As part of my Master of Sustainable Energy, I completed a course in Energy Strategy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. Strategy is critical to successful businesses. This course examined contemporary business strategies and how organisations create and sustain competitive advantage and performance. Key areas of focus include innovation and entrepreneurship, organisational change, risk management, scenario planning, technology assessment, and management principles.
Stanwell Corporation Limited is a Queensland Government-owned corporation that was created in 1997 and has traditionally been a thermal (coal) energy generator. In September 2022, the Queensland Government released the Queensland Energy & Jobs Plan (QEJP) with the target of reaching 70% renewable energy by 2032, and no regular reliance on coal-fired generation by 2035.
To analyse Stanwell’s innovation strategy, I formed a team with 3 other Masters students named, Disrupt Consulting. As part of our analysis, we focused on how its Human Resources Management could be improved to nurture the innovation required to remain relevant and navigate the renewable energy transition. Through the use of the Innovation Value Chain framework and analyses of surveys, questionnaires and interviews, Disrupt Consulting identified areas for improvement across all elements of McKinsey’s 7S Framework.
The biggest areas for improvement included Stanwell’s:
- Slow diffusion of innovative ideas.
- Innovation mainly limited to managerial roles and within the Future Energy teams.
- Lack of a holistic innovation strategy.
- Limited understanding of how innovation can be implemented across 12 business dimensions.
- Lack of formal systems to encourage and reward innovative ideas.
- Resources being shared across all 3 horizons within the company.
Based upon the latest business theories, Disrupt Consulting identified 12 recommendations to help Stanwell nurture innovation within the company. A summary of each recommendation along with the citation used to support the idea is provided below:
- Address Stanwell’s diffusion of innovative ideas with project champions (Hansen & Birkinshaw, 2007).
- Build a culture of innovation (Ancona, 2019).
- Raise awareness of innovation throughout the organization via short video learnings and/or regular innovation forums to cross-pollinate ideas (Hamel & Tennant, 2017).
- Develop a cohesive innovation strategy that prioritises innovation within all areas and at all levels of Stanwell (McKinsey Quarterly, 2008).
- Include innovation as a requirement during recruitment and across all positions within the company (Laursen & Foss, 2013).
- Provide training on innovation to all staff (Sawhney, Wolcott, & Arroniz, 2006).
- Provide training on lean start-up methodology for Horizon 2 and Horizon 3 functions (Blank, 2013).
- Implement a formal system for staff to suggest and track innovative ideas (Hamel & Tennant, 2017).
- Implement an incentive system that rewards innovation (Kirsner, 2019).
- Ensure all four innovation styles are expressed within the company (Wu & Basadur, 2022).
- Isolate and insulate the resources for Horizon 2 and Horizon 3 projects from Horizon 1 projects (Moore, 2007).
- Create a team of external scouts that seek out innovative ideas (Hansen & Birkinshaw, 2007).
Through holistic implementation of the above recommendations, Stanwell would be able to improve its capacity to innovate and the diffusion of innovative ideas throughout the company. This would allow Stanwell to build a culture of innovation that is company-wide across all levels of staff, which will allow it to adapt and remain relevant far into the future.
