Now that the Board of Trustees and Directors of Memorial approved the Innovation Policy (complete with funding), the next challenge will be operationalizing the innovation process throughout the entire System. Much like our recent World Class Service transformation, everyone and everybody within Memorial is expected to participate fully in making Innovation a core competency much like Quality and Service (i.e., Quality, Service and Innovation become our organization's Big Three Core competencies for the future.) This in no way should detract from our Six Pillars of Excellence.

A successful launch needs to have the full support of both the board, senior management and all levels of leadership, in order to withstand the higher risks and disruptions caused by the new innovation culture, processes, and potential partnerships. The Administrative Staff has already gone on September 18, 2002 off-site for 4-6 hours to become fully immersed in the new innovation strategies, processes and training. This was entirely lead by our Idea Propulsion Team and will lead to a rock solid basis of support for the Innovation transformation journey. A complete rollout schedule, training requirements, time frames, resources, and roles and responsibilities was covered and agreed upon by the end of the retreat.

Memorial's approach to Innovation will be to trifurcate into three major Pathways. The first Pathway will target everyone in Operations and will have as its' major focus Product Line and Customer Service Differentiation. Creating the WOW! "Memorial Experience" will be the primary outcome with all departments, companies and cost centers breaking the "commoditization trap" with many value added differentiation innovations. All areas of Memorial will focus on redesigning the critical customer experience in order to grow revenues and market share as well as dramatically raise satisfaction scores and customer loyalty. The Innovation budget (+1%) will support many of these innovations, but every cost center will be expected to fully participate in implementing a regular flow of innovation and creative ideas. The Operations Pathway will make extensive use of the Tom Peter's WOW! Project, Ninthouse, and Circle of Innovation materials. The innovation process will be very decentralized without a centralized cost center or department and should function much like our World Class Service initiative. In this way, innovation is more like a verb than a noun and becomes how we create value and excellence for our customers. We will build incentives, reward and recognition and training into the traditional line authority and responsibility system that we have today. All areas of Memorial will have access to some financial resources for site visits, prototyping, experiments, and experience redesign. Projects that grow and become very significant (over $50,000) may need to be coordinated and end up on a separate project track. A separate set of W - mentors (3-4 people) will be given specialized training with more depth and site visits in order to help consult and advise leadership on the process, use of tools, and training. It is expected that all line directors, managers and supervisors will be responsible for helping to teach the WOW! Process, use of tools, and lead the innovation initiative.

The second Pathway will target New Business Start-Ups and brand new revenue sources for Memorial. This will be a separately organized function that has as its' primary focus the development of new profits and revenue that will help offset the declining reimbursement of other acute care operations. The target customers will be those with discretionary income and may well target boomers and the "worried well". The emphasis of this new Venture Center or Innovation Institute will be to start-up new businesses, partner with existing or new ventures, serve as a "test bed" center for new innovations, or take a direct equity position for new ventures. The source of funding will be the Innovation budget (+1%), but unlike the Operations Pathway there will be a small separate staff that leads this new business development. The normal spending limits for senior management remain the same. We should begin to staff this centralized function with a full time Director who has a background as an entrepreneur and has some new business start-up experience. After this very important hire, the next person may be a contract person or an employee who is an inventor/prototype person and is good with experimentation, prototyping, and visualizing techniques. Perhaps a background in industrial engineering, industrial design or architecture would be extremely helpful. The team from IDEO maybe used in designing this position and in recruitment as well. The next position may be an intuitive/observer type of person who has a background in intuition, observation skills, human behavior or anthropology. This new team will be the core leaders in helping Memorial launch it's new business start-ups. Another function of this new team will be to serve as I-mentors to those in operations who may have an idea that could develop into a new business or a significant new revenue source. This team will also coordinate new initiatives that come out of the H* Network once they get to a certain stage of development. In most instances the new team will work with the Idea Champion or Idea Owner to help support them through the separate Innovation Process. Generally new businesses that have the potential for $10+ million in revenues will be the primary focus. It is anticipated that Memorial's new business start-up may have an external partner or come through the H* Network. A small board of three individuals, the Memorial Venture Center Board, (Chris Murphy, Scott Malpass, and Teri Willey) will meet quarterly or as needed to review projects or approvals for funding for this new Business Start-Up area.

Finally, the third Pathway will be for new innovations out in the community that create health and improve the quality of life. Generally these new initiatives will not replace or supplement our existing tithing efforts, but rather extend our leadership efforts in healthy communities. The primary source of financial resources should be from the new Gift Economy, but access to the Innovation budget (+1%) for prototyping and experimentation can occur. The Memorial Health Foundation will be the primary coordinator for these new efforts, but innovation proposals can come from anywhere throughout our system or from our partners or external ventures. The source of new ideas may come from the WOW! Project process, the Foundation's R & D team, or from external partners. Every effort should be made to secure funding from new grants and foundations using the innovation cycle: Innovation; Demonstration (results); and Replication. Examples such as HealthWorks!, the new HW! Hummer, and the new Developmental Pediatric Center are good starts to this new innovation pathway.

In summary, the new three Pathways are as follows:
1. Operations - Product Line and Customer Service Differentiation
2. New business Start-Ups and New Revenue Sources
3. New Innovations in the Community that Create Health and Improve the Quality of Life.
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