Innovation = Unbounded Ideation + Bounded Process

One the huge challenges of an innovation strategy is that is is multi-dimensional. I always focus on innovation as both a process (structural capital) and innovation as an ecosystem (the entire intellectual capital system).

In a post in his Innovate on Purpose blog, Jeffry Phillips has an interesting take here on this kind of dynamic:

So, in the vast majority of firms, we have exactly the worst configuration of these two axes – bounded ideation and unbounded (really undefined) processes. What would it take to shift to an unbounded ideation and a bounded (defined) process? Investment in the process, consistency and commitment to follow the process and a dramatic reduction in perceived risk of generating disruptive ideas.

I think that good understanding and management of intangibles (people, process, culture, networks)  is a prerequisite to unbounded ideation.