Innovating To Win

If The Shoe Fits…

Over on Innovate on Purpose, Jeffery Phillips tried taking a walk “In the CEO’s shoes.”  As he tried to rationalize why he sees so many companies talking the innovation talk but failing to take the first step towards innovation, Jeffery played the role of CEO.  It is an amusing piece, but I think it misses an important nuance.

Jeffery proposes that the reason that CEOs don’t pursue innovation is that it is hard and risky.  Okay, at one level Jeffery is correct.  But the suggestion is that CEOs would rather not bother with innovation.  This is definitely not typical of the sentiment across the Global 2000.

The fact is innovation is near the top of the agenda for most CEOs.  So, why then are so many companies doing so little about it?  The answer is very simple.  Most organizations don’t know what to do about it.  They are stuck in the old and mistaken mindset that innovation comes as a bolt-from-the-blue idea and can not be pursued in a deliberate and purposeful manner.

I had the pleasure of chatting with the V. P. of Engineering & Technology from a Fortune 500 company just this morning.  He was brought into the company specifically because the organization recognized the importance of developing innovation competence throughout the organization, but they didn’t know how to move forward.  This executive is bringing the company a new vision built on his successful experience building innovation programs at another company.

Unfortunately, not all companies find getting their innovation culture off the ground as easy as hiring a proven innovation executive.  There just aren’t that many proven innovation executives out there yet.  So, the vast majority of companies are left to sift through the popular advice on becoming innovative and stumble about as they find their way along the path from accidental innovation to becoming a high performance innovation organization.

As you might imagine, this is a very uncomfortable position for a CEO to be in.  You know that innovation capability will be a key determiner of your company’s future success, but you have no blueprint for building a sustainable innovation organization to guide you.  So, while you are trying to figure it out, you fall back on Clayton Christiansen’s advice: be patient on the revenue growth, but be impatient on profitability.

In Avoiding Common Innovation Mistakes, Don’t Forget The Nastiest Of All

In BusinessWeek’s online Innovation & Design section, Dev Patnaik presents a thoughtful piece on Five Common Mistakes in Innovation.  With some succinct examples, Dev identifies some of the pitfalls that trip up many organizations.

• Over-reliance on pilot initiatives
• Unhealthy fascination with unique charismatic examples
• Misapplication of other companies’ approaches
• Descent into a cycle of self-recrimination
• Resignation to superficial changes

However, there is a flaw with one of the basic premises that Dev has put forth.  This flaw is apparent in the sub-title to the article: “Every company knows how to get more innovative, but few are willing to make the cultural changes necessary to get results.”

Fact: Not every company knows how to get more innovative.

In truth, the vast majority of companies don’t know how to get started.  Dev’s list of common errors is beautiful and articulate testimony to the ways in which companies that don’t know what to do stumble around in the dark groping for a lifeline.

Let’s face it. There are a lot of people out there trying to sell the idea that becoming innovative is easy.  Just set up a portal for the outside world to submit ideas.  Tell your employees to take more risks.  Set up a process to help manage all the terrific ideas that you will undoubtedly be flooded with.  These are among the stock answers the innovation snake oil salesmen are hawking.

Building a truly high performance innovation organization is not so easy.  It requires stepping back and assessing what your organization is all about and what are your organizational objectives.  With this understanding, you can then begin to map out the multi-dimensional strategy, unique to your circumstances, that allows you to make innovation a value-driving core competence.

Your strategy will need to touch all aspects of the organizational fabric.  These include what I refer to as the five pillars of innovation:

Culture – It begins with clearly visible executive commitment and must permeate every aspect of activity.  Innovation is not an isolated task; it is a continuous process wherein the high performance innovation organizations constantly look to reinvent their products, their services, and themselves.  In short, don’t just talk the talk; walk the walk.

People – Empower your people for innovation success: develop internal innovation expertise and establish in-service innovation training/mentoring programs.  Don’t forget to provide tangible recognition for key innovation participants—remember that you get what you measure; you get what you reward.

Process – Build your sustainable innovation practice.  Identify the innovation best practices that mesh with your objectives and your existing processes.  Invest in proper innovation infrastructure and technology so your people will have the right tools for the right result.

Communication – Inform your people so they can perform.  Give innovation workers line-of-sight visibility to corporate objectives.  Promote the value of your innovation successes.  Learn how to not just listen to the voice of the customer, but how to understand what that voice is telling you.  Open your vision to incorporate global wisdom.

Organization – Consider how this all impacts your structure.  Are you configured for innovation success?  What are the right horizontal & vertical integration points for innovation in your company?

China, Seagulls, and Innovation

What do China, Seagulls, and Innovation have in common?  Well, not a whole lot, or so I thought.  Last week, my good friend Isak Bukhman dropped by for lunch.  I always enjoy chatting with Isak.  He is a TRIZ Master, and we always have interesting conversations about TRIZ, Innovation, and global trends which influence the innovation landscape.

On this visit, Isak was telling me of his recent engagements in China.  It seems that there is a lot of interest in China these days in TRIZ and innovation.  As the tiger is waking it is aware of its laggard position in the global arena and is intensely looking for ways to change that.  Isak noted that China is struggling with the issues of intellectual property—what is it, how to play in the global community, how to not be hamstrung by the intellectual property of others.  There is particular interest in the methods of patent busting (a systematic approach to finding non-infringing workarounds in the face of blocking IP).

We also talked about how innovation software and TRIZ achieve similar goals.  TRIZ provides a structured way to lead the practitioner to a more expansive and comprehensive way of thinking about a problem and incorporating distilled innovation wisdom.  Good innovation software does the same thing.

So, where do Seagulls enter into the picture?  Coincidentally on the same day that Isak was coming for lunch, a funny post appeared on getFreshMinds.  The post featured this video of a clever crisp-filching seagull.

I don’t know that I would call Sam an innovator, but the clip did remind me that Isak does on occasion give copies of Jonathan Livingston Seagull to his students as a homily on creativity.  Certainly, we can all take from this latter seagull the lesson that perfecting innovation practice is a continuous journey of learning.

Paving The Way For Next Wave…

It is easy to focus on the glamorous when we think of innovation.  But, many glamorous initiatives have been abandoned in the junk heap of forgotten memories because the infrastructure to support them was lacking.  The visions of futuristic cities that we may remember from decades past remain visions.  The antiquated structures and practices of the past continue to hum along because we are so mired in our dependence on the old infrastructure that advancement seems impossible.

However, I noticed some refreshing news this morning about a venture that is taking the issue of infrastructure head on.  (Or perhaps, I should say headlights on?)  One technologist (Shai Agassi) is reported to have raised $200 million in venture funding to start a business around establishing a network of fueling stations for electric cars.

If successful, this is exactly the type of infrastructural boost that could help the electric car industry experience some explosive growth.  While it might not sound too glamorous, this is a potentially high-value business opportunity.  Yes, sometimes enabling technologies carry tremendous value.

This should be a great adventure to watch as it unfolds.  It should also serve as an interesting lesson to innovation practitioners.  Think not just about your product or service, consider the whole product ecosystem.  There could be a big infrastructure play lying just beneath the surface.

Embracing The Inner Hedgehog

In “End your task, end your job?”, Seth Godin hits upon one of the classic impediments to change: the fear of loss as a result of the end of the status quo.  Workers worry that a change in their tasks or the way those tasks are performed will adversely affect their personal circumstances.  The thought that their prestige, compensation, or job (as Seth points out) could be at risk leads these workers to undermine change. 

This resistance to change often manifests in what I like to call the “Hedgehog Response.”  Like the hedgehog, the worker perceiving a threat exhibits defensive behaviors of a passively variety.  It is important to recognize and address this passive-aggressive behavior.

This should be done not by disciplining the worker.  Rather, it should be done by removing the perception of a threat.  This can be challenging however.  In the examples cited by Seth, only a consistent track record of repurposing employees and rewarding individuals who find ways to help the organization by innovating their own roles out of existence can successfully address this issue.

When introducing innovation best practice, designer hedgehogs are often seen.  Spouting comments like, “We already know how to innovate,” the designer hedgehogs want the focus of innovation to remain on them, not the method.  Many companies have been foiled in their efforts to become better at innovation by naively assuming that all employees will embrace the new if it promises to make them more effective.  Sadly, not all employees are so altruistic.

So, what is the executive responsible for innovation competence to do?

First, don’t leave your success to chance.  Grass roots adoption of any significant paradigm shift requires a high-level mandate if it is to take hold.  If you take the position that you can sit back and wait for the troops to adopt innovation best practices before you make an investment in driving them into the organization, you will be rewarded with mediocrity at best.

Reward the adoption of change.  Put incentives in place for employees to participate in innovation best practice programs.  These incentives can take many forms.  At some high performance innovation organizations, the rewards are simple recognition programs.  While at other organizations, innovation skills attainment has been tied to compensation.

Make sure that the change is understood to be about acceleration and revenue, not about simple efficiency and cost reduction which raises the specter of staff reductions.  This point requires no explanation.

Living La Vida Loce

A very interesting interview appears in the BusinessWeek On-line Innovation section.  Titled “A Life in Invention”, the interview features the commentary of Xerox scientist Robert Loce.  Some interesting themes emerge from the discussion.

One theme raised by Loce is that inventions should create value for the company.  This is a point that has been made here in recent posts.  Innovation is about creating value.

Loce’s comments also reaffirm that having a purpose can help lead us to better innovations.  While great ideas can sometimes come from unexpected sources, working with product teams to resolve specific, identifiable problems is a terrific way to focus innovation and frame ideation efforts.

Even with 100 patents under his belt, Loce recognizes the challenges of our every narrowing scope of specialization and the related need to reach out beyond our area of expertise.  If we don’t look for creative solution outside of our comfort zone, we will miss many high-value opportunities.

I highly recommend looking at the full interview.

A View To Innovation

There are so many interesting things to talk about when it comes to innovation.  During the last few months, I have seen a number of blog articles on the right environment to stimulate the creative thought needed to innovate.  The latest of these appeared this week in Paul Williams’s Think For A Change blog.

Now, perhaps I just don’t get it, but I am not sure what the fuss is all about. 

Sure, my own work environment meets many of Paul’s suggested criteria.  My space, tucked in a corner of Boston’s Prudential Tower, is pretty centrally located with a great view (see my view above).  With two walls of windows, it enjoys great natural light.  Along with my desk, it is equipped with two really comfortable Italian leather recliners and a small conference table.  I have the latest innovation software technology available.  Both physical and Wi-Fi network access is on hand.  Internet telephony and video is in place.  For those ad hoc design discussions, there is an eight foot white board, and for the less ad hoc presentations an eight foot video screen drops down from the ceiling.  And in case of emergency, I have a mini-fridge stocked with Reed’s ginger brew and other items to replenish creative energy.  All in all, it’s a very adequate space.

But, it was not always like this.  Not all that long ago, my work space was a cramped office in a rodent infested low-rise brick building.  Was I any less productive there?  No.

How many times have we heard of the big success that started with two guys in a garage?  Back in 1983, I was one of those guys—designing and writing my own software creation on a then state-of-the-art NCR Tower 1632 UNIX based system.

The point is that creativity doesn’t begin with the space you are in; creativity begins with the space that is in you.  Sure, environmental factors can help you get in a better frame of mind, but if you have the talent and desire to create, you will.

In my experience, having the right tools and disciplines for creativity and idea are a more important factor than having the properly plush posterior perch.  I have seen enough instances of organizations that create very elaborate creative centers only to have the same old tired ideas come out of the team because they don’t have good innovation practices in place.

Which brings me to my final thought… innovation is more that simply being creative.  Innovation has purpose.  The power of creativity needs to be harnessed by good innovation disciplines to create the lasting value that is the goal of innovators.

[Image courtesy of Jim Belfiore]

Be Consistent In Your Message To Foster An Innovation Culture

Do you see the inconsistent message conveyed by this picture?  You don’t have to try very hard to see such mixed messages on a day to day basis.  This enforcer of the “no dogs” law may seem amusing, but when it comes to the work place, conflicting messages are no laughing matter.

Innovation workers are often frustrated by what the see and a lack of consistent commitment to the mission.  This is in many cases the result of mixed signal being sent out in the organization.  The unhappy consequence of the workers’ frustration is that innovation activity shuts down. 

Have you experienced any of these paradoxical statements?

We need to innovate to succeed, but I don’t have time to find a breakthrough solution, I just need an answer now.

We need to share our corporate knowledge, but you can’t have access to my information.

Innovation is a top priority, but innovation is not my job.

We aren’t getting what we need from our product initiatives, but we don’t need to invest in repeatable innovation programs.

I am sure you can think of your own set of conflicting messages.

The bottom line is that an organization gets what it rewards, gets what it measures, gets what it consistently and unflaggingly supports—not just with words, but with action and investment.  Managers who are looking for better return on their R&D and innovation investments, should look first to themselves and the degree to which they are supporting the corporate agenda with the right kind of consistent messages and action to create the climate for innovation.  C-execs must recognize that the success of their company’s innovation initiatives begins with them; authority may be delegated, but responsibility must not.

How does your organization stack up when it comes to consistency of message?

Why Do You Innovate?

It seemed huge as I stared at the machine.  Its square form filled the room.  The huge timing disk mounted on its side, with the countless hand mounted bolts, turned slowly as the motor whirred and the pallet inside the device was raised another level.  As the servo-switch was trip by the next bolt, the pallet stopped moving and the sweeper arm began pushing the can blanks.  “Now, I need you to weld the pieces of the feeder shoot assembly so the cans are fed properly to the receiving machine.”, said my father.

This was one of many boyhood experiences I shared with my first innovation coach.  Through the years I helped to design and build many different things.  Each with a purpose; each solving a problem.  These early adventures in design and innovation helped instill in me my passion for innovation.

Over the years, my personal journey of innovation took me to many different places.  Eventually, I gravitated to the software domain.  After many years designing and implementing complex software systems, I began to move in to a more strategic innovation role.  One day, a colleague of mine asked, “How can you do this, Jim?  Aren’t you going to miss programming?”

My answer was immediate and concise.  “Roger, I don’t really care about programming.  I love to solve problems--programming is just a vehicle for doing so.  In my new role, I can create so much more value than I could ever do as an individual contributor.  Now, I can leverage my experience and expertise through others to do more than I could ever do on my own.”

Today, that spirit is still at the core of what keeps me excited about what I do as a technologist, inventor, and innovator.  For me, it’s all about creating value through the solution of problems.  Whether I am focused on my own product technology initiatives or helping C-execs at other companies map out strategies for building high-performance innovation organizations, the pursuit of value-innovation has become a driving force in my life on and off the job.

So, why do you innovate?  What brought you to your role as an innovation practitioner and what drives you today?  How well are your personal innovation goals aligned with those of the organization you are in?

Are You Innovating Wearing a Blindfold?

Do you ever feel like your design teams are groping around for ideas?  If so, you are not alone.  Many organizations don’t feel confident about their ideation capabilities.  What I find interesting is how often corporate policies create barriers to innovation worker effectiveness.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised.  On Seth’s Blog, we see a post about how similar thinking permeates our culture.  Some schools ban students’ use of Wikipedia.  While the educators may be concerned that students might simply regurgitate what they read on the web, Seth points out that Wikipedia simply represents a source of information that has become an integral part of our information infused environment.  To discourage students from mastering the modern skills of navigating the vast reservoirs of accessible knowledge seems misguided.

The same is clearly true in many corporate environments.  As the transparency of information delivery continues to increase, the importance of leveraging both information technology and relevant content looms large.  Yet, in many organizations employees are discouraged and sometimes barred from tapping into these sources of information.

For example, consider your company’s policy on patent literature.  At many manufacturing organizations, innovation workers are prohibited from looking at patent documents for fear that such access might leave the company open to possible liability.  In these organizations, access to patents is left in the hands of the legal team, while engineers are kept in the dark as to the current state of competitive IP.

Like the ban on Wikipedia, such policies are misguided.  In a recent discussion with the EVP of Research and Development for a Fortune 500 consumer product company, he stated that the legal team usually does not have the background and insight to properly assess the strategic relevance of patent information.  Putting this information in the hands of the innovation workers is critical.

Other organizations are silent on the subject, but tacitly impede there designer by not providing them with the right tools to leverage the information buried in the patent archives.  Workers are left to poke around using antiquated and insufficient methods of conducting patent research.

Like the schools that Seth writes about, these companies need to accept that the global climate of competition and information transference has changed.  As information has made it possible for new groups to become active in the global economy, established enterprises much learn how to leverage global knowledge to maintain their competitive edge.

Technology is not the answer to every problem.  But in the new global information economy, not only is technology an answer to the problem of how to harness and effectively mobilize the vast seas of knowledge around us; technology is the only answer.