough.)

Jeff provided some valuable insights, and I’ve expanded upon four them with some of my own thoughts.

“Honestly, we weren’t sure what to expect. We knew the P&G story but wasn’t sure how that would translate for us.”
This was refreshing to hear. I’ve often wondered if the successes of leaders like Procter & Gamble set the bar of success too high. Perhaps if we acknowledge the uncertainty of the outcomes of OI at the outset, more organization might be willing to give it a try. (For more on overcoming the barriers to getting started with OI, see this post that introduces Fuentek’s Understand–Address–Present model.)

“Start small (under the radar); identify an internal business sponsor who is willing to experiment; clearly articulate a significant business need (pain point); and focus all your resources on solving that.”
There are two key details here. First, the OI program at GM began 6 years ago with one person working as a catalyst behind the scenes to help business teams. Second, the General Mills OI process starts with their business teams—each business maintains a Top 10 Needs List. In our experience establishing collaborative partnerships for OI, Fuentek also has found that beginning small and staying aligned to the overall organization’s strategy are two fundamentals for success. (If you’re having trouble identifying not only the needs but also the internal customer for those needs, check out this post.)

“Big companies are great at growing businesses, we are less great at pioneering emerging niches the way an entrepreneur can.”
Consider this advice when looking at what team members should be involved in an OI effort. Tap into the entrepreneurial types at your organization for support of OI efforts—it may increase your chance of success with OI.

“Biggest surprise was that there were tremendous benefits from connecting more effectively internally at General Mills”
One of the unsung benefits of OI is that it provides an opportunity for making better internal connections and building those internal relationships that might not otherwise be supported through routine R&D endeavors, which can often occur in silos. Building those relationships helps the organization be honest about its capabilities, goals, and needs—an essential step for successful OI. (Another key way to understand your capabilities is analyze and prioritize your IP portfolio. You can read more on this and other steps to get started with OI through Symbiotic Innovation.)

Thanks to both Jeff and Stefan for the opportunity to learn about the General Mills experience with OI. Do you have your own experiences implementing OI that mirror the GM story?

–By Nannette Stangle-Castor