Do You Need To Manage Innovators Differently?

I think so.  Folks who wake up every morning with the drive to create, to induce change -  can be difficult to manage however because the work they do opens up functional groups to change and increased risk.   So here are some tactics that I think  can help you manage innovators:

1. Learn to bear some risk and some change.  Yes, its not always about the innovator, its about you who has to manage the innovator. Where you come in is in the defintion and refinement phase.
From Innovate on Purpose:

It is important to carefully define what you want an innovator to do - incremental or disruptive? Cannibalize existing products and services or create entirely new ones? Product, service or business model innovation? Defining the breadth and scope of the innovation initiative gives the innovator some room but also sets clear boundaries and guidelines - it lets the innovator work but bounds the risks and change to some degree.

2. I've written about this before but you'll also have to consider modifying your compensation structure.  Especially for those individuals with Research intensive positions where failure in the early stages of a project is important!

3. Leverage social networking to link your innovator with others in your organization. Don't let your individual innovators or teams be islands unto themselves.  Make sure they can collaborate and network easily with other innovators in your organization - no matter how small or large your enterprise may be.

4. Create a change management plan to manage both education related to innovation rollout and the actual rollout itself.  Bring your communications/marketing professionals into the mix and do it early.  That way you can pace your communications and get the company or the market ready for the changes you will be inducing.  Obviously, if you are in stealth mode then you probably don't want to have this cadence of communication until closer to announcement time. 

Managing innovators is fun.  And challenging.  Remember, they are not always able to see the last mile of a project and bring their innovations into execution.  But then again, they're not typically wired to do that so don't necessarily expect it.   Make sure you link the innovation team with a strong execution arm.  I learnt this the hard way at SAP.