DALLAS -- "Since the end of the century, retail has been evolving at a breakneck pace, and we're just starting to enter the 'on-demand' economy," said Rob Chumley, 7-Eleven Inc.'s senior vice president of innovation and president of its 7 Ventures. He gave attendees at the recent Chief Innovation Officer Summit in New York advice for those just beginning to build their own innovation teams, reported TechTarget.
His team at Dallas-based 7-Eleven is focused on improving customer service, creating digital connections with customers and finding and solving new customer-related problems.
He offered these eight tips:
- Have a sponsor. Chumley had the backing of CEO Joe DePinto, who not only gave his approval to build and outfit the team, but has also categorized its work "as an enterprise-level strategic initiative."
- Provide the space for a dedicated effort. The innovation team's work is separate from the day-to-day operations of the business.
- Create a focus. Build a working definition for innovation and figure out what kind of innovation the team should go after. "We made it clear that we would only focus on disruptive innovation," he said. "We are focused on new problems, new solutions and new business models." Incremental innovation, such as the next great Slurpee flavor, would be left to other departments.
- Be disciplined. Chumley and his team agreed to "resist at all costs getting caught up in innovating because we could." Just because you can, Chumley said, doesn't mean you should.
- Find the right people. He looks for intellectual curiosity, a balance between left- and right-brained skills--and even a "disdain for the status quo," he said.
- Answer the build or buy question. Will customers notice and give the company credit? If not, strongly consider going the software as a service route or to an outside provider.
- Set reasonable growth expectations. Startups and new ventures don't take off overnight. The same goes for innovation. "These new initiatives must be allowed to incubate, to grow and to resonate with the core customer," he said. When measuring growth, don't rely on legacy score cards. "Innovation will probably consume disproportionate resources initially, but you must continue to support them," he said.
- Be aware of the unintended consequences. "The very existence of the team will anger some and it will scare others," Chumley said. Employees and colleagues may take it as a signal that leadership feels they're underperforming.
7-Eleven operates franchises or licenses more than 10,400 7-Eleven convenience stores in North America. Globally, there are more than 54,400 7-Eleven c-stores in 16 countries. During 2013, 7-Eleven c-stores generated total worldwide sales close to $84.5 billion.
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