The other day I was on the plane waiting for us to push away from the gate – one of those “no man’s land” slices of time too short to engage in meaningful work; and therefore a perfect moment to let your mind wander in un-aided creative thought.

Shortly into my reflective buzz, a moment of reckoning hit me. It dawned on me that for an Innovation Program to be managed so as to achieve the desired outcomes, it should be run much like a commercial flight:

• There is a clear and stated mission from the airline to get you there safely and on time (senior management commitment)
• There is a detailed itinerary (process plan)
• There is a clear leadership: the captain and co-pilot (ownership and sponsorship)
• There is a transfer of oversight from one air-traffic control space to another (workflow)
• There is critical cooperation between air traffic controllers, the cockpit and the flight cabin; even the passengers (community) are called on to participate and engage in the event of an emergency (on demand collaboration)
• There are aircraft technicians, baggage handlers and ramp workers to insure all loading, preparation and safety check tasks are duly executed (experts and facilitators)
• There are role preparation instructions given by the Stewarts/stewardesses (coaches), special instructions given to passengers occupying emergency row seats (user training, role player instruction and organizational preparedness) and evacuation instructions given to everyone
• There are entertainment features, refreshment options and frequent flyer programs (rewards)
• There are regular and exceptional updates provided from the flight deck (status and communications)
• There are stop-overs, destinations and on-time arrival targets (goals)

In short, and even if temporary or on-demand in nature, every stakeholder of a successful flight is engaged to one degree or another – much like the needs of a comprehensive, sustainable and successful innovation process.

Now imagine:

• the plane pushing back off the ramp without clearance from the tower or knowing how much fuel it has on board to get to a yet to be determined destination
• or taking off with a baggage handler at the helm while the properly trained pilot is having drinks in the back with the rest of the flight crew who omitted to brief the passengers on safety and/or emergency procedures
• or having travelers help themselves to the drink cart in an isle-choking self-serve melee
• or having the air control network abandon communication half-way into the flight

Believe it or not, this is how some innovation programs wind-up being run. And if the foregoing metaphor to flight management is a bit of a stretch, and one could argue that the comparison is extreme, the parallels remain strong with regards to process and outcome. Unless everyone in the process remains meaningfully engaged, things begin to deteriorate - leading to eroding user confidence, role player confusion, process breakdown and eventually complete loss of control.

In both cases, it will take the organization considerably more resources to win their clients back the next time - if there is a next time.