Here is a great article from Business Week on how Six Sigma and Innovation are complimentary in driving bottom line results. The article sites the following results from one study of 35 attempts at breakthrough innovation:
“Ambidextrous [Six Sigma + Innovation] structures were successful 90% of the time, whereas other cross-functional teams, unsupported Skunk Works–style groups, and other models were successful less than 25% of the time.”
What is success here? To a bank, innovating is moving to a new CRM that improves productivity by “X” percent. To a consumer electronics company, innovating is something to the tune of the iPod. Context is very important.
This is where I think most companies get stuck thinking they are innovating (e.g. Circus adding more freak shows) when they are really optimizing (squeezing a few more dollars out of each show). There is a big difference as innovation is about Blue Ocean opportunites (Sirque de Soleil) and creating new, expensive markets.
All in all, not a bad article. It ends with suggesting that an organization needs to have both models of business to be successful. I agree. Hopefully there will be more emphsis coming on the need for companies to value the right kinds of people for innovation as there are layers of folks already cut out for optimization.