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"You Need a Champion"
The Leadership Factor
"You Need a Champion"
When the time comes for your business to develop a new product,
you might think the involvement of a dedicated project team
is enough to handle the task. According to TEC new product
development expert Mitch Goozé, it's
not.
"Without a focal point within the organization, it's
difficult for a new product to get the level of attention
it needs to be successful," Goozé says. "There
has to be a product champion who's intimately involved with
the process and ready to play a major coordinating role between
designers, production and marketing."
Above all, the product champion acts as the voice of your
eventual customer.
Fellow new product expert Nick Webb strongly
agrees. "If not the CEO, there should be a person in
a senior executive position able to devote the needed time
and resources to advocate for the new product development
process. This helps ensure that different organizational functions
work together towards the same goal and that launch mechanisms
and market resources are sufficient to meet long-range objectives."
"New products always mean change," Goozé
says. "A senior-level champion -- usually not the originator
of the new product idea, since he or she won't be considered
a credible representative -- has the power to move obstacles
to change aside and keep the process moving forward."
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