5 Ways to Kill Your Innovation Initiative appeared first on JPNicols.com.

"> 5 Ways to Kill Your Innovation Initiative - Bank Automation News
Bank Automation News

No products in the cart.

Subscribe
  • News
  • Data
  • Transactions
  • Events
    • Bank Automation Summit
    • Apply to Speak
    • Apply to Demo
  • Podcast
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinar: Emerging fintechs: New technologies you need to know now
    • Webinar Library
Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • AI
  • Business Banking
  • Core
  • Cloud
  • Payments
  • Retail Banking
  • Risk & Security
Bank Automation News
  • News
  • Data
  • Transactions
  • Events
    • Bank Automation Summit
    • Apply to Speak
    • Apply to Demo
  • Podcast
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinar: Emerging fintechs: New technologies you need to know now
    • Webinar Library
BAN PLUS
Log In
No Result
View All Result
Bank Automation News
No Result
View All Result

5 Ways to Kill Your Innovation Initiative

JP NicolsbyJP Nicols
October 24, 2014
in Archive
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0
Share on Facebook

5 Ways to Kill Your Innovation Initiative

5 ways to kill your innovation initiative

 

I often write and speak about the “Business Prevention Department” that lurks inside banks. Devoted to sniffing out and stamping out anything that looks “risky”, the Business Prevention Department is staffed with members committed to “protecting” their banks from those scary people who want to try unproven ideas.

As banks worldwide hurriedly launch accelerator programs, venture capital funds and internal innovation initiatives aimed at finding the next hot FinTech idea and separating themselves from the competition; here are five surefire tips from the Business Prevention Department to make sure those efforts fail.

 

1. Give Your Innovation Initiative No Power or Funding

One of the easiest and most common ways to make sure your innovation initiative goes absolutely nowhere is to staff it with junior-level people and make sure they can’t spend any real money. Senior people have real jobs devoted to protecting real products and revenue streams, and they can’t afford to be distracted by such folly.

Let the kids have some fun by meeting in the boardroom and playing around with the video-conferencing equipment, and have them present a PowerPoint to the board about every other quarter. Then you can teach them what it’s like in the real world when you grill them about all the ways their ideas won’t work and explain to them why you would never let them actually launch anything that could siphon business from any of your existing products.

2.   Give Your Innovation Initiative Full Power and Funding

But what if one of your Senior Executive Vice President Vice Chairmen Chief Business Line Officers read a book or attended a conference somewhere about innovation and wants to get in on the fun? Then you should put ALL of your Senior Executive Vice President Vice Chairmen Chief Business Line Officers on the “innovation committee”.

The best part of this strategy is that you don’t have to do any additional work at all. You just label the last 20 minutes of your Executive Committee meeting “Innovation Committee Report” and talk about all of the things you normally talk about. Did you add a new fee to your checking account disclosures because you were behind in your fee income goal? YOU JUST INNOVATED! It’s just that easy.

One warning about this strategy though; under no circumstances should you involve anybody with a rank below Brigadier Admiral. They don’t really understand executive priorities, and they will unnecessarily bog things down with irrelevant distractions like “customer pain points” and “I was reading something from Brett King, and he said…”

3.   Turn Your Innovation Initiative Into a High-Tech Suggestion Box

Some innovation consultants will try to tell you that your innovation initiative should include diverse perspectives from all over your organization. Some will even claim such nonsense as “those closest to the customers should be empowered to come up with unique approaches”. I know you know better, but some of these hucksters are pretty tricky, and your CEO might fall for it. They might even sell your bank some fancy software to help connect your people and help them develop and communicate their ideas.

Don’t worry, there’s an easy solution to this. Remember when you read that book on Excellence back in the 80’s and you decided to put a suggestion box in the employee cafeteria? What happened? The first couple of months people eagerly dropped slips of paper into the slot, and then you and the rest of the leadership team painstakingly listed, categorized, and evaluated the ideas. Then you formed task-forces and subgroups to analyze, prioritize, evaluate, and stack rank the ideas, and then report out the results in quarterly town hall style meetings.

They learned their lesson soon enough and stopped giving you suggestions then, and you can do it again now. You don’t even have to report back at all. The deafening silence ought to do it.

4.   Expect Immediate Results From Your Innovation Initiative

If someone is insisting on innovating, at least make sure that it pays off financially. Preferably this quarter.

Apply your usual ROI, ROE, ROA and Efficiency Ratio measures against every idea, no matter how early stage it may be. If it can’t be NPV-positive against a decent hurdle rate by the end of the year, kill it. Those creative types don’t really understand the real world of business, so it’s up to you to make sure they learn that this isn’t kindergarten art class.

5.   Lock Your Innovation Initiative In Its Own Silo

Let’s say an Innovation Watch has been issued for your area—this means that conditions are favorable for innovation, even though no actual innovation may be present. Maybe there has even been an official Innovation Warning; that means that innovation is imminent, or possibly even has been sighted touching down in the area. Don’t panic.

You can isolate yourself and the rest of your bank from the damaging winds of change by locking the innovation team securely in their own silo. A windowless basement conference room is ideal, but even if your local innovation system has gathered enough strength to have it’s own brick-walled loft with jeans and T-shirt clad women and bearded men in hoodies, you can still ride out the storm.

What makes innovation dangerous is contact with people in your company who are open to trying new things, able and willing to fund early-stage experiments and open to exposing early prototypes to actual customers. With careful firewalling, stonewalling and sandbagging, you can rest assured that you will have once again protected your shareholders and customers from the untold risks of the unproven.

___________

This post originally appeared on the Deluxe Forward Banker blog.

 

Take the Bank Innovators Council Survey:

BIC Survey

The post 5 Ways to Kill Your Innovation Initiative appeared first on JPNicols.com.

Tags: Bank InnovationLeadership
Previous Post

VIDEO: Capital One Shows Samuel L. Jackson’s Bloopers

Next Post

Apple Ambitions in Fintech

Related Posts

Image by CanStock
Archive

Blend Labs integrates acquisition’s mortgage automation process

August 20, 2021
Photo by CanStock
Archive

Chilean fintech looks for slice of giant money transfers market

August 5, 2021
Image by CanStock
Risk & Security

Listen: How banks can protect themselves against cybersecurity risks

August 3, 2021
Next Post

Apple Ambitions in Fintech

Please login to join discussion

Stay Informed with Our Newsletters

EMERGING FINTECH DIRECTORY

Emerging Fintech Directory

The Buzz Podcast

RETAIL BANKING

Huntington Bank’s new branch in Spartanburg

Huntington Bank resolves outage

May 7, 2025
bank

Barclays, Banco Santander, Lloyds plan product expansion

May 5, 2025
satisfactiin

Online banks lead FIs in customer satisfaction

May 2, 2025

SPONSORED

Just Released! 2025 Strategy Benchmark

May 1, 2025

Leverage Treasury Management to Turn Fraud Prevention Into a Strategic, Revenue-Generating Opportunity

April 1, 2025

A growth mindset in banking requires AI

March 27, 2025
  • About Us
  • Help Center
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Terms
  • ADA Compliance
  • Advertise

 Manage Cookie Consent

Connect

twitter linkedin podcast podcast podcast
© 2025 Royal Media
No Result
View All Result
  • NEWS
    • All News
    • AI
    • Business Banking
    • Core
    • Cloud
    • Payments
    • Retail Banking
    • Risk & Security
  • DATA
  • TRANSACTIONS
  • EVENTS
    • Bank Automation Summit
  • PODCAST
  • WEBINARS
    • Upcoming Webinar
    • Webinar Library
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • Log In / Account

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • NEWS
    • All News
    • AI
    • Business Banking
    • Core
    • Cloud
    • Payments
    • Retail Banking
    • Risk & Security
  • DATA
  • TRANSACTIONS
  • EVENTS
    • Bank Automation Summit
  • PODCAST
  • WEBINARS
    • Upcoming Webinar
    • Webinar Library
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • Log In / Account

THIS WEBSITE USES COOKIES

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “I CONSENT”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.

Cookie settingsI CONSENT

Review our Cookie Policies
.
Manage Cookie Consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
__cfruidsessionCloudflare sets this cookie to identify trusted web traffic.
__RequestVerificationTokensessionThis cookie is set by web application built in ASP.NET MVC Technologies. This is an anti-forgery cookie used for preventing cross site request forgery attacks.
_abck1 yearThis cookie is used to detect and defend when a client attempt to replay a cookie.This cookie manages the interaction with online bots and takes the appropriate actions.
34f6831605sessionGeneral purpose platform session cookie, used by sites written in JSP. Usually used to maintain an anonymous user session by the server.
a64cedc0bfsessionGeneral purpose platform session cookie, used by sites written in JSP. Usually used to maintain an anonymous user session by the server.
ak_bmsc2 hoursThis cookie is used by Akamai to optimize site security by distinguishing between humans and bots
ARRAffinitysessionARRAffinity cookie is set by Azure app service, and allows the service to choose the right instance established by a user to deliver subsequent requests made by that user.
ARRAffinitySameSitesessionThis cookie is set by Windows Azure cloud, and is used for load balancing to make sure the visitor page requests are routed to the same server in any browsing session.
AWSELBsessionAssociated with Amazon Web Services and created by Elastic Load Balancing, AWSELB cookie is used to manage sticky sessions across production servers.
bm_sz4 hoursThis cookie is set by the provider Akamai Bot Manager. This cookie is used to manage the interaction with the online bots. It also helps in fraud preventions
cf_ob_infopastThe cf_ob_info cookie is set by Cloudflare to provide information on HTTP Status Code returned by the origin web server, the Ray ID of the original failed request and the data center serving the traffic.
cf_use_obpastCloudflare sets this cookie to improve page load times and to disallow any security restrictions based on the visitor's IP address.
CONCRETE5sessionThis cookie is set by the provider Concrete5 web content management system. This is a necessary cookie used for maintaining the user session between pages.
connect.sid1 monthThis cookie is used for authentication and for secure log-in. It registers the log-in information.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
cookiesession11 yearThis cookie is set by the Fortinet firewall. This cookie is used for protecting the website from abuse.
crmcsrsessionGeneral purpose platform session cookie, used by sites written in JSP. Usually used to maintain an anonymous user session by the server.
ep20130 minutesThis cookie is set by Wufoo for load balancing, site traffic and preventing site abuse.
JSESSIONIDsessionThe JSESSIONID cookie is used by New Relic to store a session identifier so that New Relic can monitor session counts for an application.
LS_CSRF_TOKENsessionCloudflare sets this cookie to track users’ activities across multiple websites. It expires once the browser is closed.
PHPSESSIDsessionThis cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed.
sxa_sitesessionThis cookie is used to identify the webiste visitor's session state across page requests on server.
ts3 yearsPayPal sets this cookie to enable secure transactions through PayPal.
ts_c3 yearsPayPal sets this cookie to make safe payments through PayPal.
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
wordpress_test_cookiesessionThis cookie is used to check if the cookies are enabled on the users' browser.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
CookieDurationDescription
__cf_bm30 minutesThis cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management.
_zcsr_tmpsessionZoho sets this cookie for the login function on the website.
663a60c55dsessionThis cookie is related to Zoho (Customer Service) Chatbox
bcookie2 yearsLinkedIn sets this cookie from LinkedIn share buttons and ad tags to recognize browser ID.
bscookie2 yearsLinkedIn sets this cookie to store performed actions on the website.
e188bc05fesessionThis cookie is set in relation to Zoho Campaigns
geosessionThis cookie is used for identifying the geographical location by country of the user.
iamcsrsessionZoho (Customer Support) sets this cookie and is used for tracking visitors (for performance purposes)
langsessionLinkedIn sets this cookie to remember a user's language setting.
languagesessionThis cookie is used to store the language preference of the user.
lidc1 dayLinkedIn sets the lidc cookie to facilitate data center selection.
optimizelyEndUserId1 yearOptimizely uses this cookie to store a visitor's unique identifier which is a combination of a timestamp and a random number. Different variations of web parts are shown to users that optimizes the website's user experience.
tableau_localesessionTableau uses this cookie to determine the preferred language and country-setting of the visitor - This allows the website to show content most relevant to that region and language.
UserMatchHistory1 monthLinkedIn sets this cookie for LinkedIn Ads ID syncing.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
CookieDurationDescription
AWSELBCORS20 minutesThis cookie is used by Elastic Load Balancing from Amazon Web Services to effectively balance load on the servers.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
__gads1 year 24 daysThe __gads cookie, set by Google, is stored under DoubleClick domain and tracks the number of times users see an advert, measures the success of the campaign and calculates its revenue. This cookie can only be read from the domain they are set on and will not track any data while browsing through other sites.
_ga2 yearsThe _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_gcl_au3 monthsProvided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services.
_gid1 dayInstalled by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
ajs_anonymous_idneverThis cookie is set by Segment to count the number of people who visit a certain site by tracking if they have visited before.
ajs_group_idneverThis cookie is set by Segment to track visitor usage and events within the website.
ajs_user_idneverThis cookie is set by Segment to help track visitor usage, events, target marketing, and also measure application performance and stability.
browser_id5 yearsThis cookie is used for identifying the visitor browser on re-visit to the website.
CONSENT2 yearsYouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
sid1 yearThe sid cookie contains digitally signed and encrypted records of a user’s Google account ID and most recent sign-in time.
uid1 yearThis is a Google UserID cookie that tracks users across various website segments.
vuid2 yearsVimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos to the website.
WMF-Last-Access1 month 21 hours 5 minutesThis cookie is used to calculate unique devices accessing the website.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
_dc_gtm_UA-1038974-41 minuteUsed to help identify the visitors by either age, gender, or interests by DoubleClick - Google Tag Manager.
_fbp3 monthsThis cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website.
_pxhdpastUsed by Zoominfo to enhance customer data.
fr3 monthsFacebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
IDE1 year 24 daysGoogle DoubleClick IDE cookies are used to store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads and according to the user profile.
test_cookie15 minutesThe test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE5 months 27 daysA cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSCsessionYSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devicesneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-device-idneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt.innertube::nextIdneverThis cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
yt.innertube::requestsneverThis cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
CookieDurationDescription
049fc2ef5beb27056b07d9e4c4d13fd3sessionNo description
akaalb_http_misc_subssessionNo description
AnalyticsSyncHistory1 monthNo description
BIGipServermsocu-web-2-rr.webfarm.ms.com.10882sessionNo description
bm_misessionNo description available.
CX_4061522881 yearNo description
DCID20 minutesNo description
debugneverNo description available.
DrupalVisitorMobilesessionNo description available.
ep2033 monthsNo description available.
frbatlanta#langsessionNo description
geo_info1 yearNo description available.
GoogleAdServingTestsessionNo description
li_gc2 yearsNo description
loglevelneverNo description available.
loom_anon_commentsessionNo description available.
loom_referral_videosessionNo description
mkjs_group_idneverNo description available.
mkjs_user_idneverNo description available.
MorganStanley.ClientServ.Common.IPZipAccess.IPZipCookie.DEFAULT_COOKIE_NAMEpastNo description
NSC_us_nbsl-83+63+21+25-91sessionNo description
nyt-a1 yearThis cookie is set by the provider New York Times. This cookie is used for saving the user preferences. It is used in context with video and audio content.
nyt-gdpr6 hoursNo description available.
nyt-purr1 yearNo description available.
OCC_Encrypted_CookiesessionNo description
polleverywhere_session_id14 daysNo description
ppnet_2020sessionNo description available.
ppnet_2777sessionNo description available.
reuters-geosessionNo description
shell#langsessionNo description
smcx_0_last_shown_atsessionNo description available.
tableau_public_negotiated_localesessionNo description available.
vary1 monthNo description
www#langsessionNo description
X-Vive-CountrysessionNo description
xn_uuid1 monthNo description
Save & Accept
Powered by CookieYes Logo