How to Foster Breakthrough Innovation for 3M Way

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Recommended: An analysis of 3m, the innovation company

How to Foster Breakthrough Innovation for 3M Way

Innovation at its Core

3M's innovation culture comes from the times when the five entrepreneurs who created a company to explore a mine of what they thought being corundum, realized that all they had was a low grade anorthosite, which would not meet the requirements of the booming abrasive industry as they initially believed. Quickly they had to adapt and focus on producing sandpaper products. But it was with McKnight, who joined the company in 1907 has a bookkeeper and later would become Chairman for more than 40 years, that 3M really developed a culture towards systematic innovation. Since then, 3M has been characterized by McKnight's principles of supportive management which encourages employee initiative and innovation:

"Mistakes will be made. But if a person is essentially right, the mistakes he or she makes are not as serious in the long run as the mistakes management will make if it undertakes to tell those in authority exactly how they must do their jobs. Management that is destructively critical when mistakes are made kills initiative."

One of the executive's greatest contributions to innovation is to shape the organization's culture in ways that make it more radical innovation a more natural, accepted and valued activity. Dick Drew, one of the most innovative researchers in 3M history, had that impact on 3M, and though many of the employees at 3M are too young to have any personal recollections from him, his influence on 3M's innovation culture remains profound and his principles are cited regularly in breakthroughs.

Innovation as a process

Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship has been an essential part of 3M culture. Evolutionary spin-offs have developed a key...

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...f five people to generated new product ideas, among other tasks. One of their roles is to assist business units within 3M to generate new product ideas. They accomplish this by drawing up a plan to create ideas for products that will be marketable ten years in future. Once they have that plan in mind, they backtrack to the present year with new product ideas that are possible with today's technology. They then predict which additional products will be added year by year that will build upon each year's new technological advances to achieve their tenth year vision.

Coyne, 3M Senior VP, Research & Development, says that while for other companies innovation is an important element of their strategies, for 3M innovation is its strategy . Innovation is so important for 3M that is clearly stated in its vision "To be the most innovative company in the markets it serves".

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