Business Creativity and Innovation experts

Where Business Meets Creativity

homecreativityinnovationworkshopsonline shopspeakingcreativity blogdownloadsprofilespartnersFAQslinks
book reviewsenquiriescontactabout

Subscribe to Innovation Matters

Enter your email address below

Click to view newsletter archives.

Soft Infrastructure

When thinking of communicating within a corporate environment we often think of sending things out (pushing) or receiving from others (pulling).

What about when things just sort of slosh about, and proceed at their own pace or when disruptive events occur and we need a system that repairs itself?

We need a new type of network, one that is invisible and which connects everybody to everyone else. It must allow meaning, intuition, creativity and emotion to flow with no bottlenecks and no burst pipes.

What we need therefore is the right sort of ‘network’ – a Soft Infrastructure. This is the type of infrastructure that we need for sustainable innovation. Download a short paper on Soft Infrastructure.

12 tips for innovators

  • Innovation is work not genius
  • Innovation should be systematic
  • Adopt creative management techniques
  • Technology push or market pull - be clear
  • Understand the innovation life cycle
  • Use 'creative swiping' - scan your environment
  • Benchmark against competitors
  • Scenario planning not forecasting
  • Look at 'soft data' such as tacit knowledge and intuition as well as 'hard data'
  • Create a shared vision
  • Pay attention to internal structures
  • Adopt appropriate processes - borrow from Knowledge Management

Buy eBooks and workshop materials

Creative problem solving guide YES You can! is a the starter guide in a four volume ebook series that takes you from novice to grand master in easy steps. Buy the ebooks.

Our latest addition are two kits which provide you with electronic versions of technique cards that you can use in your workshops. All you need to do is print them off and laminate them. Buy the technique card kits.

All resources are available via our on line store.

Creating value from ideas through Innovation

Creative Business Solutions are Innovation experts If there was a system that could help you generate better ideas, retain ideas and know-how, remove barriers, improve the working environment and increase both performance and profits would you be interested?

We believe that such a system exists and we call it Innovation. Our ideas involve the whole organisation from top to bottom and all functional areas - we do not simply focus on invention or technology transfer. Better still, the main resource that we use is one that you already have, a supply of - people!

Even better, we have a methodology for running innovation projects and programmes, a toolkit for measuring your capacity to innovate the know how from practical innovation projects.

Working with Innovation

Our aim is to help your organisation grow and flourish through the application of Creativity and Innovation as business tools. Wouldn't you like to ensure that creativity and know-how are not walking out of the door and that good ideas are flooding in. Maybe you are not sure how to get started? Read the remainder of this page and then talk to us, we can help.

Click on the following link to read about how power and politics can stifle Innovation in the workplace.

First steps in Innovation

The first steps are to:

  • Create a definition of Innovation that works for you
  • Measure your current innovation capacity (find out how using the Innovation Toolkit)
  • Manage the "Innovation Equation"
  • Manage Knowledge effectively
  • Un-manage Creativity
  • Craft and communicate your strategic objectives
  • Create the right environment

Definition of Innovation

This is one of the major problems with any innovation project. What is it? Grappling with such a nebulous idea and then attempting to describe it in a language that only your division or department understands can be fraught with problems. This is why we created the innovation equation - not a rigourous mathematical equation but one which our clients could use to hang their own ideas on. Here it is:

Learn to manage the Innovation Equation

It simply says that Innovation is a function of Creativity and Know-how which is multiplied by a constant alpha and raised to a power n where:

  • Creativity is simply the methods and frameworks that we use to create new ideas and knowledge
  • Know-how is the things that we already know e.g. company history, libraries, employees skills
  • Alpha is composed of two components, a desire or need to innovate and resistance. This can make the results negative!
  • The power n is a representation of the maturity level of the frameworks that have been put in place to exploit innovation.

Innovation measurement

Breaking down Innovation into components such as those defined above has one big advantage. All of these things are measurable so your organisation can see the benefits of any innovation project that it undertakes. Because the areas examined are related to 'soft skills' the same techniques can be used to measure the effects of cultural change programmes. Although the results are not directly comparable between organisations, the trends shown in the graphical outputs are thus it is possible to spot both problem areas and areas of excellence. Find out how you can measure innovation potential and kick start your own programme using the Innovation Toolkit.

Managing Innovation

The measurements allow the creation of action plans without the need for spending large amounts of money, time and resources. Depending on the findings, actions may be generated in the following areas:

  • Team working
  • Micro management
  • Desire to win
  • Know how to win
  • Environmental scanning
  • External relationships
  • Getting the best from people
  • Strategic barriers

To the above you will also need to add the following which are derived from drivers for Organisational Creativity, one of the essential components of Innovation.

  • Corporate culture
  • Organisational culture
  • Learning ability
  • Structure and processes
  • Leadership and Management
  • Knowledge communities
  • Knowledge infrastructure (not IT dependent)
  • Company networks
We have produced a paper containing some further ideas on Innovation and how an organisation might go about embracing it. This is not a definitive text and all organisations are different. If you are interested in reading this document then please click here. If you have any questions or comments then please contact us via any of the methods listed on the contacts page or via the enquiries page on this website.

Intelligent Growth

This exciting new programme is the result of collaboration with our innovation partners. It combines use of our Innovation Toolkit with Creativity workshops and seminars together with experience of creating and running innovation projects. The aim is for us to act as a catalyst and not as a substitute labour force.

Our Intelligent Growth programme comprises the following elements although not all of them are used in every programme:

  • Innovation Toolkit - establishes your strengths and areas for improvement that are specifically innovation related
  • Creative Workshops - to spread new ways of thinking and educate leaders and managers
  • Frameworks - to help you create your own frameworks for managing creativity and know-how within your organisation
  • Pilot Project - if you wish to dip your toes into the water and try things on a small scale then we can help here too
  • Project Management - in case you need a little help managing the process
  • Roll Out - if you opt for a pilot project then we will help you roll out your new programme throughout your company
  • Knowledge Transfer - everything that you pay for gets transferred to you so you can carry on long after we have gone
  • Ongoing coaching and mentoring - we do not want to leave you high and dry

For further details such as pricing and your own customised programme contact us now.

Website content copyright © 2009 Creative Business Solutions | template by NOW:design | template from oswd.org