Innovators share the lessons they've learned during 2007

By Chuck Frey

In early December 2007, I posed this question to InnovationTools readers:

"What is the most important lesson you learned regarding innovation during 2007?"

This year's request resulted in an incredible number of responses - over 100 of you shared your thoughts and insights. Thank you!

Winning at open innovation

In my business, I’m focused on consulting, matchmaking and new ventures related to open innovation. My biggest lesson for 2007 is simple: That succeeding at this game of finding and implementing ideas from the outside isn’t about who’s the best at scouting for technologies or implementing effective processes or any of that. Like many things in life, this is about relationships. The people who are winning at open innovation are the ones who are building strong personal relationships, creating social networks of innovators and connecting with people face to face, not reading technology briefs.

I’ve seen firsthand (e.g. our Innovation Speed Dating events) the power of face to face relationship building. So my advice to corporate innovation leaders? Get out of your office and get out on the road to meet with these innovators and partners. You’ll get a whole new perspective on innovation and get inspired in a big way to bring that excitement and creativity back into your own company.

-- Michael Docherty, Innovation.Net Blog

To be more creative, let go

The greatest lesson about creativity, innovation and brainstorming I learned in 2007 was to simply let go. When I was working on something and working on it and I didn't seem to be moving forward, I just took a break. I didn't try to figure it out with my mind. I relaxed and just let my subconscious mind find a way forward. Somehow something would shift and suddenly I found an easy way to move forward. Things just suddenly flowed. I found an easier simpler and more real way to do things.

That gave me confidence that I can get past obstacles by not trying to overcome them. I stop fighting whatever I'm fighting and just glide around the block. Ideas and solutions come easily and what I'm doing feels fun instead of a battle. It's great to create that way!

-- Richard Atkinson, Access Creative Power

The value of persistence

Creative ideas become innovations at the intersection of persistence and insistence.

-- Linda Naiman, Corporate Alchemist

A cornucopia of creative tips

• Constraints are your friend.
• Deadlines are a blessing.
• Do something that tickles your fancy.
• Don't take jobs from unpleasant clients.
• Borrow from something you worked on fifteen years ago, but use new technologies to help implement it.
• Go some place you've always wanted to go.
• Watch more foreign language films from the 1950s through 1970s.
• Have fun!
• And finally, be a contrarian about the new, accepted "conventional wisdom." There is always a "second right answer."

-- Roger von Oech, http://www.creativethink.com/ and author of A Whack on the Side of the Head

The value of decentralizing innovation

Decentralizing Innovation to everyone is to encourage structured curiosity and promoting imagination to apply as continuous improvement.

-- Johan Eriksson, Tetrapak

Paradox and innovation

My big innovation lesson learned in 2007 would make Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr proud. "Now that we have met with paradox," explained Dr. Bohr, "we have some hope of making progress." Innovation is full of it – paradox, that is. On one hand, organizations want structures, maps, models, guidelines, and systems. On the other hand, that's all too often the stuff that squelches innovation, driving it underground or out the door. The noble search for the so-called "culture of innovation" becomes a seduction, an addiction, or distraction whereby innovation is marginalized, deferred, and over-engineered. True innovation is about allowing paradox to be our teacher and guide - and to accept, at least for a little longer than usual, ambiguity, dissonance, and discomfort -- the age-old precursors to breakthrough. "Systems" will eventually become self-organizing when the soul of innovation is allowed to flourish. Can we help the process along with the right application of strategy, infrastructure, and planning? Of course we can. But beware! "Helping" the process too much is often counterproductive -- much in the same way that attempting to catch a milkweed floating through the air with a bold reach of your hand actually repels the object of your desire. Innovation Physics 101.

-- Mitch Ditkoff, Idea Champions

Don't jump at your first good idea

I was recently reminded of the 'Idea Zeitgeist Challenge' at a conference. Prior to my talk there had been 2 group brainstorming exercises where teams generated new ideas to solve a common challenge. The interesting outcome was that the independent teams produced very similar ideas. This was a 'User Experience' conference and the attendees were undoubtedly creative, so the quality of the ideas was very high, but it was worrying that there was so much overlap in the ideas. I have seen this many times and refer to it as the 'Idea Zeitgeist Challenge' -- The challenge of independent people, groups and companies generating very similar ideas. In history independent scientists and inventors repeatedly generate new ideas around the same time i.e. Newton and Leibniz with calculus. Some people challenge these occurrences, calling foul play with accusations of blatant copying. I don't know the ins and outs of these historic examples, but I have seen this personally enough times to realize this is a 'real' phenomenon and is more than just copycat tactics. The zeitgeist ('spirit of the time') that influences these ideas can be caused by many factors, such as new technologies, trends, fads etc.

The lesson I learned this year was how important it is for people not to jump on the first great idea that they generate since this is likely to be prone to the zeitgeist. There are many tools and techniques out there that can help you stimulate new and different ideas.

-- Kes Sampanthar, MetaMemes

Sweat the small stuff

I've come to realize that many of us can think big. In fact, dreamers and visionaries are easy to come by. However, effective innovation is about seeing these big ideas through by paying attention to the smallest of details.

It's rare to find people who have the gumption and the heart to bring a grand vision to reality. These people are frequently ignored and rarely appreciated - but, it's their hands and minds that make magic happen.

-- Chetan Chandavarkar, futurethink

Why innovation fails

One thing I've always noted about the latest management fad/paradigm shift/zeitgeist is that the leading edge / first-to-try companies often are used as models to be replicated by other companies. That is fine, but the problem sometimes is that the following companies often fail to adopt new approaches to fit their internal processes and, especially, the best way to be innovative given their task environments.

-- Arthur VanGundy, author of Getting to Innovation

Innovation versus Six Sigma

In working with my clients, I continue to see a struggle regarding how to do innovation. There is a conflict between the discipline of tools such as Six Sigma and DFSS, which has totally permeated the corporate world, and what is perceived to be (but is not really) the unstructured world of innovation and creativity. This produces a "deer in the headlights" problem and prevents people from taking a serious plunge into structured and disciplined approaches to innovation.

-- Jack Hipple

How about some real innovation?

I believe 2007 has been the year that innovation lost her sexiness. She exchanged her seductive cocktail dress for a conservative business suit. It's a bit sad - but maybe a good thing nonetheless. At some point this year, I am not sure when, I found that most of the innovation articles, essays and blog-posts that came my way were dull and uninspiring. Every company, every institute and every city claimed it was launching some innovative action or another - or at least some action labeled as innovative.

Sadly, the greatest use of innovation has been in dressing up PowerPoint presentations and press releases with the word - rather than actually launching effective innovation initiatives. Because the truth is, few organizations have yet to pay more than lip service to innovation. This is my experience and the experience of many of the innovation professionals - around the world - with whom I have the pleasure of working or corresponding. Managers talk about the importance of innovation. They may even put people in charge of innovation. But few are actually taking steps to become more innovative. And the irony is, those steps are not particularly hard to take. Indeed, many companies have taken them. But many, many more have not.

Sadder still is that innovation - real innovation - is such a wonderful thing. Who cannot get excited when learning about true innovations? When I read about how an organization develops a really innovative new product - I feel inspired. When I hear about a truly innovative new process that an organization has developed - I think: "wow!". So, my hope for 2008 is that some of the hype will die down and more and more organizations will stop talking so much about innovation... and start innovating!

-- Jeffrey Baumgartner, JPB

Driving corporate value through innovation

Organizations wishing to reap the rewards of innovation as a value-driving core competence can’t rely on serendipity. Looking to the innovation leaders, we can see that the disciplines of innovation best practice are not left to chance; they are explicitly developed. Companies that succeed at establishing such an innovation culture understand that innovation workers must be equipped to deliver predictable, reliable results. Designers, engineers, and other members of the product innovation team are trained in these practices, and the teams are equipped with the tools to support those practices. In short, sustainable innovation is about driving corporate value through the empowerment of designers and engineers with the right techniques and technology so that these innovation workers can innovate repeatedly and more effectively.

-- Jim Todhunter, Invention Machine

The people aspect of innovation

Innovation processes can run smoothly if you take care of the basic principles of unfolding creativity in groups. People are creative if you treat them like individuals.

-- Frank-Lothar Köpcke, creaktiv

Go fast to go slow

My most important lesson I learned during 2007 regarding innovation, creativity or brainstorming has been what they call: Go slow to go fast. By using time in the beginning of an innovation process to reflect on different aspects you can later move faster as a group or as an individual.

-- Liv Dahlin

The innovation tree

Do you want to have a good harvest next season?. Do not forget to water the trees, pruning, spraying and pay you to pests. Only then you can pick up some fruits abundant. Also innovation is like a tree. We need to monitor it, from the head to the last employee of the company. You must pay it, with prizes to those most fruits you produce, encourage those who are declining in production and prune when someone interferes with their progress. Be careful with irrigation because if you exceeds also be the cause of his death.

Thus, in our company with 350 people in 3 years we have succeeded in 1500 suggestions for improvement (1.4 idea per person and per year). Not all of them were excellent fruit. Only 75% were considered genuine improvements. Perhaps some of the fruits are small but analyzed as a whole led to a savings of € 2.3 million. To get them we had to invest  € 550,000. Who would abandon this business?. Well, some people did not believe in him. This is the time of pruning.

We believe in innovation. We believe in continuous innovation, the incremental innovation. The innovation of small efforts that produce benefits for all and it also serves as an integrating and motivating element for all of us.

-- Rafael Truan, Solvay Martorell

Cultivate innovation in children

If you trust the kids, they will leap at the opportunity to innovate. On Martin Luther King Day, we were faced with 100 students between ages 7 and 13 at an inner-city YMCA with 6 hours to revolutionize their problem solving approach. In true Destination ImagiNation style, we led a series of Instant Challenges designed to give them an opportunity to create solutions to fun, imaginative scenarios. After the first hour they were testing popcorn catapults, designing devices to help with chores, using stray bits to protect Christmas ornaments when hit with weight and cheering their own and others success. What we learned is that given the opportunity and innovation tools, both the counselors and students were “hooked” on being creative outside the box as well as being creative making a better box. To witness the transformation is inspiring. Since volunteers and parent involvement are more limited in inner city areas, we are looking for more corporate support via sponsorship and volunteers to grow the program in these underserved areas.

-- Diana Baldi, Destination ImagiNation

The importance of processes and objectives

1. Innovation has to be driven "bottoms up" is when things get exciting!
2. There has to be a method to the madness: Putting a process in place, back by appropriate tools is a must
3. Giving a direction to the teams with respect to customer objectives works wonders and create maximum value for the customers
4. Any innovation program roll-out has to be backed with proper organizational change management, especially a solid communication campaign
5. Like any initiative, innovation requires a great deal of senior management support, but has to be driven by employees
6. Recognition is more important than reward!

-- Gaurav Kataria, HCL Technologies Ltd.

Innovation is not one-size-fits-all

The most important lesson I've learned is that the right approach to innovation is going to be unique for each company. There's no silver bullet or standardized method, but there are many fundamentals that apply to everyone as well as tools and methods that can be key enablers to success. Innovation is an evolutionary process--it doesn't happen on schedule and it is generally the product of many small insights and lots of hard work, not a single epiphany. In other words, innovation is a game of probabilities--you can't predict when it will happen but you can increase the probability that it happens by understanding the fundamentals and using tried and true tools and methods.

-- David Silverstein, co-author of Insourcing Innovation

Processes: the foundation for innovation

Not all ideation work is fruitful. A large number of ideas generated by many companies are the wrong ones or inappropriate for their customers or not aligned with their company strategy. The ideation work is much more productive if we spend enough time establishing innovation and growth strategies thus creating galvanizing themes
Many companies believe they are not short of ideas but have difficulty executing these ideas. While many of these companies are correct about this notion, there are many others pursuing the wrong ideas.

Processes are necessary for scalable, repeatable and sustainable innovation. If you need to generate $1 billion in new growth, you need a process that is repeatable and scalable.

Companies that pursue product (or service), process and business model innovation simultaneously have a much better success in the market place

-- Phil Samuel, Breakthrough Management Group

Avoiding the innovation bubble

My major observation in 2007 is the increasing gap between desire and reality in innovation. On the upside, the importance of innovation is becoming more and more widely recognized (and talked about), and the desire for innovation has increased correspondingly. We see more innovation projects happening and an increased number of innovation managers, "future teams" and the like.

However, the ability to innovate is not keeping up. Thus we see companies trying to generate and evaluate ideas using very inappropriate and inadequate tools, and corporate cultures which are still very obstructive to innovation.

My wish for 2008 is that we avoid an innovation “bubble” (followed by the inevitable crash), and that instead, innovation stabilizes as an essential component of business, which utilizes professional tools, processes and services.

-- Graham Horton, Zephram GbR

Fix the weakest link in the innovation chain

It is easy to focus on idea generation as the key part of the innovation process. It is often a good place to start but it will not help if the real problems lie elsewhere. To improve your innovation process capability you need to ask 5 questions:

1. How good are we at problem analysis - understanding what is really going on?
2. How good are we at generating innovative ideas?
3. How good are we at selecting the best ideas?
4. How good are we at prototyping the selected ideas?
5. How good are we at converting successful prototypes into real innovations?

It is not helpful to pour more great ideas into the top of the funnel if nothing is coming out at the other end. Once you understand where you are weakest in this process you should focus on fixing that first.

-- Paul Sloane, author of The Innovative Leader

Innovation in India

What we have learned in India:

• The innovation buzz has started building up in 2007 thru media and external resources but except the top 10 to 8% companies the balance have very little idea about what is innovation and how is it done.
• Treating innovation as a corporate wide task has started in 10% of companies
• Shockingly simple innovations have started albeit in the rural grass roots innovation domain, example a hand held global language translator using math principle or a washing machine without electricity or a portable paint machine on a scooter ( any time any where paint it) etc.
• Establishment of effective linkages with external organization more people know about nine sigma.
• Willingness to accept external ideas has grown in 2007
• Market orientation of innovation still lacking in 2007
• Emphasis on end user needs of a culturally diverse country still lacking in 2007
• Product and service innovation growing but manufacturing process innovation growths slower
• A organization striving for rural innovation growth supported by government of India has grown strong in 2007 as multiple projects are being handled with emphasis on execution, launch and more critical revenue model to the benefit of grass roots innovator or innovators.
• Innovation as a key strategy still lacking in 2007
• Cross functional synergies with government labs and research universities still very small and limited to special industries like bio tech, IT, pharma etc in 2007
• Governmentwide effort started albeit at a smaller scale but opportunities exist for support from government for innovations
• Measuring innovation as a country and companies growth thru metrices is also limited in 2007 but a start has been made
• Condition and support for innovation continued to languish from private and public banking channels in 2007 .Its not worth supporting innovation as its risky is still a mindset in Indian banking.

-- Pranav Mehta, Hamisar Health Care

Make time for innovation

Having the right idea at the right time is only half the secret. Real success is in the execution. It basically comes down to a lot of hard work. I guess, innovation and execution is not new, but with information overload and overwhelm now becoming universal reality and not a myth, our need is to have more of the one thing we can't buy, earn or steal! Time! As individuals, time is now the most scarce resource.

The most startling thing I have seen in relation to innovation in 2007 is the acceleration of our desire to find new ways of processing and using information as well as managing our independent workload. It is evident to me that the corner stone of that search is the area of visualization, and more specifically in mind mapping. We have seen an explosion of the number of mind mapping products, services, and information exchange. You only have to hit the home pages of the big mind mapping software players to see the focus on productivity. It has been a great journey learning how mind mapping, a great tool for knowledge creation and management, is also an excellent framework for driving productivity; structuring priorities in the context of life goals; taking action, recording progress and celebrating success.

-- Brad Allen, TPAssist Ltd.

Government as an innovation catalyst

The trajectory of the new innovation paradigm will continue to be driven forward by new ideas and new metrics of success. A recent New York Times "Slipstream" column well encapsulated how this movement will likely evolve. The piece highlighted one often overlooked misstep of the Bush administration, which has led to our diminished agility and competitiveness on the global stage. The key point highlighted was the thwarting of collaboration between private sector, government and academia to build the ideas of tomorrow.

As we approach a new year driven by a freshly Democratic Washington and inch closer towards the possibility of a Democratic new President, the innovation paradigm will likely continue to evolve and success will be judged by the ability to bring all three viewpoints into the innovation development process. As a result, a new "pyramid" approach to innovation which comprises an integrated POV from all three schools of thought will be a key trend to watch out for in the year ahead.

-- Billee Howard, Weber Shandwick

The importance of collaboration to innovation

The most important lesson I learned in 2007 was provided by the intense interaction with business partners. Trusted collaboration among us is vital to help brainstorm and turn any innovative and creative initiative into reality. The "collective intelligence" is superior to the "Lone Creative Ranger".

-- Luciano Lampi, PcLegal do Brasil

Social responsibility and innovation

Innovation for innovation sake is starting to wane for me! I turned 50 this year and I feel like innovation should mean something different. Innovation should make people feel better about themselves, should make the world better than before, ultimately innovation should take on some social responsibility. Innovation with a genuine concern for human beings makes being an innovator mean so much more!

-- Marco Marsan, Marco Polo Explorers International

Balancing the elements of innovation

The major lesson I learned this year is the absolute need for a balance between the intellectual, organizational and human elements of Innovation. This could be described as the What, How, Why Balance. When this balance is present, the Innovation or new product development is successful, when one of the elements is weak, the Innovation tends to fail. The reason for this is because the Why validates the What and How. Really understanding why you are doing something, and being able to articulate, it multiplies any core competence or intellectual factor. Likewise, being organized in a way that makes it easy for customers to deal with you, or for you to deal with suppliers, is a key factor. Innovation is the introduction of something new that adds value, Balanced Innovation guarantees that value.

-- Bob Carter, Vertex Data Science Ltd.

Try taking a negative viewpoint to generate ideas

With the possible exception of Michelangelo and Archimedes most of us approach innovation as a multi-step or multi-phase process consisting of usually sequential steps. After each we confirm either formally or informally evaluate the viability of the original idea and then adjust or modify it to fit the circumstances and then press ahead.

I found in several situations taking a negatively focused view at each step had significant and often unexpected benefits. Why this will not work? Why will no one buy this product/service? Why competitors will copy all new features? Why expected value to customer can never be delivered? I developed a simple but comprehensive decision matrix to summarize the situation at each stage

-- Prof. Henry Strage, HEAL LLC

Creativity tools help to smash writer's block

The longer I play in this business the more I'm convinced that the old saw, "nothing new under the sun," is true. It's ironically reassuring to read Friedrick Schiller's advice to a friend suffering from "lack of creative power" and find that his old advice is the same advice I've read from Thomas Edison and hear from today's creativity gurus.
 
Of course, this means there's absolutely no excuse, especially today, for nonsense like writer's block. Internet sites like this one and hundreds of others percolate with online tools like Idea Generator that help you brainstorm by yourself. Or places like ideaconnection where you can cross-pollinate with people from all over the world. Anytime, anywhere.

-- Peter Lloyd

The performance paradox

Over the past couple of years, I have observed something I call "The Performance Paradox." This paradox looks at the relationship between motivation (goals, targets, and management) and performance (physical, intellectual and creative performance). Interestingly, the relationship between motivation and performance is not linear. It is not even exponential. It is parabolic. Low motivation equals low performance. I'm sure this comes as no shock. As motivation increases, performance increases to a point. The sweet spot of performance. Then, as you become more goal obsessed and task driven, performance paradoxically decreases. This paradox holds true in all areas of performance including physical and mental performance. However, the paradox is most pronounced for creative endeavors. Goals increase stress and fixate employees on the future rather than the present. It has been proven that creativity diminishes when individuals are rewarded (externally motivated) for doing their work. The more you measure and motivate based on innovation, the less likely you will have a truly innovative culture.

Another interesting component to the Paradox is the fact that people will take great risks to minimize (or reduce) their pain/losses, yet will play it safe when the option is to increase their pleasure/gains. When your organization's change/innovation plans are utopian visions of a grandiose future, your employees move to the wrong end of the performance curve: high motivation, low performance. They become cynical about success and feel as though you are not addressing their present moment pains and frustrations. Instead, fix immediate problems first. Then begin to address, more strategic visions. For too long, well intended organizations have used the wrong motivation tools for creating cultures of innovation. You can read more about The Performance Paradox in my article on innovationtools.com.

-- Stephen Shapiro, author of 24/7 Innovation

Vision and innovation

Stick to your vision and you will be rewarded!

-- Martin Kuenzi, Salvation Army

Funding early-stage innovations

Innovations must be presented in an early stage in a very professional way so that financial investors can be attracted already from the beginning. Many good innovations are still dying because there are no financial means available to bridge the gap between the idea and the ready to deploy product.

-- Dr. Harald Jenny, SICOA AG Strategy and Innovation

China’s ascendancy in the world of innovation

In 1978 I was invited to China, whose poor condition at the time struck me as almost stone age. I was invited again last year. My impression is that China's recent claim to take global innovation leadership in 15 years is no longer in doubt. This moves innovation from previous corporate perceptions of creative fun and games to Economic Hardball. We are now entering a decade where American competitiveness will be on the line and determined by innovation know how. This past year has served to further reinforce and support evidence of my innovation-evangelizing mission over the last 15 years. Basically it was directed to promote the concepts below which were often considered arcane or obscure, but are now quickly moving into the main stream.

• Innovation is destined to be elevated to a higher level of scholarship and professional practice; we are almost there.
• Innovation is both strategic and hierarchal and subsumes creativity, brainstorming, and all other problem solving methods.
• Vision, synthesis, imagination, and opportunity still represent the fundamental motivators of innovators
• Innovation process trumps luck, serendipity, and ad-hoc models of management.
• Without process and discipline, serial innovation performance cannot be maintained.
• Companies which have discovered how to do the above are now first in their industry.
• The key element for innovation success in any organization will be the position of "CInO" Chief Innovation Officer.
• By 2013 the CInO and CEO will attain almost equivalent executive power, accountability, and prestige.

All of the above suggests a promising innovation future in 2008

-- C. Josh Abend, Serial Innovation Systems

A promising outlook for innovation

Coming out of a busy year in innovation activity I've really found the following as my real learning and progression points

1. Social innovation- the real potential and social impact this can have in taking small, local proven projects into larger scale offers a huge potential for learning and adapting. We are getting our head around this really big one
2. Innovation has become even clearer throughout the year in proven methodologies. Experimentation is giving way to defined approaches to business innovation and this continues to encourage investment and confidence within the business to push innovation more.
3. Outcome-driven innovation has got stronger in my mind and practice, as it focuses on the unmet needs of the consumer
4. Service innovation I still struggle with- for me I just cannot identify as clearly as I would like the differences and this is needed on where I'm presently sitting to resolve
5. Networks, collaborations through pod-casting, mind mapping and a multitude of open tools that stimulate, visualize and capture concepts and build greater interactions are becoming very important to crystallize and mature to add further momentum to the discovery and translation of ideas into new to the world concepts.
6. The Balanced Scorecard is giving way to innovation dashboards- more visual (again) and responsive to changing situations. Software has helped this as well as understanding the better innovation enhancing metrics. The BSC is like the old once a year strategic plan- it gets dusty very quickly.

For me. the outlook for 2008 looks promising for innovation. The worry is any downturn in the economy and then from past experience creativity seems to always get bashed hard on the head. Lets hope the momentum we seemed to have gained in 2007 on innovation prevails and business leaders see growth comes not from cost cutting and efficiencies but from growing the environment from increasing innovation activity.

-- Paul Hobcraft, HOCA International Consultants,

Conversations and innovation

The most important thing I learned in 2007 is that iterative, redundant conversations are the beginning and necessary for innovation and creativity. These conversations are where ideas are born, evaluated and reinvented. It is through the misunderstanding and clarification of meaning that creative ideas become innovation ideas. We many times think that creative people come up with innovations in solitude or that innovation teams can work alone. To really innovate, we have to plan for the time and place for those conversations. We need to begin to have patience and see the value in the redundant conversations. When that happens, the organization fosters an environment where innovation and creativity can truly thrive. We as innovation leaders need the ability to bring the right people together for conversations; lead, focus and redirect conversation without squelching creativity; encourage clarification within repetitive conversation and recognize the spark of creativity that may become innovation.

-- Belinda Jaramillo, Providence Health and Services

Mooching is not creative

I learned how to show more respect for my client's intelligence and not openly pick their brains. Mooching is not creative.

-- Michael J. Cahill, The Future Knowledge Group

Help people to cultivate their innate innovative capabilities

Innovation should not be a state we are trying to achieve or a skill set we wish to develop. We are innovative by nature. Our goal is to create cultures that allow people to play and capture the results. Human nature will take care of the rest.

-- Darren Eger, Executive Central Group Pty Ltd

Creative employees becoming more powerful

1. With practicing innovation, the power balance among people in any organization will changed toward the more creative employee.
2. Innovation climate is difficult to establish, as we deal with people attitude and behaviors.

-- Khaled Hegay, Pfizer KSA

Innovation: An uphill battle

Business leaders do not share a common definition of Innovation – do not accept they know what you are talking about;

Business managers lack knowledge about creativity and innovation, and many specialists in creativity and innovation could do with a brush-up on business management realities. There still seems to be a fatal communication gap and defending of territories.

Company politics and innovation do not go well together.

Many companies understand the importance of innovation, they just do not know hoe to go about it and once they do know, it is easy to get cold feet because

Managers feel threatened and start undermining the process

Company directors want the benefits of innovation without anything changing (it must be business a usual)

Decision making is essential – sadly it breeds much dissent when someone’s usual turf seems threatened

Once some companies decide to be more innovative and take charge of innovation across divisions, apathy seems to set in. It is almost as if the decision is viewed as the action required to turn an average company into an innovative one.

Once marketing, sales and production (especially) understand the benefits, it is much easier to link innovation to market success;

Given the above – Traditional marketers view market research and outdated, yet comfortable research methods as the be-all and end-all to market success. This may cause up to 60% failure in new products and a high level of failures in existing products. Despite this, few are inclined to view innovative new tools (to ensure success) in a positive light.

Talking and reading about innovation does not make it happen. Action is required as well as constant executive level interest in progress.

Innovation is a buzz-word – it is essential to link creativity and action with it

Many companies do not have an idea which qualifications are required when they wish to appoint Innovation leaders. They tend to fall back on marketers, research scientists or general business managers when in fact consumer scientists coming from a family- and consumer science perspective (even a product development perspective) could help get especially FMCG companies in the food industry out of their current predicament. With any other type of appointment it will be business a usual without any new success stories.

-- C M (Karin) Blignaut, CMB Consultants for Innovation Management

Long-term vision is critical to innovation success

My primary lesson has been an even clearer understanding that innovation projects are really integrated exercises involving a healthy dose of vision-based strategy (in my case following many of the principles from Good to Great), practical goal setting, research and analysis and a formal and rigorous review of choices and options to develop the work plan. Further, I've learned that managing these types of projects is the next big challenge, and is what really separates the successful ones from the unsuccessful. I've adapted Hoshin Kanri or Strategy Deployment principles for this purpose and have seen much success, particularly with using Toyota's A3 one-page plan tool.

The other lesson I've learned is one regarding terminology. I've learned that it doesn't matter what we call these initiatives, e.g., Innovation, Growth, Top-Line, etc. What really matters is establishing the long-term vision we are striving to achieve, BHAG and all, and then setting appropriate goals and objectives to drive daily behavior and project management discipline to make progress. Eating the elephant one bite at a time makes for more progress that the alternatives.

-- Charlie Alter, MAGNET

Break free of traditional thinking

The most important thing that I learned in 2007 was a creative technique that I put together from a variety of sources. I have found that nothing works better for me in a creative process that getting your hands dirty and setting your mind free. To break out of conventional thinking I suggest that you take a few big sheets of flip-chart paper and some colored markers. Write down all of your ideas. Choose the most intriguing ones, and take them one step further. Choose half of these and do it again. Finally choose the one that really grabs you, the one that says, "What could possibly happen if I tried this?"

Then do it. Fast. Make a prototype, write a draft, or sketch the design. Crank out as many versions as you can, each time asking yourself, "What would the be the very worst thing that could happen?" and then do the opposite (which of course must lead to the best). I have found this process to be invaluable when I find my creative process to be blocked.

-- Stephen Smith, Productivity in Context Blog

Look for inspiration

Look for inspiration and you will find it anywhere, anytime.

-- DHaeseleer Johan

Breakthrough thinking

I am constantly reminded in my work how we develop thinking habits that are very hard to break and if we can move through the "discomfort" of breaking our thinking habits, then that is when we open ourselves up to innovation, not before.

-- Carol Franczek, The Innovation Practice

New product innovation is hard

We've confirmed for ourselves why there is an 80% - 90% failure rate in new products. For one, creating truly new products, with unique and compelling reasons-for-being, takes time (which no one seems to have enough of these days). Every element of the new product has to be created/invented: brand, package, product form/ingredients, positioning, pricing, manufacturing, trade strategy/program, consumer communication, etc.

Secondly, and this is the tricky part (and where a lot of "stage gate"-linear-oriented companies fall down): At the end of the day, you have to make sure that all the elements of a new product come together in a synergistic, integrated way. This means that you must have the will --- to be both flexible enough, and courageous enough – to revisit/re-think the relationship of each of the parts to the greater whole at each step of the process. And this can be very hard to do, especially when you're getting pressure to "meet the ship date."

-- Bryan Mattimore and Gary Fraser, The Growth Engine Co.

What is innovation?

I'm the director of continuing education for the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. We work closely with industry to create short courses and credit programs that are customized to address the needs of our corporate customers. We've struggled with the concept of innovation for some time, particularly with employees from the Big 3 and other automotive suppliers who drop the word "innovation" into most conversations revolving around strategic initiatives/skill development, etc. The problem is, I really don't believe that there is a great understanding about what innovation really means. To this group, it's a buzzword, it sounds impressive, but there is little understanding about it. When I'm a participant in this type of conversation, the first question I ask is about the organization's culture. I inquire about the organization's risk taking capabilities, and how mistakes are viewed from the top down. If the responses that I receive are "we don't take risks", and/or "I can do anything I want as long as I don't make any mistakes", then I conclude that innovation will have a tough time taking root in such risk averse organizations. In my mind, an organization's culture makes or breaks innovative people and/or processes.

-- Jeanne Girard, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Openness to ideas

The organizations which made the greatest progress towards making innovation a core competency are those in which the leaders AND employees exhibited a genuine receptivity to others' ideas/feedback and new ways of doing things. The contrast is striking between organizations where openness reigns and where it is discouraged. We actually documented this year that if openness is being lived in an organization, it is: 45% more likely that people see a broader view of "reality"; there is 38% more cross-functional collaboration; people trust each other 50% more; and the exchange information is 27% greater.

We found that the best way to encourage openness is through teaching people how to inquire, ask questions. This strategy built better understanding and acceptance of diversity. But that alone was not enough. We needed to modify the performance review system and tweak the hiring process.

-- Andrew Papageorge, GoInnovate

Innovation is not spontaneous

Coming from a developing country background and having studied the subject of innovation in this context for two years now, I have learnt, above all else, that innovation is not spontaneous. It takes time and efforts. This is not to imply that there might not be serendipitous breakthroughs but my study of nations and organizations has shown me that the most innovative ones are proactive about it.

Again, I have come to realize that nothing brings development as much as innovation. Most people know that, or so it seems, at least. But among developing country academics, especially in my country, there seems to be a misunderstanding of what innovation is. In my search, I have learnt that innovation is not esoteric neither does it have to be complex. It simply means a new way of applying knowledge whether old or new.

-- Abiodun A. Egbetokun, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Nigeria

Innovation is hard work

Innovation isn't the result of a bolt of lightning striking you with some new approach to an old problem. It is the result of hard work and purposeful thought. The answer may come at a time when you weren't thinking about it, but it can only come if you have spent the time and creative thought necessary to finding a new, intelligent approach.

-- Mike Spinney, SixWeight

Addressing customer needs

The most important lesson we have learned is that successful products must address existing, demonstrable needs and frustrations, and not be based on ideas of what the market should/could/might want, but that have no connection to the most intense needs and frustrations of customers.

The second most important lesson is that to a great extent receptiveness to innovation is governed by the amount of pain stakeholders are feeling. People are so busy and focused on their jobs, that unless an innovation directly addresses a serious pain, they are unlikely to have the motivation to engage in a discussion, much less pursue something new.

The third lesion is that the first two lessons apply just as much to those who label themselves as innovators or interested in open innovation.

-- Larry MacDonald, Edison Innovations, Inc.

Building the speed of trust

As a veteran of the executive coaching profession, I know that facilitating corporate growth requires candid and honest feedback - often from all employees. Soliciting their input requires tremendous trust. But trust takes time... and time is money. To accelerate the "Speed of Trust" in coaching and consulting, I started using a new tool that allows me to quickly dive into the real issues without people or politics getting in the way. The tool is like a superstructure for collaboration that allows people to communicate with a level of safety not possible with email or face to face/Tele conferencing.

It has become the most significant techno innovation in my practice since I began coaching 22 years ago. With this tool, once the real issues are on the table, effective brainstorming is the natural next step. The tool is an ASP application called Engage ThoughtWare. I understand that large consulting firms are now using the tool but smaller consultants like me can equally benefit. You can find them at http://www.engagethoughtware.com/ for info and trial download.

-- Joseph Stith, Joseph & Company, LLC

Innovation cannot be forced

There is something that has always bothered me about the innovation processes we tried to explain in our OI courses. The simple rule is: Innovation cannot be forced.

Brainstorming sessions, long-term attempts at cultural change, game playing, creating small environments that focus the thought processes are all good things, but it takes time for people to allow themselves to become innovative and to begin to understand that they may have something to contribute.

I think we also understand that innovation is serendipitous: one must have a thorough understanding of relevant subject matter before one can recognize an innovative thought.

-- Lorin M. Spak, Interface Financial Group

The value of partnering with small, entrepreneurial firms

We see “open innovation partnerships” between big businesses and smaller firms as a key strategic ingredient of innovation management in the future - helping big firms spot opportunities, then bringing products and services to market at maximum speed, and a minimum cost.

Successful product innovation is also more about smart correlation and the art of limitation than smart technology alone - and that doesn't depend on the size of the company coming up with the ideas. In fact being a small, independent company, not driven by (or tied to) any specific technology, effectively sidesteps some of the inherent limitations of large corporate structures. As such, we believe the innovative high-tech company of the future is small, maneuvers professionally, and has access to efficient resources all over the world."

-- Siete Hamminga, Waleli

Practice your creative skills daily

I learned that constant practice is key. I have had colleagues remark on how many creative ideas I have had recently We all have access to creativity potential but unless we practice creativity daily, it can get rusty.

-- Tim Howey, Organizational Consulting

Define your challenge, then brainstorm

When brainstorming you need to define what you are brainstorming about or what ideas you would like generated. Otherwise the brainstorming session or idea campaign is not going to be beneficial.

-- Brenda Brown, SunLife

Don’t be so quick to criticize ideas

The most striking lesson I had about innovation in 2007 came when I was looking at an idea website. One contributor had shared his vision of a toy for children – and the first commentator slammed his hopes with two cruel words: "Try again."  It was vicious – especially since the idea wasn't bad! It needed some development, but the concept was interesting.

At that point, I realized just how easy it is to put down someone else's ideas. If we don't immediately like something, we pick at the flaws until the idea is vanquished, and its creator knows not to make that mistake again. Since I realized how easy it is to destroy an idea, I've worked really hard to find the potential of every idea I come across, especially if I don't like it right away. It's worked very well: I've come up with better ideas myself, and seen how much more others want to be creative when they see how far their ideas can go.

Just the simple act of focusing on and developing the positive parts of an idea has had amazing results.

-- Katie Konrath, GetFreshMinds Blog

Speed vs. velocity

Speed and velocity are two different things. To be able to move quickly you must take the time to perform the preparatory steps like research and root cause analysis completely. My clients always want to rush through or skip steps but the innovation only comes from doing the work.

-- Jim Canterucci, author of Personal Brilliance

Brainstorming - or not?

Brainstorming is a popular word that, these days, gets used as a catch-all for a wide spectrum of techniques. In other words, people make no distinction between real brainstorming (a way of removing inhibitions to encourage a free flow of ideas) and many similar activities. In the case of the LogoVisual Thinking (LVT) methodology, we are clear that we are definitely not brainstorming. We are tapping the diversity of the group. We collect facts or experiences, often dredging tacit knowledge. Then, instead of filtering the results down to a select few, as in brainstorming, our methodology includes all ideas as being relevant and valuable, distills their essence, looks for emergent patterns and then probes for deeper meaning.

There are strong similarities with some aspects of brainstorming - free association and suspension of judgment, for instance. There are also major distinctions - in this technique rigor, in wording the ideas is very important and directly affects the quality of the outcomes. As in brainstorming, freedom to disagree or even contradict is very liberating and contributes passion and energy to the outcomes. However, it is what happens beyond this gathering of material that really distinguishes LVT from brainstorming. Experience shows that it pays to make these distinctions, yet people rarely do so. See Logovisual.com for more information.

-- John Varney, Centre for Management Creativity (UK)

Brainstorming basics

First, its all about pre-work. You need to have a specific challenge as a reason to be innovative. When people know why they are pulled together to solve a particular customer or business problem, you can communicate it clearly and give them a sense of purpose. Picking the right team to solve this problem is the next part, and then selecting good tools to help you manage and facilitate the session is critical.

The final aspect has to drive the follow-up. If you brainstorm a list of ideas, how you filter and assign the top three to five best responses to develop, incubate and pilot is the other big learning for 2007. It also drives a business plan for the top idea if it turns out to deliver true value to the customer.

-- Mark Bellamy, GE Energy

When brainstorming, you can’t rush ideas

Do not expect a lot of creativity or innovative thinking in a short meeting. It will take quite some time to "expand your mind" – hours, or maybe even a day. So for the best results, take your time. Get in the right mood. Relax, have fun, make jokes. Serious brainstorming is best done UN-serious. The best ideas might even come up after the brainstorming meeting. So, ask people to share those ideas as well.

-- Erik Volkers, Tempo-Team

The value of questions

Ask good questions to keep brainstorming on a practical path.

-- Alexander Schaefer, HSM Global

Break down your situation to uncover possibilities

Categorizing determinants of a situation in terms of their essentials, and then matching those – picture a matrix – is always powerful, forcing consideration of fruitful possibilities that might otherwise not be recognized.

-- Wayne W. Becker, Salutary Technology, Inc.

Opening up innovation

2007 has further emphasized the need for all organizations to be innovative, and to establish and implement structured innovation practices in order to be competitive and to survive.

Another most wonderful thing that has started happening is that more highly successful corporations are opening their innovation program for the public at large for participation and contribution instead of the earlier practice of restricting this to within the walls of the company or its R&D function. This itself is an innovative step-change in managing innovation.

-- Dr. K.S. Ramachandra

Take a day off

Take one solid day per week off. Probably Saturday or Sunday. And you must put the technology away for the whole day. It's a response to the growing epidemic I see of people working seven days per week due to the enablement of technology, a perfect prescription for burnout and productivity drop-off. Does anything work well when it's fried? No!

This is the simplest recipe you'll ever receive for burnout avoidance. It's understandable you'll need to use your phone, but beyond that, hide the laptop and spend some quality time with yourself, family and/or friends. Take back the empire of you! As your brain rests you might even find the solutions you seek to the problems you have rising to the top. After all, cream rises when there isn't a constant hurricane on your conscience mind.

One day per week with no technology. That’s an order!

-- Kyle McFarlin, Visual Strategist

Take small steps daily

• To help innovate a company fast and steady, I use the following basic set. And this set has to be used by every member of that company, including the "coffee lady.”
   
  Innovate (change) in tiny steps
• Take one tiny step every day
• Take one small risk every day
• The costs for the changes must be low. No budgets necessary.

This creates momentum in the company that renews the company on a constant basis and makes big innovations easier.
 
-- Jack Swinkels Swinkels Technical Solutions BV

Break down ideas into manageable steps

1. Don't let grand ideas remain abstract or too big to manage. Break down innovative ideas into clearly defined, manageable steps with well-defined expectations and a clear understanding of who is accountable fro what.

2. Keep priorities and lists short. When there is a long list of 'things that must be done' there is frustration and confusion.

-- Michael Annison, Westrend Group

Postpone idea evaluation

It’s sometimes best to avoid doing a best ideas selection on the same day/session as the idea generation. Often in the light of a new day what seemed good on the day often looses its shine while other ideas seem to grow stronger after incubating overnight or for a short while.

-- Chris Thomason

China: Soon to be an innovation powerhouse

Innovation has been all the buzz in Hong Kong and China in the past few years. However, it is very difficult for companies to implement innovation practices in a culture mainly focused on acquisition, short-term profitability and imitation. That said, although deep-rooted cultural traits take centuries to change, China is changing rapidly and is learning best practices from the West. It would take tremendous effort for a company to implement an innovation culture and ensure that every employee and partner understands and strives to fulfill innovation best practices and customer value. But to every rule, there are exceptions, and given the sheer number of companies in China and their top-down way of working, it will only take a small very percentage of CEOs to understand and embrace innovation for China to become one of the largest innovation powerhouses. Whether you are producing there or not, if you are targeting its markets, now is the time to implement innovation in Chinese companies in order to gain a tremendous first-mover advantage.

-- David Jacques, Customer input Limited

Be bold!

Customers/consumers are beginning to see that there isn’t a whole lot behind the “talk” of innovation and are starting to look closer for the “walk.” Too many incremental product improvements are being passed off as “innovation” (“Look…my crappy coffee comes in an innovative new blue colored paper cup!”). A lot of supposedly smart people are worried about whether or not they are innovating fast enough, when they should be worried about whether or not they are innovating boldly enough.

-- Paul R. Williams, Think For A Change, LLC

Focus on people

Change is made by people and mostly about people. Consult with them, pick their brains, inform them, and coordinate with them.

It doesn't matter whether you have great processes, and wonderful technologies or tools or venues or gadgets or puzzles or even chocolate...it's all about the people and their interactions, their morale, their values, their beliefs, and their thought leadership.

-- Maria B. Thompson , Motorola Law Department

Innovation must be on the agenda

Everybody talks about Innovation, but just a few do innovate. Leaders have to put Innovation into the agendas of the company on a daily basis. It has to become an issue in the budget, in the activity plans, in the strategy plan, the project plans and of course, the leader have to be as enthusiastic about these matter as he/she is to the marketing plan. Get the priorities right – and get Innovation at the company agenda!

-- Jan-Erik Kristoffersen, IdeSmia AS

Build people’s confidence in their ability to innovate

- A centralized idea box is a frustration generator: Either it does not receive many ideas and you are frustrated, or it gets submerged and you discover that you simply cannot follow-up on the ideas submitted and everyone is frustrated.

Developing a culture of innovation is like teaching a kid to ride: Before you get a BMX freestyle champion, you will first reassure your kid using training wheels, then get rid of them, then encourage further mastering. I have noticed that a lot of people are convinced th are unable to innovate. I find it a key to make them self-confident thanks to a progressive approach.

If the company culture is not very homogeneous (which is usual in the case of external growth), carefully take differences into account when developing an innovation culture.

-- Denis Faivre, Atos Worldline

Find the innovation enablers

I have learned that in a corporate environment, there is great potential for innovation due to the vast experience and resources available. I think the key is persistence and communicating effectively what you are trying to accomplish and why. There are a thousand people in the company that will tell you why you cant do it and how big a hassle it is and all the processes and people you will upset. But there is one guy who will listen to you and provide support and another who knows the path around the bureaucracy so that you can do it. The key for any corporate entrepreneur is to find those two guys in a large organization! To help you narrow it down, those guys don't wear ties...

Another great insight or light bulb moment is that less than 20% of employees are engaged at work - a management scandal. So to have a highly engaged workforce, you need to attract the people who are highly engaged at work - so the question remains, how do you do that? I think innovation teamwork is a way to build those skills and engagement in an organization. Discussion is so important to learn.

-- Justin Hardie, CitiPower & Powercor Australia

Help people "get" the fun of innovation

1. Innovation, creativity, and brainstorming are personally fun and exciting to be involved in. Once people "get it", they spread the gospel themselves. Therefore, one of the best ways to get a groundswell of innovation is to expose as many people at all ranks in the company to that "fun" aspect and they'll evangelize innovation for you! That's obviously not enough if you don't work all the background processes to harness this energy - but it's the most effective way to get the energy up.

2. Success breeds success - we've created a process that can lead to short-term success that we publicly celebrate in order to pave the way for the longer term innovations to develop in an environment more receptive to innovation.

-- Tal Givoly, Amdocs

Use the right tool for the innovation job

Use the right tool for the job and for the most complex matters, combine suitable tools. I noticed that every tool has strengths and weaknesses for brainstorming, creative thinking, administration, marketing and presenting. For example, experienced auto mechanics, plumbers and chefs have learned from much experience what works best in each kind of situation. So my job is not to just go to the tools I like best but instead use the ones that suit the need at hand. And when I run my most complicated challenges through a few of these tools the results are better than expected.

The tools I learned to juggle during 2007 included

MindManager by Mindjet http://www.mindjet.com/
Whiz Folders http://whizfolders.com/
Mindomo http://mindomo.com/

-- John S. Oliver

Never take anything as a given

Never take anything as a given. We are scaling up a patented technology acquired from a university and have now found that the fundamental technology which has been a given for over a decade is not working as it should. We had observed this phenomena for some time but had rationalized these results as being due to other aspects of the project which we were working on to improve as part of our commercialization scale-up. It was only when all else had been optimized and the phenomena was still there that the conclusion drew us to investigate what had been a given. This has resulted in our commercialization being set back by at least six months. So, never take anything as a given.

-- John Maclay, Fluorosolar Systems Ltd.

Balance process and creativity

1. To be a successful company, you have to manage the delicate balance between "artists" and “engineers.” Companies that push the pendulum too far in either direction can suffer dire consequences. Those that have relentlessly pursued Six Sigma and Lean process can strangle their innovative culture and watch their pipelines dry up. Those who pursue the ambiguity of creativity without some process around managing new idea generation and development can land in chaos. The tension between the two extremes is naturally difficult to manage, but finding the sweet spot is necessary for success.

2. Talking incessantly about creativity and innovation is vastly over-rated. Just do it and others will too.

-- Deb Davis, Abbott Bioresearch Center

First develop an innovative culture, then train

Doing tactical innovation training is a waste of time and money if the senior people in the organization aren't committed to establishing a culture of innovation. The training just takes something off their "to do list" and if the culture doesn't allow for the results of the tactics to be acted upon they are still satisfied because the training was accomplished.

-- Chris Burger, Crane Group

We’re on the verge of a breakthrough

We live in a richly holographic universe, everything affecting everything else, everything relating to everything else. Despite all that is now known in our civilization, we are only a few steps, or a few observations, away from centuries-worth of new science and new civilization, no matter what direction we turn to look.

-- Win Wenger

The eureka myth

Innovation is not about the eureka moments. Those are few and far between (and probably not even real). If you counted on the eureka moments you would not survive for long as an innovative company. Instead, getting really good at the process of capturing the little ideas leads to revolutionary programs which lead to huge innovations. When you look back and see the end result of thousands of little ideas it could look like one big eureka idea, but be careful because that just re-enforces the eureka myth.

Also, products can be copied. Processes are a bit harder to copy, but they can still be figured out by competitors. Core values are nearly impossible to duplicate, so if innovation is a central part of your management strategy to capture competitive advantage, it has to come from the culture of your organization, which requires a very long term commitment and a lot of reinforcement.

-- David Detlefsen

Hope for the future of creativity

With nearly 7 billion people on the earth, with millions born and millions who pass away, there is still hope that the creative thinking movement can hit critical mass, a tipping point, and truly have a massive impact on humanity.

-- Robert Alan Black, author of Creating

Many managers want innovation for personal gain

The “what’s in it for me” attitude has been the dominating factor while consulting and coaching my clients. As much as we desire to see innovation and creativity being a corporatewide initiative, it’s evidently clear to me that most desire the tools and techniques of information management for personal gain rather than sharing the investment with others initially. My clients have been transparent enough to say that they wish to be the creative innovators (masters) within their respective environments and then decide to share.

-- Wallace Tait, VisualMapper.org

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Published on 1/8/2008

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