There is a plethora of articles being written at the moment about retail - chains are closing, David Jones and Myers have had profit slumps, the internet is killing the sector etc.etc.etc. So it's time we revisited innovation in retail - because retail is in the spotlight all over the world - for the devastation and the innovation!
Stores are appealing to consumers by creating an entire shopping experience. That means they are appealing to all senses - sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. There are audio visual displays everywhere you look. Walk into a shopping centre and tale a deep smell - burning candles, perfumes, food aromas - coming at you from every direction. There is music playing in most places - and it's true that in certain outlets it is programmed to make you go fast during busy times and allow you to browse in quieter times. I'm sure you get the picture.
And, as I wrote before - there appears to be a greater emphasis on customer service. I read an article recently where Myers admitted things were improving because they had actually put more people back on the floor - the mind boggles. Went to Target the other day and couldn't find anyone to help me find anything I was looking for - so I walked out and purchased elsewhere!
Here's an example of improving the retail experience from the heart of the ultimate retail centre of the world - Paris. The Adidas flagship store developed the mi Adidas concept. Consumers actually get to create their own shoe or their own jersey in store. Talk about customisation!
Yet another approach - companies are sprouting their green and sustainability improvements/implementations...from the products they use or don't use, to the packaging to, Target charging an extra 10c for a plastic bag and so on and so forth. We can now be consumers with a conscience and there are internet businesses springing up that do all the research for you and advise where you should shop so you can feel better about what you are doing/buying/using.
It's all about creating a vibrant atmosphere. I read a term recently, shopper-centric, which seems very appropriate and very now.
On the food side of things, along with one of the weekly papers that gets delivered to my place came a magazine insert, Dick Smith's Magazine of Forbidden Ideas. This mag is full of Australian products - well Dick Smith Australian products. Interestingly there appears a list of what once were iconic Australian brands or products, or products that had become brands, like Vegemite, Arnotts, Golden Circle, Dairy Farmers and heaven forbid Aeroplane Jelly and Fosters. All these products are now owned by off shore companies!
I really enjoyed the read - especially loved the title. One article especially grabbed my eye - about a Dick Smith product called OzEmite. It has been 13 years in the making and has a point of difference in that it's gluten free and not made on Brewer's Yeast. He admits it costs 30c more but isn't that a small price to pay to support everything Australian? I will be making the swap as mother of a Vegemite addict who is just old enough to understand the Support Australian Product ethos.
And, in the true spirit of collaboration, Dick Smith has Coles, Woolworths, IGA and other independents on board!
Wednesday 26 September 2012
Sunday 16 September 2012
Small Wins
Kevin Coffey keeps coming up with great book discoveries! A few weeks ago he recommended Little Bets - how breakthrough ideas emerge from small discoveries, by Peter Sims. I'm still getting through it (and the 1000's of other books I have on my "to read" list) but I've just read the chapter titled, Small Wins and there are a few things worth pointing out!
Small Wins are defined as small successes that emerge out of our ongoing development process. Sims goes on to describe small wins as building blocks or footholds or landmarks. These types of Small Wins can often indicate if we are heading in the right direction or if we should consider a change of direction - even a 180 degree turn...
The Small Wins theory is set against the analogy of the alcoholic, who doesn't think about whether or not he will be sober in 10 years time but rather puts energy into remaining sober one day at a time. Another analogy I drew was from the movie What About Bob, starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. Here the patient (Bill Murray) focuses on babysteps to deal with his afflictions, rather than deal initially with massive changes which could seem like Mt Everest...
The chapter has a few examples of Small Wins and my favourite one is the discussion centred around Pixar. For some time after Jobs took over, Pixar continued to lose money. There had always been a grand plan - to make animated feature films - but it was assumed that this plan would not happen any time soon, and apparently the animation division was nearly closed several times. Who knows, perhaps in desperation, the animation team proposed a series of short films, purportedly to promote some hardware Pixar was trying to sell.
Luxor Jr was a 90 second animation film that received a standing ovation at a computer graphics conference (there were 6,000 people on their feet). The Luxor lamp that inspired the movie is now the Pixar logo...That Small Win, led to other small wins which in turn led Pixar to where they are today...making animated feature films that are box office hits.
Another of my Innovation favourite examples is Starbucks Cafe. Sims describes how Starbucks emerged/evolved by listening and acting on customer feedback - they had a yes approach to customer requests. The boss had a no non-fat drink policy in the beginning! Customers however wanted non fat drinks so what the customer wanted the customer got - and low fat drinks were introduced. Starbucks realised that customers wanted "Affordable Luxuries", $2 cappuccinos, exotic tasting coffees etc. Customers got what they wanted and the rest is history.
Small changes at Starbucks led to pivotal changes away from Shultz's (the boss) original idea to model
Starbucks on Italian coffee houses - there is no low fat or non fat milk there!!! Rather, the small wins led to the creation of a new American coffee experience.
The common link here is...an open mind!
Small Wins are defined as small successes that emerge out of our ongoing development process. Sims goes on to describe small wins as building blocks or footholds or landmarks. These types of Small Wins can often indicate if we are heading in the right direction or if we should consider a change of direction - even a 180 degree turn...
The Small Wins theory is set against the analogy of the alcoholic, who doesn't think about whether or not he will be sober in 10 years time but rather puts energy into remaining sober one day at a time. Another analogy I drew was from the movie What About Bob, starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. Here the patient (Bill Murray) focuses on babysteps to deal with his afflictions, rather than deal initially with massive changes which could seem like Mt Everest...
The chapter has a few examples of Small Wins and my favourite one is the discussion centred around Pixar. For some time after Jobs took over, Pixar continued to lose money. There had always been a grand plan - to make animated feature films - but it was assumed that this plan would not happen any time soon, and apparently the animation division was nearly closed several times. Who knows, perhaps in desperation, the animation team proposed a series of short films, purportedly to promote some hardware Pixar was trying to sell.
Luxor Jr was a 90 second animation film that received a standing ovation at a computer graphics conference (there were 6,000 people on their feet). The Luxor lamp that inspired the movie is now the Pixar logo...That Small Win, led to other small wins which in turn led Pixar to where they are today...making animated feature films that are box office hits.
Another of my Innovation favourite examples is Starbucks Cafe. Sims describes how Starbucks emerged/evolved by listening and acting on customer feedback - they had a yes approach to customer requests. The boss had a no non-fat drink policy in the beginning! Customers however wanted non fat drinks so what the customer wanted the customer got - and low fat drinks were introduced. Starbucks realised that customers wanted "Affordable Luxuries", $2 cappuccinos, exotic tasting coffees etc. Customers got what they wanted and the rest is history.
Small changes at Starbucks led to pivotal changes away from Shultz's (the boss) original idea to model
Starbucks on Italian coffee houses - there is no low fat or non fat milk there!!! Rather, the small wins led to the creation of a new American coffee experience.
The common link here is...an open mind!
Wednesday 12 September 2012
Trust...
So I’ve been ruminating lately on why we don’t Collaborate more.
If the rough flow to a new product or service goes something like;
I believe it's a form of funding that money can't buy.
Why does it seem to then break down at Collaboration?
My hunch is ‘TRUST’ and the lack thereof.
You won’t see a module in any MBA on ‘Trust’. It doesn’t loom large in Human Resource manuals. It certainly is not listed as a KPI that I’ve ever seen. Commercially it has no reward association; rather, the opposite usually applies. Supply Contracts don’t have a clause on it.
(Don’t start me on the legal acknowledgement of distrust that forms most contracts)
For Collaboration to be effective, or indeed work at all, parties must come from a perspective of Trust.
Can you be Trusted with someone’s idea?
Can you Trust the other collaborants with your baby?
Seth Godin has a nice definition of Trust.
Spend a moment placing his template over the relationships you have with your networks and if the collaboration cap fits…type in your password and get on with it!
"Where does trust come from"? Thus sayeth Seth...
Hint: it never comes from the good times and from the easy projects.
We trust people because they showed up when it wasn’t convenient, because they told the truth when it was easier to lie and because they kept a promise when they could have gotten away with breaking it.
Every tough time and every pressured project is another opportunity to earn the trust of someone you care about.
(originally posted at http://thejohnnydeppstep.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/trust/)
Share the trust...it may just work.
Kevin Coffey (part of the Create and Innovate team)
If the rough flow to a new product or service goes something like;
- Imagination
- Creativity
- Innovation
- Collaboration
- Commercialisation
- Product
- Distribution/ Availability
- Purchase
I believe it's a form of funding that money can't buy.
Why does it seem to then break down at Collaboration?
My hunch is ‘TRUST’ and the lack thereof.
You won’t see a module in any MBA on ‘Trust’. It doesn’t loom large in Human Resource manuals. It certainly is not listed as a KPI that I’ve ever seen. Commercially it has no reward association; rather, the opposite usually applies. Supply Contracts don’t have a clause on it.
(Don’t start me on the legal acknowledgement of distrust that forms most contracts)
For Collaboration to be effective, or indeed work at all, parties must come from a perspective of Trust.
Can you be Trusted with someone’s idea?
Can you Trust the other collaborants with your baby?
Seth Godin has a nice definition of Trust.
Spend a moment placing his template over the relationships you have with your networks and if the collaboration cap fits…type in your password and get on with it!
"Where does trust come from"? Thus sayeth Seth...
Hint: it never comes from the good times and from the easy projects.
We trust people because they showed up when it wasn’t convenient, because they told the truth when it was easier to lie and because they kept a promise when they could have gotten away with breaking it.
Every tough time and every pressured project is another opportunity to earn the trust of someone you care about.
(originally posted at http://thejohnnydeppstep.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/trust/)
Share the trust...it may just work.
Kevin Coffey (part of the Create and Innovate team)
Thursday 6 September 2012
Golden Eggs
Lets talk eggs!
There's been much talk lately in quite a few different circles I've found myself in, about putting all our eggs in the mining basket. At the Create and Innovate workshop at Kurri Kurri a couple of weeks ago, people were conscious of not putting all their eggs in the one basket post Hydro. Very sage thinking...
That's where innovative practise and creativity can come in - in developing quality eggs and putting them in fewer baskets. If I'm going to write about this though I can't help but have an all roads lead back to Apple moment - sorry - except I'm not really!
Steve Jobs put a few quality eggs in a few quality baskets. To take Apple out of a death spiral, Jobs outlined his strategy like this:
When we got to the company a year ago, there were fifteen product platforms and a zillion variants of each one...So we went back to business school 101 and asked, "What do people want?" Well they want two kinds of products: consumer and professional. In each of those two categories we need desktop and portable models...That's what we decided to do, to focus on four great products.
The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo
Imagine if businesses and organisations created four quality products based on strengths that were internal to their organisation (and there are some businesses and organisations that do do this) and marketed those four quality products. Not only would we have less of the same old same old competing for the same share of the market, but the organisation could concentrate on what it was best at. Remarkable concept isn't it!
I picked up a good book at a book sale not long ago - Go Put Your Strengths To Work by Marcus Buckingham and there are some great exercises on how to find, grow and utilise those strengths in the book. Another recommendation from my Create and Innovate colleague Kevin Coffey is Little Bets, by Peter Sims. I've only had a chance to read the jacket and skim through the book at this point of time but it's all about how breakthrough ideas emerge from small discoveries. The theme running through here, how to get that quality egg, is to take strategically placed small steps and experiment with small incentives as opposed to starting with the big idea. In other words - make Little Bets to get you from A to B.
If you really take this on you need to be free from conventional planning and analytical thinking to do it properly.
Examples of successful uses of this theory exist! Hewlett Packard accidentally discovered the first hand held calculator using this strategy - what a golden egg that was! And Pixar films, according to Sims, have had so very many box office hits only because of their ingenious story boarding process!
Maybe those golden eggs aren't that hard to find after all...it might be just a mix of strengths, perseverance and a lot of love!
There's been much talk lately in quite a few different circles I've found myself in, about putting all our eggs in the mining basket. At the Create and Innovate workshop at Kurri Kurri a couple of weeks ago, people were conscious of not putting all their eggs in the one basket post Hydro. Very sage thinking...
That's where innovative practise and creativity can come in - in developing quality eggs and putting them in fewer baskets. If I'm going to write about this though I can't help but have an all roads lead back to Apple moment - sorry - except I'm not really!
Steve Jobs put a few quality eggs in a few quality baskets. To take Apple out of a death spiral, Jobs outlined his strategy like this:
When we got to the company a year ago, there were fifteen product platforms and a zillion variants of each one...So we went back to business school 101 and asked, "What do people want?" Well they want two kinds of products: consumer and professional. In each of those two categories we need desktop and portable models...That's what we decided to do, to focus on four great products.
The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo
Imagine if businesses and organisations created four quality products based on strengths that were internal to their organisation (and there are some businesses and organisations that do do this) and marketed those four quality products. Not only would we have less of the same old same old competing for the same share of the market, but the organisation could concentrate on what it was best at. Remarkable concept isn't it!
I picked up a good book at a book sale not long ago - Go Put Your Strengths To Work by Marcus Buckingham and there are some great exercises on how to find, grow and utilise those strengths in the book. Another recommendation from my Create and Innovate colleague Kevin Coffey is Little Bets, by Peter Sims. I've only had a chance to read the jacket and skim through the book at this point of time but it's all about how breakthrough ideas emerge from small discoveries. The theme running through here, how to get that quality egg, is to take strategically placed small steps and experiment with small incentives as opposed to starting with the big idea. In other words - make Little Bets to get you from A to B.
If you really take this on you need to be free from conventional planning and analytical thinking to do it properly.
Examples of successful uses of this theory exist! Hewlett Packard accidentally discovered the first hand held calculator using this strategy - what a golden egg that was! And Pixar films, according to Sims, have had so very many box office hits only because of their ingenious story boarding process!
Maybe those golden eggs aren't that hard to find after all...it might be just a mix of strengths, perseverance and a lot of love!
Sunday 2 September 2012
Trust Your Gut
Finally - research to back up what we already know from the University of Newcastle - your gut instinct is right! Reminds me of the time I read the study on Camomile - scientists discovered what herbalists and my grandmother knew all along - camomile calms the nerves and soothes the stomach...
What a shame we have let fear and doubt get in the way of what our ancestors took for granted and utilised all the time...
One theory around gut instinct is that our brains access all our accumulated experiences and this allows us to make judgements and to take actions based on those judgements. A process of logical, conscience consideration has not taken place. On this intellectual level, the brain unconsciously organises the patterns of information it has been fed into blocks - this process has been called chunking.
Reminds me of when my children were babies and I was more in tune with my gut instinct. I knew the difference between a pained cry, a helpless cry, a tired cry, a no particular purpose cry, an attention cry - I was tuned in.
In ancient times it is thought that we had an inbuilt radar that would alert us to danger. We used our senses to pick up signals and signs of impending danger, or to read signs to make decisions about actions and/or reactions.
On a spiritual level, it has been noted that our gut feelings (and our butterflies) occur in the gut (obviously) and that this is the exact centre point our body - a point of perfect balance. Interesting....
What a shame we have let fear and doubt get in the way of what our ancestors took for granted and utilised all the time...
One theory around gut instinct is that our brains access all our accumulated experiences and this allows us to make judgements and to take actions based on those judgements. A process of logical, conscience consideration has not taken place. On this intellectual level, the brain unconsciously organises the patterns of information it has been fed into blocks - this process has been called chunking.
Reminds me of when my children were babies and I was more in tune with my gut instinct. I knew the difference between a pained cry, a helpless cry, a tired cry, a no particular purpose cry, an attention cry - I was tuned in.
In ancient times it is thought that we had an inbuilt radar that would alert us to danger. We used our senses to pick up signals and signs of impending danger, or to read signs to make decisions about actions and/or reactions.
On a spiritual level, it has been noted that our gut feelings (and our butterflies) occur in the gut (obviously) and that this is the exact centre point our body - a point of perfect balance. Interesting....
To Brain Storm or to Shift Your Thinking?
I am borrowing again from Amantha Imber at Inventium because I actually tried this in a Create and Innovate workshop and it worked beautifully!
How many times have you been in a meeting and someone has piped up and said, we are going to brainstorm, and you either think oh no not again or right, I have to turn on the brainstorming part of my brain and hope it works...
There is a chapter in one of Dr Amantha Imber's books titled Brainstorming is Bollocks. It's based on the idea that if you don't have a great idea or at least think you have a great idea, you will be more inclined to keep your mouth shut at any brain storming session! What if you sound stupid, or sound like you have no idea, or worse still - make a mistake!! Shudder! Dread! Cringe!
Or - what if what you are feeling is inhibited or pressured? Haven't we already established several times over that we get our greatest inspirations or best ideas when we are in a relatively neutral, even quiet thinking space - you know - shower, just before we nod off, riding a bike, on a walk etc. etc. etc.
Let's face it - some people don't generate their best ideas in a group scenario.
That's where Shifting comes in.
This was apparently developed by Robert Epstein from Harvard University (want a great resource - go to http://drrobertepstein.com/downloads/CREATIVITY_FOR_CRISES-e-booklet-c_2009-Dr._Robert_Epstein.pdf). Shifting combines individual AND group idea development and goes like this...
1. Work on the idea/problem individually
2. Work in a group building on the individually generated ideas
3. Work again generating individual ideas
4. Build on these new individually generated ideas
If you want a bit more detail you'll have to get the book by Dr Imber -http://www.thecreativityformula.com/author.html
So in a controlled study, with a traditional brain storming control group and a shifting group, Epstein found that the shifting group generated more ideas and broader ideas.
The shifting concept encourages continued discussion around the ideas generated. These discussions can take place with friends or colleagues or both, and actually give permission for the ideas to grow. You aren't locked into an answer. The idea is fluid. The idea continues to morph into a solution - and after all, isn't that what we are after from Brain Storming Sessions?
As I said, I tried it in a workshop! Instead of coming away with a list of mediocre ideas and solutions - we came up with a series of actions. I'll let you know how things develop...
How many times have you been in a meeting and someone has piped up and said, we are going to brainstorm, and you either think oh no not again or right, I have to turn on the brainstorming part of my brain and hope it works...
There is a chapter in one of Dr Amantha Imber's books titled Brainstorming is Bollocks. It's based on the idea that if you don't have a great idea or at least think you have a great idea, you will be more inclined to keep your mouth shut at any brain storming session! What if you sound stupid, or sound like you have no idea, or worse still - make a mistake!! Shudder! Dread! Cringe!
Or - what if what you are feeling is inhibited or pressured? Haven't we already established several times over that we get our greatest inspirations or best ideas when we are in a relatively neutral, even quiet thinking space - you know - shower, just before we nod off, riding a bike, on a walk etc. etc. etc.
Let's face it - some people don't generate their best ideas in a group scenario.
That's where Shifting comes in.
This was apparently developed by Robert Epstein from Harvard University (want a great resource - go to http://drrobertepstein.com/downloads/CREATIVITY_FOR_CRISES-e-booklet-c_2009-Dr._Robert_Epstein.pdf). Shifting combines individual AND group idea development and goes like this...
1. Work on the idea/problem individually
2. Work in a group building on the individually generated ideas
3. Work again generating individual ideas
4. Build on these new individually generated ideas
If you want a bit more detail you'll have to get the book by Dr Imber -http://www.thecreativityformula.com/author.html
So in a controlled study, with a traditional brain storming control group and a shifting group, Epstein found that the shifting group generated more ideas and broader ideas.
The shifting concept encourages continued discussion around the ideas generated. These discussions can take place with friends or colleagues or both, and actually give permission for the ideas to grow. You aren't locked into an answer. The idea is fluid. The idea continues to morph into a solution - and after all, isn't that what we are after from Brain Storming Sessions?
As I said, I tried it in a workshop! Instead of coming away with a list of mediocre ideas and solutions - we came up with a series of actions. I'll let you know how things develop...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)