Innovation 101

ok for my first post here lets take a real fast run through some of the basics in this vital subject :-

"Innovation is turning an idea into a solution that creates

value to a customer"

Idea into a Solution: Having an idea is only the first step.

You actually need to execute on the idea in order for it

to achieve anything

Value to a Customer: This means that the ultimate goal

of any innovation effort always needs to focus on

improving the customer’s experience. And this means

that the solution you have produced is addressing an

actual problem or challenge which they had, not just one

you imagine they’ve had. And the way that you provide

it to the customer is how the customer can determine if

it is valuable to them (which includes everything from

quality, price, ease of use, availability etc).

Essentially, you need to provide a solution which your

customers perceive as having value to them, compared to all

of the other options available to them.

Desirability is whether or not your customers perceive

the value in it

Viability is whether it meets company aims, which

should include contributions toward profit, values and

strategy

Feasibility is whether or not it is possible to produce the

offering with current technology / resources, or what

capabilities need to be developed to make it viable

INNOVATION PROCESS - Teamwork , Technique and Tools

1.Methodology: Standard programme management

lifecycles can actually harm a team’s ability to execute

innovations. But an Innovation Lifecycle methodology

will guide your team members through the process of

developing an innovation, while also reporting progress

to leadership

2. Focus on Problem and solution: Every action your team

takes should consider whether it is actually addressing

the challenge for the customer and enhancing the

solution from their perspective.

3. Experimentation & Prototyping: Fail early. Fail cheaply,

Fail often. Experimentation on your offering should

begin early to help rapidly refine it, by finding data and

reasons for what actually improves the solution

(Gregersen, 2011).

4. Feedback incorporation: Asking customers if they “like”

or are “satisfied” with the solution is getting feedback far

too late. Getting feedback from trusted sources before

the product is launched provides you insights into what

the customer finds valuable and avoids wasted effort.

5. Diversity in Team: The team you put together need to

complement each other’s skills. This means not only

having a mix of dreamers & doers, but different

backgrounds, and mixing teams between projects to

keep ideas flowing (Uzzi, 2005).

6. Evaluation: Not all ideas are going to be good, but even

the good ones need to be prioritised to make sure

resources and time are being used most effectively. This

is why determining the evaluation criteria for what

innovation success looks like at the beginning is vital.

7. Work Environment: The location and design of the work

environment can have huge effects on how innovative

the people working there can be. Everything from how

distracting it is (Konnikova, 2014) to how it affects the

brain’s ability to generate ideas (MEYERS-LEVY, 2007)

needs to be considered.

8. Resources: Do your team members have the equipment,

technology, facilities, budget and corporate support they

need to develop, design, experiment and refine the

innovations?

9. Tools: In addition to the resources above, do the team

members also have the tools and skills to make sure they

are progressing, such as knowledge on how to collect the

right information or templates to plan ahead.

10. Time available: Not all innovations start as corporate

strategies or come from ideation sessions. Some

companies enable their staff to use some work time to

develop ideas they think would be useful to the

company, like 3M allowing staff to spend 15% of their

worktime on their own ideas.

11. Cross-Pollination: Often, solutions to difficult

challenges come from unexpected sources, such as

someone from outside the team providing insight into

how an equivalent challenge was solved by another

team, company or industry. Cross-pollinating ideas

between teams, either through insight days or swapping

team members can bring valuable new perspectives.

12. Brainstorming Effectively: Traditional brainstorming

sessions are actually terrible at producing actionable

ideas. A lot of time is used that often doesn’t deliver

anything for the company. But when run effectively,

these ideation sessions can produce huge numbers or

refined ideas which actually address the challenge and

meet the evaluation criteria.

13. Message and buy-in: Innovations will never get off the

ground if they aren’t supported by a relevant leader in

the organisation. Getting the message of what the

project aims to achieve right will facilitate getting buy-in

for it right at the beginning stages.

Types of innovation

MORE EXAMPLES

in later articles we will examine the detail and challenges in these areas, but at least a framework has been established

Neil