Think For A Change

Making The Tough Decisions in Innovation Management...

Paul Williams — 2012-01-31T11:00:00Z

"Decide what you want and decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work." - H.L. Hunt

I am willing to bet that many of you work in an organization that currently has at least one failed project, product or service that still exists. Like an albatross around the organization's neck, the failure languishes on the portfolio, consuming resources and attention. Day after day, additional time, money and effort are thrown at the failure in the hope that it can be turned around and made a success. Forget the fact that the ROI went negative six months ago and will likely never tread positive territory. Its a pet project or an "all in" bet from some executive. Doesn't matter...its a loser!

Many of you have seen this...but for those who haven't...pick out the "sad but true" examples from your organization:

Tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians (so legend has it), passed on from generation to generation, says that, "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."

However, in government, education and the corporate world, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

Buying a stronger whip
Changing riders
Giving horse and rider a good beating
Re-structuring the dead horse's reward scale to contain a performance-related element
Suspending the horse's access to the executive grassy meadow until performance targets are met
Making the horse work late shifts and weekends
Scrutinizing and clawing back a percentage of the horse's past 12 months expenses payments
Appointing a committee to study the horse
Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride horses
Convening a dead horse productivity improvement workshop
Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included
Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired
Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse
Outsourcing the management of the dead horse
Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed
Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance
Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance
Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses
Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses
Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position

The amount of money that gets wasted on the aforementioned resuscitation efforts is staggering! Imagine what you could do with the dollars, time, effort that get thrown down the abyss!

And that's the point of this blog entry...you don't have to imagine! You simply need to have the courage to kill the crap and deal with the fact that "sunk cost" cannot be retrieved, saved or salvaged. Put your big money, your dedicated time, your best resources into the winning ideas. Make the tough decisions and kill what needs to be killed!

Easier said than done...right?!? Here are some tips on how to make the tough decisions:

Form an innovation council, whose entire role is to constantly review the idea/innovation project portfolio and cull poor performing initiatives in favor of ideas that show true promise
Create a balanced scorecard, dashboard, metrics or other systems of measurement so you can quickly identify project issues
Separate the idea generation portion of your innovation management system from the prototyping/project execution portion. This will protect the ideas that are still developing from the critical review that mature concepts should constantly face
Be certain of your strategy and goals. If you understand what you want/need, it will make the decisions about what you should keep vs. kill pretty straightforward
My Favorite: Establish a mandate that each department, area, project portfolio, etc. select one or two things to kill each quarter. This forces product sunsets, legacy decommissions, flushing out waste and killing good ideas that just didn't seem to catch on in the marketplace.

These are tough decisions. Someone is going to get their "nose bent out of joint" because you just killed the thing they worked on for the past three years. Too damned bad! Business isn't about nostalgia...its about profit! If you can't make money on it...fix it or kill it! This goes for ideas as well as products or services.

Know what works and why. Know what doesn't work and why. Know where your investments in the future are paying off. Know where your "money pits" are located. Demand accountability. Demand excellence. Be a decision maker. Be a leader.

Copyright 2010-2011 - American Institute for Innovation Excellence

Fundamental Requirements for Innovation Success

Paul Williams — 2012-01-26T11:00:00Z

Not long ago, I was presenting some research to a group of new product development professionals regarding effective innovation process. During the question and answer period at the end of the session, the question was asked, “What are the core set of requirements to ensure an innovation management program will be successful…that ‘bare bones’ list of things?” The question caught me slightly off-guard, as I had never really taken the time to boil down my “must-have” short list for innovation success.

In reality, there are numerous factors that contribute to the overall success or failure of an innovation management approach within an organization. But, after thinking on the topic for some time, I was able to work the list down to a set of four fundamental requirements.

1. Leadership Engagement

Leadership engagement goes far beyond just commitment, awareness, approval or buy-in. True engagement means involvement and participation in the process. It means making sure new ideas are solicited from all potential sources and time is allowed for individual or collaborative problem solving. It means demonstrating a willingness to experiment and having the patience to await the outcome. Leadership engagement requires action and courage.

2. Business Discipline

Innovation management, to be truly effective in driving new growth, must be treated as an equal business discipline within the organization. Equal with such functions as Sales & Marketing, Human Resources, Information Technology or Finance. The strategic and tactical operations of resolving business problems, developing new products and services, engaging existing customers and new prospects, making business processes more cost effective and developing new potential profit sources demand the attention and discipline of a dedicated business unit. Where innovation or idea management is simply treated as a singular event, launched only when the organization needs new product ideas or to simply gather “voice of the customer,” it will not garner the required respect or impetus needed for continual success.

3. Resources

It almost goes without saying (although I have learned the painful lesson of blind assumption) that an adequate amount of resources be allocated to the innovation management effort. These required resources, however, will come in many forms. “Human” resources will include executive leaders, key stakeholders, innovation management subject matter experts, process analysts, facilitators, training professionals, finance gurus and risk analysts. “Financial” resources will be needed in the form of capital investments, external costs and internal labor commitments devoted to the operation of the innovation management functional center. Additionally, a budget account will need to be dedicated for research, development, prototyping and testing. Some organizations even require Profit & Loss responsibility to their innovation management functions. “Time” resources are among the most difficult to budget and manage. Time is required in order to think, play, collaborate, design, develop, prototype, test, research, market and sell new ideas and concepts. Time is a very scarce resource. Finally, “Spatial” resources should be dedicated to the effort. Whether the space requirements dictate a separate creative inspiration pod, project center, Oobeya room or just a simple meeting room, dedicating some space to think, work and collaborate will produce favorable results.

4. Process

The final “must-have,” and another that seems self-evident, is the availability and usage of efficient and effective processes for idea and innovation management. There are great process sets available for problem management, idea management, innovation management, project management, portfolio management, financial management and just about any other kind of “management” you can imagine. You may have some processes that work only for your specific line of business or you may be using some generic “best practices” that add efficiency or effectiveness to a process. Find ways to continuously improve your processes, develop “next practices” that allow others to benefit from your trailblazing and tailor any process for the best fit to the particular circumstance.

Innovation management “centers of excellence,” built on the foundation of these four fundamentals are, in our opinion, bound for immediate success.

Copyright 2010-2011 - American Institute for Innovation Excellence

Ten Things Walt Disney Taught Me About Innovation

Paul Williams — 2012-01-24T11:00:00Z

"All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me...You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you." - Walt Disney

It's really no secret that I absolutely love everything Disney. To me, the greatest example of solving problems, following dreams and pursuing ideas can be found either at Disneyland, Disney World, watching just about any Disney movie or by studying the life of Walt Disney.

While the company may have lost its way in the past few years, the core fundamentals that the organization was founded upon have again resurfaced through its recent management change, merger with Pixar and returned attention to creativity. As I was recently booking our annual trip to Disney World, I reflected upon some of things that Walt, even from beyond the grave, has taught me about innovation.

"When we consider a project, we really study it--not just the surface idea, but everything about it. And when we go into that new project, we believe in it all the way. We have confidence in our ability to do it right. And we work hard to do the best possible job."

1. Pay fantastic attention to detail

Problems and ideas have an amazing amount of detail associated with them. Sometimes, it can be easy to miss some of the details that help to further define the problem or help follow ideas in new directions

"Whenever I go on a ride, I'm always thinking of what's wrong with the thing and how it can be improved.

2. Challenge the status quo

The status quo is your ultimate enemy. By definition, innovation is something new that provides a benefit to someone. The mere exploration of something new challenges the status quo...and it is simply amazing how many organizations are afraid to do just that.

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."

3. Don't forget about the quality

Walt Disney once said, "I want people to walk into a $5 million dollar restaurant to buy a $0.05 cent hamburger." Walt always believed in "plussing" or giving his guest extra value. Ideas can be viewed the same way. Make sure the idea you are working on brings someone benefit and then drive that benefit as far as you can.

"We are not trying to entertain the critics. I'll take my chances with the public."

4. People expect you to fail, prove them wrong

There are a lot of skeptics around the concepts of creative problem solving and innovation. The non-believers think that the only benefits that a company can achieve are the one's that can be measured. People who believe in ideas are often expected to fail. Many times...they will be right. But sometimes...they will be wrong...and jealous.

"You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality."

5. People make innovation a success, not the management

Innovation, creative problem solving and ideation are fruits of individual thought and effort. In many cases today, management theory and behavior suppress that thought and effort. If you are an individual contributor, be willing to think creatively and have the courage to drive your ideas forward. If you are in the management ranks, be willing to listen to the ideas of your employees and have the courage to promote creative thought in your organization.

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."

6. Make meetings more productive

Most meetings in Corporate America are mind-numbing, unproductive and a waste of time. They can, however, be opportunities for idea generation, problem solving, prototyping or discussing innovation strategy. Make meetings a time that employees look forward to rather than opportunities to come up with excuses not to attend.

"Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there imagination left in the world."

7. Promote and champion change

New ideas bring change. Innovative products and services bring change. Problem solving brings change. You can either be a champion of change and lead the way or you can be left behind. What path are you going to take?

"When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do. And one thing it takes to accomplish something is courage."

8. Plan to defend your ideas

Ideas are always under attack. Some will try to take credit. Some will try to kill them before they even have a chance to grow wings. Some will try to steal them outright. Some may even try to slowly shrink your ideas into nothing. Be courageous and strong enough to keep your ideas alive and well protected.

"Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the children's approach to life. They're people who don't give a hang what the Joneses do. You see them at Disneyland every time you go there. They are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures, and they have a degree of contentment with what life has brought - sometimes it isn't much, either."

9. Employees are the greatest source of inspiration

Listen to the ideas of every employee. That's right...every employee. The CEO has some great ideas. The VP of Finance has great ideas. The Manager of IT Shared Services has great ideas. The Mainframe Technician has great ideas. The Administrative Assistant has great ideas. The lady that pushes the mail cart has great ideas. The guy who cleans the bathrooms has great ideas. Find the ideas...regardless of the source.

"You know, one day when a little boy asked, ‘Do you draw Mickey Mouse?’ I had to admit I do not draw anymore. ‘Well, then you think up all the jokes and ideas,’ he said. ‘No,’ I said, ‘I don’t do that anymore either.’ Finally he looked at me and said, ‘Mr. Disney, just what do you do?’ ‘Well,’ I said, ‘sometimes I think of myself as a little bee. I go from one area of the studio to another, and gather pollen, and sort of stimulate everybody.’ I guess that’s the job I do."

10. Know when to manage, and when to lead

One of the biggest mistakes I see in innovation management is the inability to know when to lead and when to manage. My general rule of thumb is to lead by example through the demonstration of innovation-seeking behaviors. Then, manage the ideas, the available free time, the idea pipeline process, and anything but the people. Let the people do their jobs and prove their ideas.

Walt Disney was an amazing example of the "Intelligent Innovator". He knew his customers better than they knew themselves. He knew when to take chances and when to wait. He was never satisfied with the status quo. While the world lost a great leader in Walt Disney in 1966, we can still see the fruits of his dreams, ideas and courage just about everywhere we look.

If you would like to read more about Walt Disney and his amazing pursuit of dreams, I would recommend the amazing How To Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life by Pat Williams

Copyright 2010-2011 - American Institute for Innovation Excellence

Thoughts on Innovation "Best Practices"

Paul Williams — 2012-01-19T11:00:00Z

Does your company follow "best practices?" What comes to mind when you hear that statement..."We follow best practices." If you are like most, you key in on the words "best practices" and equate the company with industry leadership. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. You see, I key in on the word "follow" instead, which is the true limiting factor of those who pursue the holy grail of best practices.

The pursuit of best practices means just that, you are pursuing the technique, method, process, activity, incentive or reward that is more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc., as defined by others, who you see as leaders in the specific area of effort. This puts you in a constant "maintenance mode" of trying to keep up with the pack. In essence, you are playing the game of "follow the leader."

Innovators, by contrast, don't follow best practices...They set them. Did Apple capture the market by following the best practices of other MP3 player manufacturers? Did Southwest Airlines experience explosive growth by following the best practices of other airlines? Did Walt Disney create a completely new concept in family entertainment by following the best practices of other amusement parks? Best practice leaders are the one's constantly erasing their business models and starting over. They push the envelope, accept risk, support a creative culture and harvest ideas from anywhere and everywhere.

Best practices do, however, have benefit for those companies who have fallen behind in maintaining good techniques and processes for streamlining their operations and developing an innovation culture. These companies need a path to follow in order to catch up with the competition. Be cautious, though, when setting which best practice standards you decide to follow. Just because Motorola's Six Sigma program works for Motorola's operations, it does not ensure they will produce the same benefits for your organization.
Remember, following best practices will only help you to catch up and maintain, it will not allow you to pass unless you take a fresh, new approach. Learn to lead. Learn to innovate. Learn to set your own best practices that others will want to follow. Then, and only then, will you lead by example and be considered an innovative market leader.

Copyright 2010-2011 - American Institute for Innovation Excellence

Innovation Leaders "Walk the Talk"

Paul Williams — 2012-01-17T11:00:00Z

Hopefully you’ll remember my four "Must Have's for a Healthy Innovation Climate":

Leadership Engagement
Business Discipline
Resource Availability & Mix
Process Depth

I list leadership engagement in the first spot on that list for a reason. It is certainly the most important factor for innovation success within an organization. Without true engagement by at least one executive leader (preferably all), innovation will never gain the traction it needs to be considered as a true business discipline, gain the resources it needs to succeed or develop the process depth required to make it effective, efficient and repeatable.

In my work with organizations of all sizes, some of the most frequently asked questions on this topic include:

I agree that a senior leader should be engaged…but how, exactly, does an executive leader get engaged?
Our executives are good at “talking the talk” but how do they show that they are also “walking the talk?”
What specific actions should an executive take to demonstrate “engagement?”

These are all excellent questions! First, let’s define what we mean by “engagement.”

Engaged means involved, committed, dedicated, active, participatory and passionate about ideas, innovation and growth
Engaged means getting your hands dirty in the work that needs to be done
Engaged means making the tough decisions
Engaged means setting direction and priority
Engaged means being a leader

Okay…we get it…engaged means “walking the talk.” So what, specifically, can executives and senior leaders do to demonstrate their engagement? Here are a few examples:

Communicate:

A commitment to ideas, innovation and growth
The strategic linkage of innovation/growth and the organization’s future
The need for everyone in the organization to contribute
An “open door policy” and/or a direct line to senior leaders and executives
The roadmap, milestones and stepping stones required to move from the current culture to the new idea/innovation culture
The big issues, problems, weaknesses and opportunities that the organization faces

Demonstrate:

Placing the innovation initiative on an equal footing with other business disciplines within the organization
A commitment to the initiative via the creation of a leadership team of coaches, facilitators, guides, trainers and other human resources to lead, organize and assist the effort
A commitment to the initiative by securing sufficient financial resources to manage the process…collect, select and develop ideas…invest in the future
A commitment to the initiative by supporting and providing “cover” for dedicated blocks of time where employees can develop their ideas and passions, along with a dedicated space to expand their thinking, collaborate with others and develop prototypes of their ideas
A willingness to accept a determined amount of risk through the establishment of a portfolio of progressively “risky” development projects, properly balanced and in line with the overall organizational strategy
A celebration of “smart failures” as a learning experience and proof that the organization won’t punish people for trying new things
A commitment to true leadership by establishing metrics and holding people and systems accountable

Participate:

In developing a set of problems or challenges for people to solve
Directly in idea generation sessions
By sitting on or chairing idea selection committees
Via the concept of “management by walking around”:

Review works-in-progress
Play with prototypes
Read ideas and comments on whiteboards around the organization
Sit in on department/staff meetings
Talk to people
By spending some time job shadowing employees…especially customer-facing positions
By personally congratulating someone, leaving a voicemail or drafting a hand-written note for a great idea, a learned failure or simply for trying to make the organization better
In the development of training programs and other curriculum for personal creativity enhancement, idea generation, innovation, personal accountability, leadership, prototyping, business acumen and other key growth areas
In the development of a flexible process set, tools, techniques, standards and best practices to give people direction and assistance

These are but a few examples of direct actions a leader can take TODAY to demonstrate his or her commitment to growth via an innovation management strategy. The one thing I really hope that you do take away from this article is…ACTION! You cannot communicate, demonstrate or participate without deciding to take ACTION! Leaders take ACTION…be a LEADER!

Copyright 2010-2011 - American Institute for Innovation Excellence

Measuring Ideas

Paul Williams — 2012-01-12T11:00:00Z

You’ve taken that first step of establishing a creative and innovative culture within your organization. Congratulations! You’ve also started to capture the ideas that are percolating up from your employees and customers. Great job! That new idea/innovation management system is allowing you to convert those great ideas into profitable new products/services for your customers. Again, kudos!

So where do you go from here? The next challenge is to measure the success and/or failure of the ideas you have decided to pursue, quantify the financial impact of your innovation program and finally, report on the overall health of your creativity/innovation system. Although this is often easier said than done, it can be quite simple if you choose to measure the right parameters.

First of all, why capture this information at all? In most organizational cultures…money talks. If you cannot clearly quantify how your innovation program is affecting the bottom line, then you likely will not have an innovation system to manage much longer. Here are a few other reasons to establish an innovation metrics system:

Ensure upper management support
Demonstrate that the system is generating the expected benefits
Ensure that the correct resources are being applied
Motivate the innovation managers, teams and employees
Kill or alter unsuccessful idea-based projects

With the need for metrics now established, the “what to measure” question should be next. Let’s review some of the more common and popular innovation-related metrics:

Financial-Based Metrics

Percentage of capital invested in innovation
Number of new products/services launched
Percentage of revenue from new products/services
Change in company’s market value or share

Process-Based Metrics

Percentage of work time committed to innovation/new concepts
Ratio of successful ideas to total ideas submitted
Average time from idea submission to product/service launch

Culture-Based Metrics

Ratio of senior executive time spent on innovation efforts versus day-to-day operations
Number of managers receiving creativity/innovation management training
Number of ideas submitted by customers

Employee-Based Metrics

Percentage of employees with an innovation-based performance goal
Number of employees receiving creativity/innovation training
Number of ideas submitted by employees

As you can see, it is important to establish only a few metrics across broad categories in order to keep the data collection manageable, while ensuring you have a good snapshot on the health of your innovation system.

Finally, the establishment of a few metric-related guidelines will make certain that you are not tempted to go “overboard” in your quest for measuring the impact of your innovation management pursuits. These guidelines should also ensure that any changes in your business model will also be reflected in your idea management structure.

Evaluate your existing metrics and determine if you can modify them to include creativity and innovation concepts
Include a minimum amount of customer-centric metrics
Avoid complex or formulaic metrics
Avoid tracking every conceivable metric available
Build a metric portfolio that crosses every area of your organization at a summary or “rolled up” level

By establishing what you are defining as a successful innovation program within your organization and measuring a few key indicators to demonstrate the effectiveness of the program, you will be able to provide a reasoned and educated status of your efforts to senior leadership. There is no doubt that money talks. With that being said, having the ability to prove that your efforts are producing positive, bottom line-based results serves to only further enhance the senior executive commitment that makes any innovation system successful.

Copyright 2010-2011 - American Institute for Innovation Excellence

Key Questions in Managing Innovation Projects

Paul Williams — 2012-01-10T11:00:00Z

Stakeholder Questions At Project Planning Launch:

What do we want to accomplish?
What…specifically…are we delivering at the end of this effort?
Who will take responsibility for what we are delivering once this effort is over?
What are the key deliverables that we need to accomplish to reach our end goal?
Who do we need to help us define and sequence the tasks needed to meet those key deliverables?
Who do we need to complete the tasks needed to meet those key deliverables?
How much time do we need to meet those key deliverables?
How much money do we need to meet those key deliverables?
What are the risks we can anticipate that might keep us from meeting those key deliverables?
How will we react to the aforementioned risks if they occur

Stakeholder Questions At Project Execution Launch:

What are we tracking to know we are on schedule?
What are we tracking to know we are on budget?
What are we tracking to know we are making progress on completing our key deliverables?
How will we identify risks and/or issues?
What will be our responses to the previously identified risks and/or issues?
Who else needs to know the answers to these questions and what is their preferred communication channel?
Do we have the appropriate amount of resources (human, budget, space, etc) necessary to execute the estimated work effort?
Do we have the appropriate amount of leadership commitment and oversight to ensure a quality project delivery?
Does our effort have any dependencies or conflicts with any other efforts currently being conducted within the organization?
Have we identified any other “part-time” or transient resources required for project delivery?

Stakeholder Questions At Regularly Scheduled Project Status Meetings:

Are we on schedule?
Are we on budget?
Are we making progress on completing our key deliverables?
Are we confident the key deliverables meet our quality standards?
Are there any risks and/or issues that have come up since the last time we met?
What is our response to the risks and/or issues
Do we still have enough time, money and resources to complete our key deliverables?
Are there any changes required to ensure we have enough time, money and resources to complete our key deliverables?
Is there any opportunity to speed up the schedule, reduce cost, free-up resources or deliver additional tasks without negative impact?
Are the right people being informed of our progress and status?

Stakeholder Questions at Project Closure:

Did we accomplish what we promised at the beginning of the project, plus or minus any changes handled via the approved change management process?
Did we successfully complete the key deliverables promised at the beginning of the project?
Did the person tasked with the responsibility for receiving of work product agree to accept the deliverables without the need for additional effort, time, money or other resources?
Did we deliver our effort on time (within acceptable variance)?
Did we deliver our effort on budget (within acceptable variance)?
Were the deliverables of acceptable quality?
Were there any significant risks and/or issues that caused us stray outside the acceptable variance limits set for the effort?
Were the right people communicated with regarding the completion of the effort and the results?
Have the resources (human, remaining budget, space, etc.) been released for other use?
What are the lessons learned from this effort that may benefit future project teams?

What Comes Before "Open Innovation?"

Paul Williams — 2012-01-05T11:00:00Z

Open Innovation...or expanding the pool of brains thinking about your business problems outside of your organization...is a concept that has gained significant and recent traction. The concept is very sound:

From Wikipedia...Open innovation is a paradigm that assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as the firms look to advance their technology”. The boundaries between a firm and its environment have become more permeable; innovations can easily transfer inward and outward. The central idea behind open innovation is that in a world of widely distributed knowledge, companies cannot afford to rely entirely on their own research, but should instead buy or license processes or inventions (e.g. patents) from other companies. In addition, internal inventions not being used in a firm's business should be taken outside the company (e.g., through licensing, joint ventures, spin-offs)

It used to be that innovation was something that happened deep in the bowels of corporate R&D departments. Secretive folks lurked there and lived by the code of NIH or "Not Invented Here". A motto that held that if R&D didn't think of it, then it didn't exist or wouldn't work or should be ignored. Except a funny thing happened...the ideas started drying up. Game changing ideas became few and far between. More of the same survived and less of the unexpected was developed.

And then another funny thing happened...organizations started asking people in other parts of the company for their ideas and some of them were good! So they tried asking their suppliers and vendors for some ideas...and some of those were good too! So they asked local universities and civic groups for some ideas...and a few of those ideas worked! These organizations learned that the larger the pool of "thinkers," the better their odds of success. Open innovation, as defined above, took off.

But, as corporate exuberance tends to breed carelessness, some organizations began to grab for "brass ring" of open innovation. They were led astray by management consultants that reckoned that you can't get too much of a good thing. Open innovation was cheap...and easy...and the next big thing! Snake Oil Salesmen! They convinced executives to gut their internal R&D functions and launch "Idea Markets" to the world. Give us your ideas...whatever they are...we want them all! And idea campaign after idea campaign began to become flooded with ideas. More ideas than you could possibly imagine. More ideas than people within the organization could properly consider or keep up with. They found themselves sifting through thousands upon thousands of ideas. Wonderful!

And yet...a strange pattern began to emerge...they also noticed hundreds upon hundreds of duplicate or similarly themed ideas. They found hundreds upon hundreds of ideas that were just bizarre...useless. But even more curious were the ideas that just might do some good. But there were hundreds upon hundreds of them. How to choose the most promising? They were all promising. They had no way to filter them, compare them against others, develop them, find markets for them. And so, after much fanfare and money, the "Idea Markets" slowly, one after another, began to fade away. But now, these organizations had a bigger problem...their R&D functions were gone...and their idea pipeline was plugged at the front-end with no one able to free the clog.

Then one day, some very smart innovation management consultants showed these organizations that there is no such thing as an "all or nothing" approach to innovation. Open innovation is but one branch of a well-rounded and comprehensive innovation management program. And for open innovation to truly work, you need to have your internal house in order first as it relates to idea and innovation management. You must have a solid and well managed internal innovation capability before seeking ideas from the outside world. That means:

Having a strong executive sponsor engaged in the innovation strategy of the organization
Having a proven set of processes, tools, techniques and training for moving ideas into prototypes and, eventually, products
Having enough resources (human, financial, time, space and capability) to adequately support the idea and innovation management system you are putting into place
Treating innovation and idea management, not as some singular event, but as a true business discipline and strategy for growth
Developing a list of problems and/or opportunities that the organization wants to invest money and effort into finding solutions
Developing a strategy for seeking ideas from inside and outside of the organization
Developing a clear and communicated set of selection and filtering criteria for idea submission and consideration to ensure the idea pool is manageable
Determining the utilization of the closed innovation system for the research, development, prototyping, portfolio management and launch planning that you don't want your competitors finding out about
Developing a workable system for protecting the intellectual property rights of all parties in the process

This is only a representative handful of key capabilities for a successful innovation management program, whether focused internally or externally. To be a truly successful innovation-focused organization, you'll recognize the need to excel internally and externally. You'll begin to learn that the outside world can help to solve your organizational problems. You'll begin to learn that you'll need some very talented internal people to manage those ideas, and the relationships with the idea generators, to fully realize the benefits. You'll start to recognize properly focused problem statements that serve as pre-built filters against many of the more useless ideas. You'll recognize areas of weakness in your internal development areas and growth strategy that can be "covered" using outside help. You'll carefully move the most promising ideas back within the secrecy of the R&D areas so that further development can continue free of your competitors "spying eyes." You'll begin to see global trends faster.

You'll appreciate the uniqueness that your talented team brings to the ideas that are developed.
In the end, you'll avoid opening yourself up to innovation failure. You'll have an open strategy, a closed strategy and an strategy in between. It won't matter anymore where the ideas come from, it will only matter how to you exploit them. You'll become a true "innovator." So, get your internal house in order first, then figure out what you want the world to help you solve, and then become educated on how best to leverage those billions of fertile minds! Good luck!

Copyright 2010-2011 - American Institute for Innovation Excellence

Your 2012 Monthly Schedule for Executing on Innovation

Paul Williams — 2012-01-03T11:00:00Z

Since we are starting a brand new year, let's focus on some key execution factors that can make the difference between just talking about innovation and actually doing something to promote innovation and growth. Sometimes it can be hard to get past the point of "thinking about solving the problem" or "trying to solve the problem" and actually "solving the problem." So, I've put together twelve concepts that will get you to take action, once and for all, on creating and executing upon an innovation management approach for your organization.

    January - Stop taking orders and start finding solutions. Ask "How do you do things now and how can we do those things better?" Become a partner in solving the real problem vs. just blindly producing what the customer thinks they need.

    February - Innovation is hard work. Stop pretending that it is the result of a few geniuses in your organization. Set up appropriate resource assignments. Break the work down into manageable pieces. Challenge everyone, from the CEO to the Receptionist, on finding problems to solve and coming up with the ideas that solve them.

    March - Don't "forecast the future." Understand that you invent and create the future. You have more control over the future than you know. You need to be thinking beyond this quarter and into the next, and the next, and the next. You need to create the "next big thing" before your competitor does. "Imagine the future...Make it happen"

    April - Create effective and efficient processes, but be flexible. Create a process for challenging people to come up with ideas. Create a process for gathering and considering the ideas. Create a process for testing the ideas. Create a process for figuring out if the idea will make money. You get the idea. But be flexible...rigidity kills innovation.

    May - Be clear on what innovation means to you and your customers. Innovation is one of those terms that can take on multiple meanings. For me, it means anything new that provides value to someone. New can mean "new to you" or "new to your customers" vs. "new to the world." The idea here is to define and document it so there is no confusion.

    June - Focus on your internal structures. What is the make up of your innovation team? Would you be better served by an Innovation Center of Excellence model instead? What about process, governance, resources and leadership engagement? Are you helping people or getting in the way?

    July - Think about a portfolio approach to managing your innovation pipeline. Each idea you decide to invest in should be carefully considered for risk and "audacity." Spread your idea funding budget across safe bets, probable wins, maybe wins and long shots within your portfolio of development projects. Use these "levers" to adjust overall direction based on risk tolerance, economic reality, etc.

    August - Lead, don't follow. The pursuit of "best practices" is important when you are playing catch-up to your competitors. But once you've caught the pack, take the lead with "next practices." This requires a lot of courage, so be prepared to fight the risk-averse within your organization. Let your competitors pursue your "best practices." Be a leader!

    September - Data lies. Don't forget this very, very valuable point. Data can be constructed to tell you whatever you want to hear. Use "quantitative data"...as it tells one part of the overall story. But don't fall down and genuflect to it. Give equal weight to "qualitative data." It tells another, just as important, part of the overall story. Bottom line = Consider the facts, trust your intuition.

    October - Become a trend hunter. Scan your surroundings. Pick up on the soft signals of momentum. What is hot at the fringe? What is potentially cyclical that may be ready for a come-back? What are the geeks excited about and working on? What is coming and what has already moved on?

    November - Demand executive leadership engagement, not just support. Innovation Management should be treated as a business discipline...no different than Marketing, HR, IT, Finance or Legal. Innovation is not a one-time event at some posh off-site. Executive leaders should be challenged to walk the talk. They should be part of idea gen sessions. They should sit on Idea Boards to hear and decide on the fate of new ideas. They should be engaged in setting the appropriate mix of development projects in the project portfolio.

    December - Be an effective resource manager. That means you are making sure you have enough people in the right places doing the right things that they are passionate about...human resources. It also means you have adequate amounts of funding to run the program, provide seed money to promising ideas and launch larger projects for idea execution...financial resources. It means making sure that you carve out time for people to think, to come up with ideas, to search for problems to solve...time resources. Finally, it means setting up places to think, to get away from the constant rush of "right now" work, to be challenged creatively, to use tools designed to help solve problems...location resources.

Remember, you want to manage the work vs. the work managing you. Use these tips to gain control of the idea and innovation management system in your organization. Take control and make it work for you!

Copyright 2010-2011 - American Institute for Innovation Excellence

Year 1 Of The American Institute for Innovation Excellence - A Year In Review

Paul Williams — 2011-12-30T14:00:00Z

Sometimes it is easy to get so wrapped up in the minutia of daily work, problems, schedules and tasks, that we lose sight of why we are working so hard, what we are working towards or where our ultimate strategic vision is taking us. That is why it is always important to take time at the end of every year to reflect on what has been accomplished, learn lessons from our failures or shortcomings and list out our goals as we look forward into the new year.

Looking back at the first year of the AIIE, I am most proud of our foundational and public service accomplishments:

Achieved official 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the United States Internal Revenue Service which allows our Members and volunteers to focus on providing quality innovation management practices and solutions that benefit the "greater good."
Released three (3) high-quality, well-received research reports that truly added to the "next practices" of innovation management
Produced over five (5) hours of online webinar content, including foundational and advanced training, as part of our 2011 Social Innovation Initiative to provide free or low cost innovation and idea management training for disadvantaged entrepreneurs/innovators and the general public
Presented an additional three (3) webinars on best/next practices in Innovation Management through our partnership with Accept Corporation and their 2011 Product Innovation Management Solutions Webinar Series
Featured in a number of publications including the Project Management Institute's "PM Network" magazine, Frost & Sullivan's "Global Community of Growth, Innovation and Leadership" eBulletin and InnovationManagement's eMagazine
Forged a number of valuable partnerships including the American Society for Quality, Accept Corporation, the Innovation Cities Program and the Canadian Innovation Centre
Created a number of key interaction touch points with our Members and the larger Innovation Practitioner Stakeholder Community via Twitter, Facebook, our Blog, LinkedIn, Skype and via the Web
Ended the 2011 Fiscal Year with a positive net cash balance!

While its great to look back and recognize the great work we have done, we still have much work to do! With our 2012 Research Calendar now set, my main focus will be on improving our Membership count, creating an innovation education curriculum, exploring opportunities for innovation collaboration via forum, panel discussion or "Unconference" format and developing a suite of products/services to supplement our membership-based funding stream.

To our Members and loyal followers, we cannot thank you enough for your support, participation and engagement. We hope to increase our collaboration with you in the new year!

Strategic Innovation via Scenario Planning

Paul Williams — 2011-12-29T11:00:00Z

Strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next several years, how it’s going to get there and how it’ll know if it got there or not. This is a key management exercise, regardless of whether or not it is driven by innovation.

Scenario planning helps the organization visualize the future in an ordered way so that the strategic plan is valid and likely to occur as planned. Both strategic and scenario-based planning also allows an organization to prepare for unrealized futures. The futures explored, and the plans developed, can be used as a road map to the future, as contingency plans for unexpected events or as event triggers for potentially damaging strings of events.

In the innovation space, strategic and scenario planning helps define the “future state” of the organizations. It is the target to shoot at when developing new ideas for prototyping and further development activities.

Scenario planning itself revolves around a number of distinct phases:

Preparation

Define the key question/problem
Set the duration of the analysis
Set the in/out scope of the analysis
Identify stakeholders and secure

Research and Planning

Identify Trends
Identify Variables
Identify Current Forces

Scenario Development

Develop 3-5 Likely Scenarios
Develop 3-5 Unlikely Scenarios
Develop 3-5 Extreme Scenarios

Scenario Execution

Develop scenario progression plan
Develop test plan for assumptions
Conduct scenario exploration and mapping
Brainstorming
What If? Questioning
Use Trend, Variable & Current Force Data

Scenario Outputs

Response/Contingency Plan Development
Strategy Development
Issue Management
Risk Management
Early Alerting & Event Trigger Identification

With 2012 and beyond strategic, portfolio and project planning already underway in some organizations, hopefully this refresher on scenario planning will help your organization think beyond the incremental, beyond the norm and beyond the expected. Unexpected "Black Swan" events happen...just ask BP...and your organization needs to think through what potential futures may hold. You might just discover something new to bring to the marketplace!

Copyright 2010-2011 - American Institute for Innovation Excellence

Don't Waste Time...Dream Big!

Paul Williams — 2011-12-27T11:00:00Z

We used to have big dreams. I mean REALLY big dreams. For example, back in the 50’s, they used to dream BIG about the future. There were dreams of cities under the ocean and in space. Dreams of rocket travel being routine and fully automated kitchens run by our robot servants. There were World’s Fairs that showcased the best of bold, innovative thinking. There were utopian dreams like the building of Disneyland. What happened?

Where is the bold, innovative thinking now? Sure, we are building on the old and making what is “now” better. But where is the far-off look to the future? Where is the bold and crazy imagination? Where is the “science-fiction” of today that doesn’t include gratuitous violence? Where did the World’s Fairs go? Where can we go to view the latest thinking in design, construction, transportation, entertainment and education…all in the same place? TED is a good start, but there needs to be more of this, and more inclusive of the "average guy's" ideas.

Let’s challenge ourselves to think a little deeper this week. Let’s allow our imaginations to wander just a little bit further. Let’s force together two completely different trains of thought and see what comes out the other end. Make a conscious decision to move past the first “right” answer when searching for solutions to problems. Let’s dream big.

Copyright 2010-2011 - American Institute for Innovation Excellence

Our Annual Holiday Innovation and Creativity Reflection

Paul Williams — 2011-12-22T11:00:00Z

Walt Disney wrote in Reader's Digest (December 1941) that "One reason the Christmas season appeals to me is that it makes us suspend business-as-usual routine and let our minds soar for a while. It is a time when the imagination is more sprightly than at other periods of the year; Christmas seems to release even the most solemn of us from the Scrooge realism that occasionally besets all of us. It is natural, of course, that I should think of Christmas in terms of imagination, for imagination is my business."

Walt's quote above reminds us that we must all find some quiet moments from time to time. These quiet moments allow our subconscious with the time needed to catch up with our busy, busy conscious mind. The subconscious probably has some ideas it has been working on, but hasn't been able to get through to us during our busy lives.

So how do we take advantage of the power of reflection?

Think on a scale larger than what you are used to thinking

See the forest for the trees
Look for patterns
Look at how nature solves “problems”
Do something you typically don't do
Try to generalize everything you encounter

Ask questions

What if...?
How about...?
How can we...?
Why not...?

Create Time

If you can't find time in your busy day for reflective thought, make time:

Get up one hour early
Go to bed one hour late
Go to the park for lunch
Listen to music instead of the news
Take a long shower or bath
Take the dog for a walk

In today's hectic rat-race, it can be very difficult to find time for reflective thought and getting in contact with our sub-conscious. New ideas typically don't present themselves when we are too busy to think. In order to truly tap into your great, but yet unknown, ideas, make time to get away, think deeply, and truly reflect on your problems, potential solutions and other great thoughts.

Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday Season and a Prosperous New Year!!!

Copyright 2010-2011 - American Institute for Innovation Excellence

Goal Setting For Innovation & Creativity...

Paul Williams — 2011-12-20T11:00:00Z

Goals for Corporate Leaders:

Create a culture that fosters creativity
Grant freedom to employees to take risks
Remove barriers to communication across the company
Reward fast failure
Reward idea generators
Give employees time to think or work on new ideas
Build innovation into your financial goals
Develop a system for measuring innovation-related metrics
Set up a fund to finance promising new ideas

Goals for improving personal creativity:

Challenge the status quo
Be curious
Imagine
Become more self-motivated
Find your passion
Take risks
Pay attention to detail
Do not fear failure
Dream
Wish
Be confident
Go looking for new ideas
Feed your subconscious with fresh, new observations

2012 Innovation Management Research Topics Announced

Paul Williams — 2011-12-19T20:13:45Z

The American Institute for Innovation Excellence announced their 2012 Innovation Management Research Schedule today at the organization's headquarters in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Following the analysis of eighty-three responses resulting from a comprehensive survey targeted at innovation management practitioners, business executives and other innovation-related stakeholders, the non-profit innovation management think tank has targeted on the following five (5) research priorities for 2012:

Strategic Planning for Innovation Management
Scenario Planning for Innovation Management
Agile Approaches to Innovation Management
Executive Coaching for Innovation Management
Social Innovation Initiative

Innovation Management and Next Practices Education/Coaching for Entrepreneurs in American Disadvantaged Locations
Innovation Management "Training-In-A-Box" for Entrepreneurs in Developing Nations

In their research, the AIIE Board of Directors discovered that nearly 68% of all respondents claim that their organizations are either "Neutral" or "Ineffective" at managing innovation, while only 31% of the remaining respondents would classify their organizations as "Effective" or "Very Effective." Additionally, survey respondents listed poor culture for innovation, lack of resources, organizational risk avoidance and a lack of available process/methodology for innovation management to be their main obstacles to innovation management success in the past year.

Looking forward, survey respondents named strategy/innovation alignment, strategic planning and scenario planning as their top three (3) innovation management focus areas for 2012. This data integrated and aligned almost perfectly with the results from most influential survey question, as it relates to research selection for the Institute, "Where Does Your Organization Need The Most Help With Respect To Innovation Management in 2012?":

Innovation Execution (26%)
Organizational Strategy (22%)
Scenario/Horizon Planning (16%)
Coaching/Training (11%)
Use of Agile Techniques in Innovation Management (10%)
Benchmarking, Communication & Academic Innovation rounded out the remaining 15%

Since the organization's research team has recently produced a report on closing the innovation execution gap, with a significant focus on strategy alignment (Q3 2011), the Board of Directors has established the 2012 research schedule as follows:

Q1 2012 - Scenario Planning/Horizon Scanning for Innovation Management
Q2 2012 - Exploring Agile Approaches to Innovation Management
Q3 2012 - Strategic Planning for Innovation Management
Q4 2012 - Social Innovation Initiative (Education & Coaching for Entrepreneurs)

More information can be found at: http://www.AIIEOnline.org

Improving Your Idea Generating Skills...

Paul Williams — 2011-12-15T11:00:00Z

"A hunch is your creativity trying to tell you something" - Unknown

So where do you find yourself and what are you doing when you get a great idea...or any idea?
I'll bet that you said something close to one of these:

Cutting the grass
Walking the dog
Driving to work
Showering
Listening to your iPod
Meditation
Praying
Staring out the window

I'll also bet that none of you said, or even thought of, work. Not surprising. So why is it that you always seem to get your best ideas when you are doing these activities? Well, it is during these activities that you get as close as you can get to the idea generator in your head (your subconscious), at least during waking hours.

Your subconscious? Absolutely...that amazing "back office" of your mind takes care of keeping your heart beating, breathing, and also for recording everything you encounter via your five senses. Not only that, it constantly works to solve problems. In fact, it can solve problems faster and better than any computer yet invented by Man. By using the examples of the recordings it has made throughout your life, and comparing them to the problems you have assigned it (whether consciously or unconsciously), your subconscious develops potential solutions to your problems...or ideas.

Unfortunately, we lead unbelievably complicated and busy lives. So busy, in fact, that we often cannot hear our subconscious when its trying to tell us that it has found an answer to one of our problems. When you engage in one of the above-referenced activities, our conscious mind has gone into "auto-pilot" and you start listening to your subconscious. Sometimes it has answers or ideas for your problems. Sometimes it doesn't. But now that you know how it works, you can use the world's most powerful problem solving tool to your advantage.

The next time you have a problem, assign it directly to your subconscious. You're asking, "How do I do that?" Well, simply state your problem out loud, or better yet, write it down on a piece of paper. Take that piece of paper and shove it in a drawer. Now, forget completely about your problem. I mean completely. If you start to think about it, just tell yourself that you already assigned that problem to your subconscious and that it is busy working out a solution for you. Give yourself at least two days for the subconscious to sort through the "stuff" in your head. Now, find the activity that most efficiently eliminates the noise in your head. Haul out the piece of paper and read the problem out loud. I think you are going to be surprised at what comes out. Be ready...write the ideas down as they come to you. If your subconscious hasn't yet found a solution, don't despair. Just keep finding those quiet moments in your day, and you won't be disappointed.

Your subconscious is really only limited by the recordings that it has made through your five senses. So, if you find yourself with a slow down in ideas, try to "feed" it something new:

Read a book (fiction, non-fiction/business, biography, magazine)
Try the Science or History Channel for a night instead of Spike or Lifetime
Visit your local museum or library
Talk to a friend you haven't heard from in a long time
Go out, find some of your customers, and talk to them
Take a walk in the woods, or at the beach, or down your town's busiest street
Travel to a new place
Visit Walt Disney World
Take a camera with you and just start snapping shots of things you find interesting
Take a day off during the middle of the week
Visit a new restaurant

I think you get the idea. For your inner problem solving machine to work, you need to follow this system:

Feed your mind fresh, new observations (try to utilize all five senses)
When you have a problem, write it down and then forget about it
Find times during the day to quiet your mind
Note which activities tend to lead to more ideas and seek out those times often
Listen to the ideas that pour out of your subconscious
Write the ideas down or otherwise record them so you don't forget
Return to #1

Innovation Management Is A Business Discipline...

Paul Williams — 2011-12-13T11:00:00Z

Organizations are in business to make money. Yes, they provide employment, dispense benefits, contribute to the community (local and beyond) and provide solutions to needs. But those things either result from, or contribute to, the pursuit of turning a profit. Like it or not, it is a simple fundamental truth of a capitalism-based society.

The main key performance indicator of any “for profit” organization is the Income Statement or Profit & Loss Statement. This instrument displays the cold, hard facts of revenue compared to cost. At a bare minimum, the goal of any organization is to ensure that there is enough profit to cover the cost of doing business. The function, therefore, of business operations is to generate the most revenue for the least amount of cost.
Business operations or “disciplines” are designed and staffed to directly generate revenue and/or operate at the peak efficiency of cost. They traditionally include:

Administration
Operations
Manufacturing
Engineering
Supply Chain
Finance
Human Resources
Sales
Marketing
Information Technology

Additionally, some organizations will have a quality area or continuous improvement group to ensure that business processes operate at their most efficient and effective performance. This ensures that the “Loss” side of the P&L Statement stays as low as possible. Some have even deployed Lean/Six Sigma methodology to take advantage of consistent and repeatable improvement. Investment in months of executive attention, training, culture change and support tools have resulted in having a positive impact on the Loss, or cost, side of the balance sheet.

But again, the P&L Statement has two sides. Revenue, or profit, must continue to eclipse cost if your organization is able to remain viable. The organization has managed to create or develop something that others are willing to purchase, commonly referred to as the “value equation.” Efficient operations, robust marketing and sales and effective financial management play their part in leveraging that value equation and in generating a steady, reliable stream of sales and revenue. In today’s highly competitive marketplace however, simply having something that others are willing to purchase isn’t enough. The reality is that there are others just like you, offering similar products and/or services to your customers at lower cost or with increased benefit. You need to differentiate. You need to create new, improved offerings. You need to innovate.

Some organizations take a strategic approach to guiding innovation. Strategies and tactics may be built from executive-level scenario or visioning sessions. Other future-focused activities may be centered in Research and Development areas within the organization. But the lesson here is that having a strategic plan to innovate is a business discipline. It is a dedicated activity that is focused on growth, on future revenue, on the Profit side of the Income Statement. The only difference from organization to organization is whether or not time and resources are allocated to the discipline in order to continuously focus on it versus simply reacting, situation-by-situation, as market forces dictate.

I have worked with many organizations who think nothing of spending tens of thousands of dollars on rolling out Lean initiatives but balk at spending an half that amount on proven business methodologies for Innovation initiatives. If you really think you can simply focus on the Loss column of the P&L and maintain your market position, you better get some refresher training on that business degree. Successful organizations have a balanced focus on both Profit (Growth) and Loss (Cost). Likewise, successful organizations have a balanced focus on cost containment and new product/service development.

For those of you who currently have cost/quality management systems in place, you've already done most of the dirty work. You have proven, with an adequate amount of resources (time, financial, people), a set of tools and techniques, and leadership support behind you, that you can effectively manage variance, waste and the associated costs. Now, take an equally adequate amount of resources, a different set of tools, techniques and processes, along with that same leadership support, and you can have that same positive effect on managing ideas for new products and services and the associated growth.

Why not use these recessionary times to build that innovation/growth management program today? Fill that idea pipeline. Start prototyping some new products and/or services. Set aside a budget to manage a balanced portfolio of growth-focus projects. If you do, you'll be ready to release them as soon as the economic recovery starts to take hold. You'll be busy capturing market share and welcoming in new customers with your new products and/or services, while your competitors will be emerging from their protective cocoons and just getting started on filling up their idea pipeline.

Copyright 2010-2011 - American Institute for Innovation Excellence

Innovation Takes Time and Patience...

Paul Williams — 2011-12-08T11:00:00Z

"When you plant a seed, you don't dig it up every week to see how its doing" - Unknown

It never ceases to amaze me how impatient corporate executives can be. Of course, most are driven by the need to deliver quarterly results for shareholders and Wall Street analysts. I get it...really I do. But growth cannot be put on such a strict timescale. Growth takes time. Growth is like the seed referenced in the opening quote above. It requires patience, water, food and more patience.

Innovation is the engine for growth. Innovation comes from ideas. Ideas take time to develop. Ideas tend to change as they grow. Ideas need to be prototyped and that takes time. Ideas need to be matched with problems that need solving and that takes time too.

Did you know that most product development lifecycles require 12-24 months from concept to release? When you have executives focused only on the next 3 three months, it can be difficult to get any "airtime." But good executives, the one's who really understand that growth means that their business will be around in 2 or 20 or 200 years, do focus on what interesting things are coming out of the new product/service development cycles.

The trick, and it really isn't a trick, is to have a staggered and constant product development system. If you start everything now, at the same time, you will arrive in the future with everything released around the same time. Let's be honest, you don't really have the resources necessary to start everything at the same time anyway do you? Nope! But what you can do is start some of the work now, then start some more 6 months from now, then even more 6 months from then. See how this works? Staggered, yet constant, delivery of new products/services coming out of the bottom of the development funnel.

Even smarter executives understand that even more patience is required when trying to fill the top of that funnel. Ideas come from deliberate thought about problems. Figuring out which problems to solve requires a lot of brainpower as well. Executives and leaders focused on growth and the future allow for time to envision the future, they walk around to search for problems to solve, they create quiet time for idea incubation, they encourage fast failure via prototyping ideas to see if they will actually work and they provide the most promising ideas with a little seed money.

Time is a precious commodity. Another one of my favorite time-related quotes comes from Harvey MacKay, "Time is free, but priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it, you can never get it back."

Think about that for a moment. Are you carving out enough time for ideas and innovation? Are you patient? Are you the person that digs up the seed every week to check on its progress only to discover that it never grows?

Copyright 2010-2011 - American Institute for Innovation Excellence

The Top Ten List of Making Innovation Happen Every Day…

Paul Williams — 2011-12-06T11:00:00Z

Innovation MUST be tied to the organizational strategy
Innovation MUST be on the leadership agenda and discussed at every leadership meeting
Innovation MUST be led by at least one C-Level or SVP-Level person
Ideas (from ANY source) MUST have a path/process to follow
Customers/Consumer MUST have a voice
Resources (People, Money & Time) MUST be made available for innovation
A culture of risk taking, fast failure, experimentation and imagination MUST exist and be supported/protected
The organization MUST be made up of skilled and diverse individuals who are set "free"
The organization MUST seek to be a leader of "next practices" not a follower of "best practices"
The organization MUST have the courage to KILL projects, ideas, lines of business, etc. that don't work

Once you have these ten "MUST's" in place, I think you will find that your employees, front-line managers, middle managers and senior leaders will be innovating...everyday...all day...

Copyright 2010-2011 - American Institute for Innovation Excellence

Designing A Creative Space To Think…

Paul Williams — 2011-12-01T11:00:00Z

For those of you who are in tune with your creative side, I am sure that you can name the activities (or lack thereof) that facilitate your creative thinking process. For others, it isn't the activity that brings on the bout of creative production, but the location. In this week's blog entry, we are going to take a look at some of the design features that are supportive of creative spaces.

With the increased attention (and opportunities for consultation) that I have noticed in the past few months for designing creative spaces within office settings, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about what role these creative spaces play and some common design considerations when contemplating your own "think place.

Creative spaces, also known as Idea Rooms, War Rooms, Think Spots, Collaboration Rooms and a host of other similar names, are designed to provide a centralized, communal location for the explicit purpose of promoting deep thought, generating ideas, relaxation, collaboration, prototyping, play and showcasing ideas. These spaces serve as an idea-rich oasis in the desert of mundane tasks. They can serve a functional need through co-location of key players and immersion into a focused project environment. They can also be creative toy stores, or a place that employees can go to unleash their imaginations.

When thinking about creative spaces, the following design considerations should be evaluated:

Location

Should be in a central, easily accessible location, preferably with a window view, but not near the hub of "busy work" activity

Lighting:

Natural is best, followed by incandescent, then fluorescent

Color:

Warm colors (ie. yellow, orange and brown)

Overall structure/construction elements:

High ceiling, open middle, with "think pods" incorporated into design

Furniture:

Large work surfaces
Comfortable furniture (ie. couches, recliners, padded chairs, etc.)
Work areas should be modular to allow users to dictate design

Technology:

Computers with creativity/idea generation/collaboration software
Wi-Fi Internet accessibility
Video Conferencing

Collaboration Tools:

White boards
Flip charts
Toys (right brained and left brained)
Post-its
Pins
Markers

Ambient Conditions:

Independent temperature controls
Audio/Video available (headphones)
Inspirational/Creative posters

Miscellaneous:

Food/Drink area
Casual attire
Cell-phone free zone

Obviously, there is much more to consider when designing and planning for a physical space, but these attributes at least get you thinking about the right questions to ask your design consultant. In the end, what you are striving for is an area dedicated to creative thought, ideas, solutions and problem solving. Whatever is specific about your culture that fosters the behaviors that lead to thinking and problem solving is your goal.

Copyright 2010-2011 - American Institute for Innovation Excellence