The Innovators Studio with Phil McKinney

Yes — there is a new podcast posted!

Over the last year, I’ve spent a significant amount of time laying a foundation of core attributes so that a culture of innovation can flourish. Rather than talk in hypothetical, lets dive behind the curtain and see how this has come together.  As a refresher:

Core attributes are those attributes the organization holds which form the foundation on which its perform work and conduct itself.  Done well, they are empowering to an organization.

The core attributes we as a team settled on are:

* We are Passionate:  Passion is the fuel that drives our ideas and innovations.  We demonstrate commitment, determination, enthusiasm and dedication in all activities.

* We Think BIG and BOLD: We are cutting edge; bold and creative and willing to take intelligent and thoughtful risks in everything we do.  We “WOW” our customers with innovative solutions.

* We are Fast and Agile: We “adopt and adapt” by moving with speed and flexibility.

* We are a Team: Teamwork is paramount to what we do and our team extends to our families, communities, members and other stakeholders.

* We Unlock Individual Potential:  We believe that each individual has unique talents and abilities that can be unlocked for greater individual and company success.

* We Lead by Example: Integrity, honesty and respect are the foundation of everything we do.

* We are Resourceful: We leverage our size and resources to deliver ideas and innovations above and beyond what others expect.

To learn more, listen to the podcast.

Culture of Innovation

Culture is one of those things that is hard to quantify.  When I ask executives about their culture, they are confident that they have a culture that encourages innovation.  In most cases, these same executives project their wishes for their culture and not the reality.

Culture is enabled by people and their views and opinions can get in the way if you don’t stay on top of it.

What kind of culture do you have?

Is there a way to get a more unbiased view of your culture? Yes – by answering the followings questions:

1) Ask a number of people in your organization what they believe is the essence of what the organization stands for.  If you get different  answers, that points to lack of clarity which then means each person is projecting what they think.

2) How is your organizations the same/different from others?  If you are generic with a generic culture, then innovation is NOT part of what you are about.

3) For the people who are successful in your organization, what are their common traits?  What are the skills, abilities, etc that get people promoted?

4) What are the characteristics of people who failed in your organization?

5) Who are the 5 most respected people in your organization? Why?

6) What are the characteristic of the missed opportunities and failures of the organization?

To hear how to access your organizations culture, listen to Do You Have A Culture Of Innovation.  To get all of the shows, consider subscribing to the show either on iTunes or via the RSS feed.

 

To learn more about how to find ideas that turn into game-changing innovations, read Beyond The Obvious.  Why? Out of habit, we still cling to the “obvious” ideas that were once true in the rapidly receding past. In order to innovate, we need to learn to identify and ignore these “obvious” rules, ideas, or beliefs.  This books is a practical guide on how to go beyond the obvious and consistently generate game-changing innovations.

Order an autographed copy of the book at Innovation.Tools.

 

So you have an idea.  You thinks its a killer idea.  How do you make sure its the next great thing before committing significant resources (e.g. money, time, etc)?

Testing your ideas doesn’t have to be a big long dragged out process.  By following a few quick steps, you can have the confidence that your idea will lead to the next game-changing innovation.

Step 1: Does the problem exist?

Rememebr that customers don’t but products or technologies, they buy solutions to their problems.  To validate the problem, you need to:

* Frame the problem in a few sentances so that others can easily grasp the problem space you are going after.

* Define the impact of the problem (e.g. time, money, etc)

* Go talk to people NOT like you and see if they agree that the problem exists.

To hear how I approach strangers and engage them in validating the problem, listen to the podcast.

 

Step 2: Test Your Innovation

This is where you validate that what you’ve come up with solves the problem the customer has.

* Based on the input from Step 1, create a quick “fake” way to show people what your innovation is.  This could be a video, a Flash demo, etc.  Keep it cheap and fast.

* Again – go talk to people.  Find more people who agree the problem exists and ask them how well your innovation addresses the problem.

Be prepared to iterate on Step 2 multiple times.  The priority should be on fast and cheap.

 

When posed with a major (big) innovation effort, why do some people freeze?  Is it the size that intimidates them?  Yes in a way.  But size is relative.  If you have no perspective, then eveything can look big and daunting.

To build your perspective so that big programs aren’t so scary, you need to grow your innovation skill and experience.  So what are the steps?

Incremental Innovation

Incremental innovations have a bad reputation.  Some in the innovation space look down on incremental innovations as the lazy way out.  I don’t agree.  They have a role when it comes to meeting the quick, short term needs for innovation enhancements to current offerings.  Incremental innovations are low risk but allow the innovator to learn the skill of presenting an idea and getting it through the process.

Where organizations get themselves in trouble is by never going beyond incremental innovations.  If you never take the next step, you never build your innovation muscle.  Like exercise, if you don’t do something more strenuous, you will never build the muscle that will help to achieve your innovation goals.

Emergent Innovation

Emergent innovations are those “next step” innovations where trends and/or behaviors in your industry give you a path to what is next.  Emergent innovations are something new while based on a clear connection to the past and a logical future.  This requires the innovator to learn the skill of pitching a complete idea, not just an increment to something already being done.  Emergent innovations are lower risk since the idea is easily understood by the organization given the changes being experienced by the industry.

Game-Changing Innovation (Killer Innovations)

Game-changing (or what I call killer innovations) are those innovations that are significantly different to what everyone else is doing such that customers reward you with a margin premium.  These are the innovations that change organizations and industries.  To many, these kinds of innovations can be intimidating.  To make them more manageable, think of them as being made up of incremental and emergent innovations with some other elements thrown in.  If you break a game-changing innovation down into smaller elements, it looks much less intimidating.

Career-Changing Innovation (Society-Changing Innovation)

If you are lucky, you may get the opportunity be part of an innovation effort that changes society and your career.  These are the innovations that everyone talks about for decades after they are launched.  Some more “recent” examples include:

* Vint Cerf – One of the co-inventors of the internet

* Sir Tim Berners-Lee – Inventor of the web

There is a belief that these are random events where these people are “lucky”.  Luck had nothing to do with it.  I’ve spent enough time with Vint and Tim to know that they spent years and even decades exercising their innovation muscle to be ready to take advantage of the right idea at the right time.

 

 

Its easy to criticize others about “not getting” it when it comes to innovation.  Before we jump on others, how is your innovation attitude?

What do I mean by an innovation attitude?

Do you truly believe that you and your team can innovate in your industry and organization?

Many organization and entire industries have written themselves off when it comes to innovation.  I believe down to my core that you can create game-changing innovations in any industry and organization. There is nothing that is off limits.  Remember when everyone wrote off the PC industry 7 years ago?

Are you committed to fight the self-doubt?

We all suffer from self-doubt but innovation is about hope.  The hope that there is something better that can have an impact.  Self-doubt has its roots in fear.  We’ve all failed as some point and innovation is all about failure.  More ideas will fail than succeed so get used to it.  Don’t let your self-doubt talk you out of trying.

Are you willing to get out of your comfort zone?

Innovation is all about change and change is uncomfortable.  The only way to discover opportunities that others have missed is to get out of your comfort zone and look at the problem differently.  Otherwise, you are doing the same thing the same way you’ve done it in the past.  The result is the same old ideas.  Go beyond the obvious and find innovations that others have overlook.