Who Should Be Involved in Innovation?

It's a strange question really. One that really shouldn't have to be asked. Innovation should be like those other "in" words - innate, intuitive, indefinite - it should be a "given" that everyone should be involved.

So ideally, we need to convince everyone that there is no such things as a bad IDEA and that one IDEA can grow and evolve into another IDEA. The practice of innovation needs champions, people to push the cause, people who are passionate. The practice of innovation needs the ideas people - the innovators. It needs supporters - those who can help get the ideas over the line. It needs people to action ideas and it needs people to promote the innovation.

Children innovate all the time! They change the rules of games and the games parameters to suit the new kid that wants to join in. My second son was Bionicle mad when he was younger but he never once built to the picture on the cylinder. His Bionicles always had seven heads, four bodies and eight arms - reminds me of me this morning trying to get everyone out of bed and out of the house on time!

We innovate all the time. I love the Dyson vacuum story. I may be biased because the character at the centre of the tale is a male obsessed with vacuuming! Picture this - James Dyson is vacuuming his house but he becomes frustrated because his top of the line vacuum cleaner gets clogged, loses suction and stops sucking up dirt. He has a solution - drop the bag - that would be a bagless vacuum cleaner. Literally 5,126 prototypes later the problem is solved. Some display of resilience. To top it off, he had to back his own company to manufacture it.

Educators need to encourage innovative and creative thinking.

Managers need to champion innovation in their organisations and businesses.

Governments need to support innovation.

If only we could turn things upside down and instead of the easy cost cutting options to improve profits, we would promote innovative practices instead?

Finally  a sensible innovative thought about the Greek crises - instead of austerity measures, outrightly rejected by the Greek people (well do you blame them - what if you were told your wages were going to be halved and taxes would be imposed) the new approach is to stimulate the economy...

There is a post on the createninnovate Facebook page Why are we so Afraid of Failure Worth a read! http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/brain-drain-why-young-entrepreneurs-leave-home-20120517-1ytoo.html 

Innovation in the USA

I have just returned from the USA in awe of the role that Creativity and Innovation play in businesses, companies and organisations. Everywhere I turned I saw the words Creativity, Innovation, Imagination – or a wonderful variation – Imaginate! These words were written across billboards, in all forms of advertising, on the front cover of the Harvard Business Review, in the subway/met/bart. The concepts of Creativity and Innovation are embedded in the business psyche as “givens”. 


There is an interesting article in the May 2012 edition of the Harvard Business Review titled Managing Your Innovation Portfolio. It's worth a read if you can get your hands on it. (On-line taster at http://hbr.org/2012/05/managing-your-innovation-portfolio/ar/1). It begins:

Management knows it and so does Wall Street. 

The year to year viability of a company depends on its ability to be innovative

The article discusses transformational rather than incremental innovation - that is - developing break throughs and inventing things for markets that don't yet exist. This doesn't necessarily happen however at the expense or detriment of your core market, where existing products are optimised for existing customers.

I loved Berkeley College in San Francisco...Sorority houses with Greek letters on them DO exist - they are not just a Hollywood myth! And there were lunch time parties happening at each of them on this particular Saturday. Right at the peak of the mountain is the St Lawrence Science Centre. Parents take their children there for playgroup, birthday parties and general "hanging out". The place is full of playgrounds and interactive science  activities - what a way to develop a young mind! It was also full of posters with the words...

 Imaginate - Turn Imagination into Innovation 

(see it at https://www.facebook.com/createninnovate).

I spoke to several students of Middle School, equivalent to our years 6 to 9 and I was struck by their ability to problem solve. This skill (threatening to become extinct in certain tribes), appears to be encouraged and rewarded in the USA - both at school and at home. The students also seem to enjoy a higher sense of self confidence and a "can do" attitude - an optimism. Surprisingly, I didn't find this attitude specific to any particular socio-economic group either.

The themes we've been talking about on Julian Campbell's radio show on 2NUR FM - Business, The Law and You - appear to be universal! Innovation needs to be managed, coordinated and integrated into business culture. 

The Harvard article concludes simply with,

When it's done efficiently, innovation is a driver of growth.

Simple and true...

Rules are Meant to Broken - or at the Very Least Bent

I was listening to Bill Gates talk about philanthropy, education and innovation the other night on Radio National and was delighted by the announcer's closing statement, "To draw more people into thinking big and outside the square, we must change how we teach". Well, for my money that means teaching EVERYONE - from school children to the elderly - that it's OK to MAKE MISTAKES and it's OK TAKE A CHANCE (no my keyboard isn't stuck on caps lock - yes I am shouting).

Of course, the best risk takers are the ones who have nothing to lose...

Amy Cosper, Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur, opens her May editor's note with "Rules - I never met one I liked" (see full article http://entrepreneur.coverleaf.com/entrepreneur/201205?folio=16#pg18). I couldn't resist - I instantly fell in love with her thinking. A few years ago we went with several other families to a camping site for a long weekend. This holiday location was full of signs that started with DON'T!

Don't Run
Don't Ride Bikes
Don't Disturb Other Guests
Don't Leave Your Rubbish...

Get the picture? We were on the lookout for the "Don't Have Fun" sign. As you could perhaps imagine, there were several comments made about the Nazi sound and strict operations of the park. We couldn't contain our laughter when the Park Supervisor appeared on a small moped with a helmet like Schultz used to wear in Hogan's Heroes.

There are a couple of entrepreneurs with colourful "Oops I think I broke the Rules" stories. Sara Blakely is the founding CEO of Spanx, a hosiery brand.She launched the brand from her home and it's now worth more than $1Billion. The story goes that Nieman Marcus, a department store in the USA, agreed to stock Spanx (well the buyers did) and try the range out with its customers. They tucked the product up the back of the store and let the big names occupy the point of sale positions.

Sara Blakely took herself off to Target and visited the hardware section where she purchased a quantity of metal shelving. Somehow this metal shelving found itself at Nieman Marcus, near the front of the registers. Miraculously, the shelves were soon occupied by Spanx hosiery. The only reason  the "ghost who installs shelves and stocks them with Spanx" was identified, was because Sara Blakely was caught on CCTV.

Richard Branson talks about the intrapraneur - entrepreneurs little brother. An intrapraneur is an employee given freedom and financial support to create new products and systems without having to follow company protocols and routines.

Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Steve Jobs (Apple) were all risk takers and they all broke Rules. They challenged the status quo and jumped (at times leapt) outside the square. Happy crawling, hopping, jumping, leaping...

Come along to our workshop, May 16, at Fort Scratchley Historic Site, Newcastle and we'll show you how to take the first leap forward. www.createandinnovate.com.au for more details.

How Do We Measure Innovation OR Why Do We Measure?

I have a problem with measuring - sometimes we get so caught up in the measuring and the explaining and the reporting and the justifying - that we forget what it was we actually started out trying to achieve.

My maternal grandmother was a great cook (she was a Greek grandmother so it really goes without saying). She expressed her love for us all through the wonderful things she cooked - spinach pie, honey cake, spaghetti Greek style and lots more. My father shared her love of cooking and was determined he would record her recipes so that they could be shared for generations to come.

So, there they were, in the tiny kitchen at her house in Rainbow St, Randwick, Yiayia cooking and dad, with pen and paper in hand, ready to capture and record ingredients and processes for future use. Yiayia would pick up eggs, flour, bunches of spinach (which she grew in her garden), whatever she needed and throw them in. Dad was constantly asking, "how much flour...how many eggs...how much spinach?". She eventually turned to him and said (in Greek, but that won't help here) "for goodness sakes Nick - as much as it takes - when it looks right - when it feels right!" You see, it was a matter of feel and of being intimate with your product and processes that counted, not the measurement in mls or grams (or ounces).

Some companies and organisations measure innovation against their bottom line, by assessing which innovative ideas that progressed through to the production stage, improved profits. Innovation has also been measured by an increase in productivity (can also affect bottom line), by assessing the introduction of better ways of doing things, by employee satisfaction or by other numerous benchmarks. Consider also the innovation or discovery of fire and the wheel? Could the measure for innovation then be if it makes life better?

Others (me included - sometimes) question why we need to measure innovation at all. There is a case for acknowledging that we have become too fixated on outputs and measurements and benchmarks, and we are in fact stifling innovation and creativity. Numerous studies have been conducted, articles written and talks given, that suggest that some generations have few problem solving skills. Everything is set out and explained, and there is no need to overly engage the brain. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/10/teaching-sats http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/youre-hired/201111/does-education-stifle-creativity/comments)

My son who is in year 9 brought home an assessment task last week. It was full of instructions and had a marking table; To get an A you will...to get a B you will... etc. The question was clear cut, the presentation style was written in, and he knows what he has to do to either score well or just pass. What wasn't written into the assignment was an opportunity to think, create or innovate. Is measuring, benchmarking and over informing stifling and crippling innovation and creativity?  There is a great TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson on this topic - enjoy!
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity

We know we're not being innovative when we are in a rut and when we continue to do the "same old same old". We know that we are being innovative when we feel that buzz of excitement, when our adrenaline surges put us in a state of optimum stress, when we are contributing, and we are pushed out of our comfort zone.

Before we go measuring, I believe we need to decide what it is we are trying to quantify or qualify. Are we measuring how innovative we are, or the results of our innovative endeavours?

HunterNet have an Innovation Assessment Tool on their website developed by Lee Bains, a Business Advisors at Enterprise Connect. This tool is free and measures innovation from a business perspective.
http://www.hunternet.com.au/

Create and Innovate have the Creative Aptitude Test, that assesses and predicts an individual's ability to think creatively at work. Thinking creatively is a precursor to innovation.
Email create@createandinnovate.com.au for info.

The European Innovation Scoreboard is worth a read, as they "attempt to benchmark...the innovation performance of member states".
www.proinno-europe.eu/metrics

According to research conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, Innovation is considered to be one of the top strategic imperatives of over 90% of organisations globally.

      Companies under measure, measure the wrong things, or, in some cases, don't measure at all, because they are under the mistaken impressions that innovation is somehow different from other business processes and can't or shouldn't be measured...The potential cost of this error - in terms of poorly allocated resources, squandered opportunities and bad decision making generally - is substantial.

http://www.bcg.com/expertise_impact/capabilities/innovation/

Beware though - sometimes when we measure we also label. Ever failed a maths test then convinced yourself you were hopeless? Often if we go back and measure again we get a different result.

I leave you with a thought - Steve Jobs, it has been said, killed more patents than he let live. He supposedly had 313 patents to his name. How would you measure the innovative spirit of Steve Jobs?

Leader of Innovation - Really...

I guess as in everything, there's pretend Innovative Leadership ("I need to tick off boxes, look good, sound good, feel good") and then there's real Innovative Leadership. And guess what? There's probably not much here that hasn't been written about before. Here are the bits that make the most sense to me.

If the leader isn't a visionary there's not much chance for Innovation. The leader also needs to be a good communicator, in order to communicate the vision. That's not to say the leader is the one who has to be the innovator. Think about that one for a minute.

A leader who encourages innovation, encourages collaboration and commitment. At Create and Innovate, we are BIG on collaboration - ask my mate Kevin Coffey! Innovation does start with I but I like to think of it as a baton that is passed along, "I have an idea", "I can help", "I can design it", "I can build it", "I can promote it" and collaboratively, "We can complete it"!

An organisation that is serious about Innovation, needs to commit to it in a real sense, not just with rhetoric.  Before going and workshopping Innovation with a small to medium business, C&I try and get the management, who are after all paying for the workshop, to make some commitments! Examples are simple things like an Ideas Board, an hour a week to work on projects, a chance once a month to pitch an idea etc. Small commitments tend to help things pass from the Rhetoric into The Real.

At C&I we like the three Es of Innovation - Empowering, Encouraging, Enabling.

Empowering saids "I trust you", "I enable you to have a go", "I permit you to take a risk"...Ahhh...Risk - now there's an interesting concept! In today's economic, environmental and social climate of fear, risk is very risky. That is a whole other topic, so for this moment we'll define the risk as being calculated and educated.

A great leader of Innovation, gives you permission to try and fail. There it is - the "F" word! Ideally, there is no such thing as failure (see earlier blog re learning to walk). One of my favourite quotes is from Eddison:

I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work. 

There is so much to learn from failure.  Amazon.com actually rewards employees who implement ideas. The idea "maybe didn't work",  but it had to be "well thought out" and executed, and they didn't have to ask permission at any time - now that's Empowerment.

Empowering means providing opportunities too, such as making time,  idea boards,  encouraging sections or departments to work together (that would collaboration) and not in their traditional silos. And it might sound like a "no brainer", but it really is worthwhile having different sections understand the roles of their colleagues. Leaders of Innovation, expect Innovation, then they back it...and make it real.

Steve Jobs was a visionary who led from his gut instincts. Julian Campbell (Catalyst For Growth) recommends Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs where Jobs writes about asking the questions "Why?" and "What if?".  These types of questions lead to explosive answers! Children ask why all the time - they challenge constantly (my teenagers especially), and that's what a good leader of Innovation does - they challenge!

Situational Leader is another great term. Leadership is itself a challenge and management is complex. If a leader sticks to one methodology, one strategy for each situation, there is a narrowing down of potential and possibility. A situational leader analyses each particular situation, sees it in its real terms and responds to it individually.

For an entertaining look at Leadership, watch First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ.

So another great quote, before I sign off, from Goethe...

Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.


Have an Innovative week.

What Adds Up to an Innovative Business?

How's that for a multi pronged question! Innovation in business can be encouraged by the  physical surrounds and it needs to be embedded in the culture of a business or organisation.

There's been a lot of research conducted over the years on colour! Red can be an angry colour, blue and green cool colours, greys and dark colours can make you feel glum and so on (check out Colour Matters for more info). Oranges, mauves, yellows, pinks and other warm colours actually put us in a good mood and release positive chemical reactions in the brain. When you are in a good mood, and the positive vibes are flowing, you are in a much better place to create and innovate (check out our logo colours...). It's a bit of a puzzle then as to why most offices are decked out in white and grey! Why are corporate suits black and grey. And why does Richard Branson wear casual, colourful shirts...

Nature and natural light are also conducive to Innovative thinking. We had a "Let's Get Some New Ideas Pumping" day at the end of last year and held it in a natural reserve. We got so much work done, we had a great time (are we allowed to say that about work?) and left feeling satisfied and that we had achieved great things.

An element of play also seems to work when supporting Innovation. At the head office of Google in Zurich they have a slippery dip, a games room, bean bags and everyone has access to a hot lunch buffet. At other offices masseurs are called in. You don't read many stories about Google staff being unproductive or the company having a high turnover of employees. Now most of us can't go all out and deck our work places out like Google,  but it's not that hard to find a few toys or instruments or paint brushes to create a playful atmosphere.

Macquarie Bank have created portable offices in some of their establishments. Employees get a mobile phone and laptop and are then able to work from anywhere (oh as long as the service is good and you have wireless). In the office, there are a multitude of workstations around an open plan area and more often than not it's first in best dressed. The open plan model is really conducive to collaboration, and collaboration, as my friend and innovation co conspirator Kevin Coffey saids (or in his words "Bangs on about") is essential to the whole Innovation process.

When you find 5 minutes, search for The Caring Capitalist on YouTube. This clip is a few years old now but it's still a great example of what an innovative business can/should look like.

Been to an Apple store? They are open plan and buzzing with activity - you can't help but want to go in and play!

If you want to check out some other Innovative Businesses, have a look at the Forbes Worlds Most Innovative Companies list.

The culture of a business is really important too. Innovation just won't thrive unless the culture is embedded into the workplace and the Innovators in that business are developed and supported. We recently went in and held some Innovation Conversations with one of our clients. End result - management support a morning tea gathering a couple of times a month so that their people can think outside the square.

A talented team is great! Hiring people that display talent is great! BUT they are useless to any business unless they are enabled to USE that talent. And the tasks they are given need to be challenging! People need to be challenged and stimulated in order to get innovation flowing (see previous comment re + chemical reactions in the brain). Google actually allow their employees to work on projects that interest them. Sounds logical to me! I'm lucky enough to work with people who are currently busy with things they enjoy being busy with! One of my colleagues even likes admin - not my cup of tea but now I find myself extremely happy around "admin" time!

An Innovative Culture is also one where people experience a sense of achievement. Dan Pink has given many talks on this (search him on YouTube).  Studies have been conducted confirming that even more important to us than financial gain or reward, is a sense of achievement and purpose.

And don't disregard autonomy as part of the equation in an Innovative Business. Most people act with integrity and want to contribute so they can feel that sense of purpose. They don't want or need anyone watching over their shoulder to see if they are behaving. They don't need to be controlled - it's stifling!

Remember, to be Innovative, you don't need to take great flying leaps...but you do need to do something. What does Innovation Add up to for You or Your Business?



 

 

Innovation - What Is It Again?

It's a great word for starters! One of my funniest experiences with the word itself was when I was working as a directors' assistant on a food show. The host kept pronouncing the word as  in - oh - vat - ive - think we must have said "cut" about 20 times...


Innovation can mean so many things - so in one minute or less here goes. It is introducing something new, whether that be a method, idea, product, system or service. Ideally innovation is a cataylst for growth and change. It can be defined as taking traditional ways of doing things and turning them upside down.


Innovation can frighten some people (not me though I think it's exciting and stimulating - just to clarify that I'm not an innovation closet scardy cat facing her fears!). It can be as uncomplicated as taking what you already have, throwing the "pieces" in the air and watching them rearrange themselves as they land.


It's as simple as the new version of the iPad Smart Cover (you know how it folds up and you can use it as a stand that won't fall over when you type as opposed to version one that topppled if you pressed too hard) or as "out there" (pun intended) as Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic Flight!


Really, it's about developing good habits - like brushing your teeth - and creating a culture of innovation. It's finding the see-saw balance between training and discipline and being creative.


I like this Steve Jobs story. When he was asked what market research went into Apple's elegant and classy designs, Steve Jobs responded "it's not the consumers job to know what they want"...happy innovating.