Deb Naughton is senior vice president at Sodexho USA, Downers Grove, Illinois. She can be reached at dnaughton@sodexhousa.com.

Will higher education be the same in ten years? Can you envision how learning will change or how your student population will change? Does your institution consistently ask what it can do better?

If you are not asking these questions today, rest assured that there are innovative competitors who are. The new reality is that innovation is more than the key to success. It is the key to survival.

Advances in technology, changing customer needs, shorter product life cycles, and global competition are making innovation not just a luxury but a practical necessity. Outside-the-box thinking, once a radical notion, is rapidly becoming a cliché. Change agents are transforming today's workplaces, allowing people in innovation leadership positions to take their seat at the table along with other top managers. And on campuses everywhere, online learning and growing numbers of older students are forcing institutions to take a fresh look at who they serve and how they serve them. The lesson is clear: innovate or fall behind. Envision the future, imagine your role in it, and chart a course to make it happen based on what you do best. Now is the time to convert challenges into opportunities.

Understanding Innovation
Although more organizations are talking about innovation, many do not have a real sense of how to achieve it. They create new ideas without focus, or even worse, without creating value. The fact is, innovation is a process of generating fresh ideas for the purpose of creating value for your customers. It is a systematic process that should be aligned with your business strategy and should grow out of your core strengths.

From the largest public corporation to the smallest private college, the requirements for successful innovation are the same:

  1. Leadership with vision. The most innovative organizations are run by leaders who not only see the possibilities of the future but who know how to communicate that vision to their employees.
  2. Deeply rooted values. An organization's values provide the foundation for its strategy and strategy provides the road map for innovation.
  3. Inclusive culture. The most innovative cultures empower employees, welcome ideas, celebrate success, and tolerate risk.
  4. Focus on the customer. The secret of value-added innovation is to put the customer at the center of everything you do.
  5. Open communication. Innovation thrives with the free flow of information from the top to the bottom and visa versa.
  6. Collaboration. The best innovation comes from interaction and the power of teamwork that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Changing the Culture
It has been said that innovation doesn't come from a few brilliant people but from getting the most out of many ordinary people. Time and again, we have seen this notion proven in successful companies who encourage innovation at all levels of their organizations. These companies know that good ideas can come from anywhere. Their secrets of fostering a more innovative culture are not complicated. In fact, they are surprisingly straightforward:

Most importantly, never stop encouraging your employees to innovate. Empower them with more autonomy and optimal challenges that fuel their interests and intrinsic desire to succeed. Real creativity and innovation comes from people doing what they love and loving what they do.

Following the Leaders
From company-wide training programs to open-door policies, companies are adopting a wide variety of approaches to instill creative energy and foster innovative mindsets in their cultures. 3M lets company technicians spend an allotted amount of time pursuing their own pet projects and visions. Sony gives its designers direct access to the CEO and other top executives.

At Sodexho, where we have a long history of innovation and a strong entrepreneurial culture, we have regularly sponsored Innovation Forums. These events, directed at our internal audience, showcase, promote, and reward a wide variety of Sodexho innovations. This year's Forum "Experience Sodexho" will be held in six locations in the United States and Canada. The Forum will give our employees the chance to share their ideas and expertise while experiencing the depth, range, and diversity of Sodexho's products and services.

In addition to leaders who have built innovative cultures, there are many leaders who have built innovative business models. Some companies, such as Dell Computer, identified new customer segments and capitalized on the underserved market for online computer purchases. Some innovators, such as Wal-Mart, leveraged their powerful brand, resources, and customer base to expand their product line and move into the grocery business. Yet another of today's leading innovators revolutionized the buying experience with an unprecedented level of online customized service. Consider how Amazon.com's self service business model has become better than the full service model of many of its competitors.

While these innovators saw and seized new opportunities, they were blessed with competitors who never looked beyond the status quo-whose narrow focus prevented them from seeing the unmet needs of customer segments that offered major opportunities for growth.

Similarly, we are seeing more innovation in higher education. Carnegie Mellon's Center for Innovation in Learning strives to develop innovative curricula to advance the field of instructional science. The Center works with other campus organizations that focus on improving faculty teaching, students' learning skills, and the use of technology in the classroom to enhance the college education experience.

Whether on campuses, in the workplace or the marketplace, today's innovative leaders are envisioning the future, leveraging their core strengths, empowering their people, and focusing on what matters most: creating value for their customers. Sodexho's President and CEO, Michel Landel, put it best: "The ultimate power in business lies with the customers. Understanding the consumer's needs and creating an organization that successfully delivers a product or service that meets that need is something that the successful business person never loses sight of."

In the end, that is what successful innovation is all about.