Marketing Technology » innovation

Creating an Innovation System

iamreff — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 12:27:49 +0000

Creating an Innovation System

Recently I’ve written about how to create an innovative culture and how to make resources available for innovation by creating “on ramps“. In this post I’m going to provide the keys for creating an Innovation System. My innovation system has 4 components/processes: capturing ideas, evaluating them, communication and the underlying systems.

Capturing ideas

I’ve suggested creating innovation teams as step #3 in developing an innovative culture. Teams of cross-functional, quick start, innovative people can help spur innovation. However anyone in the organization should be able to submit an idea through a simple online process. My suggestion is to not allow ideas to be submitted anonymously. This is not a system for suggesting a foosball table be installed in the break room. You want people who are excited about an idea to be part of the process. To make sure you’re getting appropriate ideas, I suggest posting 10 broad challenges facing your industry or company on your intranet and challenging employees to solve them creatively.

Keys to Success: Make the method of submitting an idea simple and straightforward. Let people know the next steps and when they will occur. Remind employees that there are no bad ideas yet most ideas will not move forward, only the best ideas will be funded.

Evaluating Ideas

Here’s when you bring in the critical thinking. Whereas any idea is a good idea in the brainstorming and capture process, when it comes to deciding which ideas to move forward you need the ability to discern what is a “good” idea vs an idea is not quite ready for prime time. You need to develop a standard idea evaluation with the following outcomes: move forward w/ allocated resources, hold, or abandon.

Keys to Success: The evaluation process is where things can go horribly awry. Politics, heavy handed executives, turf battles, and pet projects can enter the decision making process and make a mockery of the process. To combat these influences the evaluation process must remain democratic and transparent.

Project output

Decisions are made during the idea evaluation. Many ideas won’t move forward and it’s important that people know why their ideas weren’t green-lighted. Information should be communicated openly (like on an intranet, wiki, blog, etc) but make sure that entrants know the status of their ideas well before they are published within the company. When communicating pay special attention to ideas that aren’t moving forward:

Hold – be prepared to answer why it is not moving forward and what circumstances would need to occur to advance the idea
Abandon – describe with empathy why the idea could not be moved forward? Was it too ambitious? Was it too costly?

Keys to Success: Again, ensuring that individuals believe the system is fair and just is key. How people are communicated with will either strengthen their bonds with the company or erode them. Communications must be made with grace and honesty.

Underlying System

Each of the three components above (in, evaluation, out) are supported by a fourth component that enables the others. One can buy an innovation support system, but smaller organizations may suffice with a web form for entering ideas and a blog or wikipage for communicating status. It can be as small or big as your situation warrants, but I’d recommend not over engineering anything.

Summary

The common theme in innovation is people. Take out the corporate B.S. and let people attack industry/company challenges without handcuffs. Yet a innovation free for all quickly collapses. Having a simple system for capturing, evaluating and communication can provide the necessary structure that allows innovation to flourish.

So you now have: 7 steps to create an innovative culture and an innovation system. Are you generating ideas yet?

photo credit maple @ freedigitalphotos.net

June Poll: Where do you fit in the Tech Adoption Curve?

iamreff — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:58:00 +0000

The pace of change, especially in regards to mobile devices, continues to quicken. I spend a lot of time evaluating new technologies so much so that become immersed in a life of “checking in”, tweeting, blogging etc.

Yet I meet people everyday that have no desire to use technology outside of what they must as part of their employment. Some might call these people “Tech Adoption Laggards.” Everett Rogers famously theorized that Laggards make up 16% of the population.

So my question is, when it comes to technology adoption, what’s your typical adoption style?

So-

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Create “On Ramps” For Innovation

iamreff — Mon, 09 May 2011 00:07:27 +0000

Recently I wrote about 7 Steps To Creating An Innovative Culture. Step 5 is to create “On Ramps”. I’d like to drill down a bit more into that topic because I find it to be a way to innovations to market.

The Resource Conflict

Managers often feel overwhelmed by the amount of work they need to accomplish and dismayed by the amount of resources they have to work with — who wouldn’t like to have more bodies and money to attack an opportunity? Yet, innovation can be stifled when 100% of resources are allocated. Conflicts arise when new ideas must compete with resources that have already been allocated. Promises have already been made. Expectations are already set. These are difficult obstacles to overcome when trying to move innovations forward in this system. The only way innovations can move forward is either increasing available resources (which usually takes too long to be effective) or to delay in flight projects. This means breaking promises and resetting expectations. It’s not a comfortable process for anyone. This conflict is caputured in the diagram below.

Building On Ramps

The key is building innovation into the system. Allocate a small percentage of resources for the purposes of innovation. This will give the organization the ability to respond to market opportunities. Create a system for deciding which innovations can and should move forward. This “decision engine” must work quickly to vet and test ideas. During earlier ideation phases you might have suspended judgment on whether an idea was feasible, but now is the time to apply a standardized rigor. You have to be quick and merciless in killing ideas which should not move forward. On the flip side you need to be able to advance good ideas quickly to take advantage of the opportunity.

In summary building “on ramps” creates a standard way to bring innovative ideas to market quickly.

Do you have innovation on ramps? Or maybe you have a different way of moving innovations forward?

Early Adopters, Follow These 7 Steps To Create An Innovative Culture

iamreff — Wed, 04 May 2011 11:07:00 +0000

How Early Adopters Can Foster Innovation?

If you’ve read any of my PAID posts, you know that I’m a big fan of working for an established company; a company that values your contributions and provides an opportunity to grow. Working for an established company can be very rewarding, but it can be difficult for the “internal innovator” to fight the corporate immune system. Established companies have valuable internal controls to mitigate risk but unfortunately these systems can stifle innovation.

As an Innovator/Early Adopter in an established company you are able to create ideas, but if those ideas die with the individual they really aren’t of any value. This leads me to the root of the problem, how can you drive changes within your organization?

Culture Conflict

Where does conflict come from? Individuals I talk to suggest they don’t feel empowered or incented to push the envelope. This is surprising since most CEOs value innovation as a market differentiator. The answers I hear most eventually boil down to culture. Many executives want to promote innovation but have not adjusted their corporate systems to promote an innovative culture.

So how do you change the culture? More importantly how you do it in a manner that drives results. Mere words of working better together doesn’t change culture. Actions speak louder than words. The next section provides specific actions that drive an innovative culture.

7 Steps To Creating An Innovative Culture

1. Get an Executive Sponsor

It’s not difficult to find an executive that believes that innovation can drive new products, services and efficiencies. Find that executive. Get their support and use that as air cover going forward. Have your innovation executive sponsor talk broadly about how important innovation is to the organization. Don’t skip this step.

2. Fight For Innovation

Yes. Fight.

Prepare yourself to battle norms and push envelopes. In general, you need to cause a stir. You are going to be the sharp end of the spear. You will do this with grace and determination.

Note: do not proceed to this step without first completing Step #1.

3. Create Innovation Teams

It’s my experience that change agents (you!) are not enough to foster innovation. You need others to join your charge to create a movement. A great way to do this is to create innovation teams be they within departments or cross-functional. Lead these teams to tackle business problems and unexploited opportunities.

4. Create Bandwidth

Teams that are running at capacity do not have the quiet mind required to create new thoughts. If innovation is expected (and it is), set aside time for innovation. Set deadlines and timelines for innovation just as you would any project. Meetings to review ideas and determine next steps will help keep the ball rolling. You want to innovate in real-tine, but schedule regular checkins to make adjustments and identify obstacles that need to be cleared.

5. Build On Ramps

Once your innovation teams are up and running they should be generating ideas. The problem becomes how do you take the best of the ideas and gain broad approval and support? Since these are ideas are new, they are not budgeted for. There is no capital or expense budgets set aside. Nor are there any staffing allocated. This is a critical juncture in the life of an innovation.

An organization can’t know what innovations it will create, but it can set aside budget and resources as part of the annual plan to support the most important innovations within the company. An innovation review process along with sufficient budget planning should provide the necessary “on ramps” to move ideas forward.

6. Incentivize Innovation

The best way to have a great idea is to generate a LOT of ideas. By now you have your innovation teams humming and you’ve had some successes. It’s time to turn up the volume. Unleash the power of the organization by making it everyone’s job to solve business problems and offer new ideas. Implement processes that capture ideas from anywhere in the company. Recognize the best ideas with small stipends and executive level recognition.

7. Show Returns

In an early post Kristi said that early adopters can get others interested in their ideas by demonstrating the value of the ideas. That’s a great point. It’s easy to fall in love with our ideas but we need to be prepared to explain them in plain terms that stakeholders understand. Always be thinking about WIIFM (what’s in it for me) — well what’s in it for others so they can get behind your idea and help sell it. Show people the business results of innovation. Give thanks.

Rinse. Repeat.

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The Language of No

iamreff — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:33:28 +0000

What is the Language of No?

At it’s worst, the Language of No are the words used to shut you down. To make you stop believing. To belittle your ideas. At best, it’s used to make sure you know what the hell you’re talking about.

What does the Language of No sound like?

What’s the ROI?
This isn’t how we normally do things
Where will resources come from?

The Language of No can be used by people who honestly don’t understand. They try to understand by putting the idea in their terms: value, cost, risk. Their inquiries have honest intentions. Let’s call them the lambs.

Others use the Language of No to defend turf, to ridicule and diminish. The questions are used to find weakness that can exploited. Let’s call them the lions.

So how do you know the lambs from the lions?

Consider the context.

What’s the ROI?

Here’s the key –> What does success look like?

It’s entirely possible that your nascent idea doesn’t have a monetary return, at least not in the short run. Some activities are deemed “business as usual”. Your website doesn’t have an ROI. Nor does your business card nor cell phone. You just need it. The thing is, business as usual changes over time. Until recently fax machines used to be mission critical, so were typewriters. Soon being involved with your customers on social networks will be mandatory.

Consider the context of the question. Is the person trying to understand the value of your initiative or are they trying to blindly state that your work is without merit?

This isn’t how we normally do things

Here’s the key –> Is your organization focused on not changing things or are you trying to differentiate?

There are certain rules that shouldn’t be broken: regulations, laws, systematic controls. But for the most part organizations need to continue to innovate. If you have metrics, use them. Look for areas where tactics are not delivering results and point to these as areas to improve. Institute A/B testing to challenge the status quo. As many have said, try new things and fail fast.

You will have people in your organization that are inclined to try new things and those that hold on to tradition. You need both to have a successful company, but be able to tell the difference.

Where will resources come from?

Here’s the key –> Actually, there’s no key here.

Innovation without execution is pointless. If you don’t have a budget or resources you may have to hack the system. Look for a project that’s been cancelled and see if you can claim those resources. Or attach your initiative to a project that’s already accepted. Can you get pieces from the cloud? Can you change the process? I’ve even heard of people that have kept the title of an approved project but swapped out the actual project!

The sound of the Language of No can be deafening. Teach the lambs. Fight the lions.

photo credit: Salvatore Vuono

Innovation without Execution is __________?

iamreff — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 12:12:39 +0000

I asked this question because my answer was a bit too….shall we say “colorful.” And I need a better way to share the thought that innovation for innovation’s sake is pointless. Here are the responses I’ve gotten so far.

Add yours in the comments:

Kord Miller: Innovation without execution is a good idea left on a post it note.

David Horn: Innovation without execution is pollution.

Scott Holz: Innovation without execution is just another idea.

Mike Miller: Innovation without execution is Par for the course sadly. As we learned at Babson, the quality of the idea is secondary to the quality of the team. Even the best idea will go no where if not nurtured properly.

Photo credit: Pixomar

Favorite innovation quotes

iamreff — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:33:45 +0000

On creating an innovative culture, “enlightened trial and error succeeds over the planning of the lone genius” – IDEO mantra

On organizational change, ‘help the wounded, but shoot the stragglers‘ – classmate, Doug McElhaney

“If you’re not in the jungle, you’re not going to know the tiger.” – from the Art Of Innovation

On finding innvoation, “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse” – Henry Ford

On commitment to innovation, “I have not failed. I have merely found ten thousand ways that won’t work” – Thomas Edison

On defeating devil’s advocates – “focus on promise, not imperfections” – from Ten Faces of Innovation

What are your favorite quotes?