Innovation (Page 2)

In: Innovation, Open Innovation

Innovation is built using well proven methodologies, however it requires more than an effective process to motivate and inspire the imagination of an innovation team. The right leadership is central to any innovation teams success and if not managed carefully leader and team identity blocks innovation. People and particularly leadership are a very important part of a successful innovation culture and the most effective innovators need to master cultural change. A recent Harvard Business Review case study illustrates this point, Pixel a division of Deloitte Consulting provide teams of on demand talent to support client engagements. Pixel enables their clients with resources who have critical and in demand skills such as AI, Machine Learning and Data Analytics. So it is a business that is providing access to hard to find expertise and collaborating on innovation and new product development. However despite the successful completion of many projects there is still significantContinue Reading

In: Innovation

Five trends in innovation identified by Inc. Magazine. None of these are particularly new or transformational, which is an accurate reflection of how innovation is being applied through the pandemic. Organisations are responding to market conditions, planned transformation to Digital and Online Channels have been urgently accelerated. The global trend to enable workforces to work from home has seen changes to the workplace and also to the idea of flexible and dynamic teams. Automation and Artificial Intelligence are required to increate efficiency and make everything more productive. Digital Differentiation is the New Normal: The pandemic has accelerated many companies digital transformation plans. The expectation is that now digital is the primary channel and transforming the supply chain. World Events are Driving Consumer and Corporate Behaviour: COVID has changed consumer behaviour, people are shopping differently. Considering different holiday choices and changing the products they buy. Remote Work Is Everywhere: The changeContinue Reading

In: Innovation

The Eight Essentials of Innovation – Large companies find innovation hard, they are usually much better at executing strategy than they are at innovating. Which is why many large organisations fail to achieve growth through creativity and instead focus on optimising existing businesses. Innovation and Creativity Innovation is a complex endeavour it requires practices and processes to structure, organise and encourage it. McKinsey have identified eight essential aspects and codify this into an operating system. The first four Aspire, Choose, Discover, and Evolve are strategic and creative in nature. The second four; Accelerate, Scale, Extend and Mobilise deal with how to deliver and establish an innovation cadence in the operating model. Aspire A far reaching vision can be a compelling catalyst, provided it is realistic enough to stimulate action today. Establishing an aspiration target for innovation is not enough, the specific values need to be apportioned to relevant business ownersContinue Reading

In: Creativity, Innovation

The idea that creativity is exclusively the domain of youth is an incorrect assumption according to researchers at Ohio State University, their finding is that creativity peaks at different ages. The difference is that those people who generate radical ideas often do so before they are deeply knowledgeable in the conventions of their field. Alternatively experimenters take all of their career knowledge, together with decades of trial and error to go beyond the conventions of their domain. “Many people believe that creativity is exclusively associated with youth, but it really depends on what kind of creativity you’re talking about,”  Bruce Weinberg, Professor Economics, Ohio State University Conceptual Innovators Conceptual innovators are generating creativity in fundamentally new ways, they have clear goals, and seek to communicate specific ideas or emotions. This approach tends to peak early and most of the groundbreaking work from conceptual innovators happens early in their careers. ExperimentalContinue Reading

In: Innovation, Innovation Systems

In order for your business to thrive you need to identify new revenue opportunities, reduce costs, grow margins, create new markets, build strong customer relationships, have a powerful company culture – these are the business of innovation. Face it – innovation is what will make your business better than your competitor, it defines what makes you different and makes you better. This article explores three models of innovation, Revenue Model Innovation, Business Model Innovation and Industry Model Innovation. Revenue Model Innovation Many organisations look at their revenue model and consider how to change that model to grow the gross yield. The concept of Freemium which has grown significantly in the last ten years is a perfect example, as is the move from outright purchase to subscription. A key aspect of revenue model innovation is to keep watching global trends and to model the impact of that change to your organisation.Continue Reading

In: Innovation, Open Innovation

The concept of Open Innovation was originated by Henry Chesbrough in his book (of the same name) published in 2003. Chesbrough a lecturer a Berkeley and previously Harvard coined the phrase to explain how “a distributed, more participatory and more decentralised approach to innovation” can be more effective than any company attempting to innovate on their own. A key to Open Innovation is that it takes aspects of the processes associated with Open Source Software, also it leverages the logic of effective supply chain management, but it goes much further to include the ideation and creativity in Universities and Academic institutions. So Open Innovation has been around for a while but why is it so relevant now? The HBR article examines how during the COVID19 pandemic companies are coming together in unprecedented ways to create new value often ahead of immediate commercial gains. “Open innovation has the potential to widenContinue Reading

innovation globes

In: Innovation

Continuous innovation is a focus on gradual improvement, it consists of smaller and more frequent innovations delivering continual benefits. Many people associate the term ‘innovation’ with game-changing disruption but that is actually the exception rather than the rule. A disruptive innovation that transforms an industry with a dramatic pivot, new services, creative business/service models and global scale does not come along every day. While continuous innovation is much more gradual, it is much more reliable at delivering small gains, which continue to advance the company year in year out. By focusing on continuous innovation over big disruptive innovations companies can: Strengthen the organisations’ Innovation Muscles Continually deliver improvement Build momentum towards larger innovations – potentially disruptive innovations. To establish the right culture for continuous innovation you need to develop the right innovative leadership. The authors state these leaders must understand: How to establish clear goals for innovation that are ambitiousContinue Reading

In: Career, Innovation

Google and Telstra both Plan to Disrupt Learning and University Qualifications. While its not a new idea to train and accredit specific skills, Google’s recent announcement has people taking notice. That is because it is disruptive of the traditional career path from university or college. Its more accessible, it is faster and it is much cheaper to graduate. It is also providing qualifications that are recognised by over 50 US employers. “Nearly two-thirds of all new jobs created since 2010 require either high-level or medium-level digital skills” Kent Walker, Google SVP of Global Affairs 13th July 2020 The IT Certificate Employer Consortium includes US employers like Walmart, Hulu, Sprint and of course Google. It is an interesting model for building local skills and competencies. Google claims its certificate programs are “designed to help people land jobs at any company, across any sector”. Google have partnered with hundreds of schools and colleges acrossContinue Reading

In: Innovation

What are the qualities of an innovative leader? often when people think of innovators they are really thinking about creative thinkers, people who generate ideas but the innovative leader is more than that. Innovative leaders typified by Elon Musk, Steve Jobs and others are people with big ideas who can motivate people to turn the ideas into reality. Imagination and communication An innovative leader needs powerful imagination and excellent communication skills, the ability to craft a story that can visualise an idea, and sell a concept. Encouraging creativity means not being micro managers, it is about motivation and inspiration. Innovation Requires Optimism Innovative leaders need to consider the potential, look for opportunities and have a open perspective that says ‘why not’. Knowing when to Kill it No matter how much emotional investment might have gone into a project, the innovative leader knows when to stop investing time in specific initiativesContinue Reading

In: Innovation

This article explains five ways that leaders can enable innovation in teams, innovation does not happen in silo’s, it is most effective when you understand the process flows between different business functional units, when you analyse and understand your competitors offerings, when you understand the changes in market dynamics and the role of emerging technology. “most companies continue to assume that innovation comes from that individual genius, or, at best, small, sequestered teams that vanish from sight and then return with big ideas.” By Rob Cross , Andrew Hargadon , Salvatore Pariseand Robert J. Thomas. “Together We Innovate” WSJ If you can score above 36% in the workplace serendipity quiz, you are proficient at leading innovative teams. “Innovation requires a certain type of person: they are passionate explorers in pursuit of endless possibilities.” The best leaders also know that innovation comes from multiple sources both internally and externally. When you bring people together from divergent points ofContinue Reading