Having women in leadership roles is more important than ever as diversity of thought leads to better problem-solving and creates a stronger position to capture new value. Organisations around the globe have started to embrace this inclusion, with 44% of companies having three or more women in their C-Suite. However, just 29% of senior management positions are currently held by women. While this figure is the highest ever recorded, it also illustrates how far we still have to go.
Over the years, we have seen and had the honour of interviewing many inspirational women who have shaped the innovation strategy at their organisations. From heads of Innovation and senior Innovation managers to directors of Innovation and Knowledge, these powerful women have contributed their significant skills, expertise and knowledge to enhance how their organisations innovate.
And today, International Women’s Day, is an opportune time to shine a spotlight on these phenomenal women and start embedding some of their insights into your innovation programmes.
Sonia Nosheen, HCV ODN, Project Manager at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Sonia has played a pivotal role in improving operational efficiency, patient care outcomes and workforce productivity across the Trust. She has also been instrumental in the development of new products and services in areas such as mental health.
What can we learn from her?
Sonia advocates a bottom-up approach to innovation, where everyone can feel a valued part of the innovation process. This enables problems to be solved more efficiently with an unrestricted flow of new ideas.
Sonia also shares some of the methods that the Trust has implemented to allow this open dialogue to flourish:
- During induction, the Trust has a series of thought-management and personal development courses.
- The Trust uses technology to create survey and patient participation groups enabling different stakeholders to be involved in different parts of the patient journey.
- The Trust has implemented a project called Extended Community of Care Outcome (ECCO), which allows consultants and different practitioners to link up and evaluate cases together.
Charlotte Wood, Head of Innovation, Schroders
Charlotte is responsible for building Schroders’ global innovation strategy and the adoption and engagement of fintech services across the firm. She founded Cobalt, a startup tech programme that enables the firm to bring new products to market with early-stage fintech startups.
What can we learn from her?
The importance of transparency within a firm when it comes to capturing new ideas.
Charlotte highlights that all firms have a big pool of employees with great ideas. But the lack of clear guidance on where and who to take these ideas to can be a stumbling block to capturing these great ideas.
Her solution to this is a centralised platform where people can suggest ideas. The platform gives everyone a transparent view of what people are thinking within the firm and is also a great place for providing feedback. Everyone can see what happens to each idea, including why it is or isn’t taken forward, and this transparency encourages employees to continue to participate.
Fifi Monahan, Former Senior Innovation Design Manager at Cancer Research UK
During her time at Cancer Research UK, Fifi designed a number of new health interventions, including researching new ways of sharing health information with the public to help reduce the risk of preventable cancer.
What can we learn from her?
Watch this interview to learn about Fifi’s views on the meaning of innovation.
Fifi believes that innovation is the outcome of understanding what people’s needs are and responding accordingly with the right solution. She points out that innovation is an ongoing process that requires constant evaluation given that people’s needs, among other things, are constantly evolving.
Jane Challoner, Director of Innovation & Knowledge, CMS
Jane has accrued a diverse knowledge base from her variety of roles at CMS, including as a banking lawyer and Head of Knowledge and People. In her current role, Jane leads a series of management projects. One of these projects focuses on improving the efficiencies around their documentation processes.
What can we learn from her?
Clients are a driving force behind the changes that you should implement.
A practical example that Jane offers is the rise of wearable technology and the corresponding interest that people now have in tracking their own data. She describes this as a grassroots level of enthusiasm for data analytics that has flowed from our social life into our work life. Organisations need to accept this shift in client expectations for more transparency through greater tracking and reporting on key metrics.
Zoe Bailey, Director of Strategic Development, BDO
Zoe is responsible for coordinating and delivering BDO’s strategic framework across its various business streams. She manages major change programmes and mentors business leaders to strengthen their organisational strategies.
What can we learn from her?
A cultural change can increase employees’ engagement with your innovation efforts.
Zoe shared how BDO has created a culture of innovation:
- Like many organisations, BDO is a complex business organised by geography, specialism and support functions. This complexity risks many employees being overlooked in the innovation process.
- To combat this, BDO created the concept of ‘Innovation Builders’. They identified 27 people who had the passion to drive change, ranging from partners and directors through to more junior employees.
- These ‘Innovation Builders’ represent each key area of the business, ensuring that every employee has an equal opportunity to share their ideas.
Rachel Broquard, Service Excellence Partner & Jocey Nelson, Former Disrupt Lead, Eversheds Sutherland
Rachel oversees Eversheds Sutherland’s innovation strategy and leads the client technology and innovation team. Prior to this role, she was instrumental in developing a number of the firm’s client technology and service excellence offerings.
During Jocey’s time at Eversheds Sutherland, she launched ‘Eversheds Sutherland Disrupt’, a web-based legal service for startups. She saw the gap in the market for startups that rarely have access to tailored legal solutions and closed it with this ‘one-stop-shop’ approach.
What can we learn from them?
A structured process and senior leadership buy-in are critical for any innovation programme to succeed.
Jocey highlighted that there is no absence of innovation and people thinking creatively. The problem is the absence of knowing what to do with these ideas, which is why having a clear process that takes ideas from testing to implementation is crucial. Rachel added to this great advice by noting that innovation needs to be driven from the top, filtering down from senior leadership, because this sets a clear direction for the rest of the organisation to follow.
