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News
There is now a 'rough and ready' survey of the major
barriers to creativity within organisations on my Home Page. If you currently work, or have
worked for an organisation then I would appreciate it if you
could take the time to click on two buttons. For those of you who receive CNBC you can
still catch me in programme 3 of The Business of
Innovation. | |
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Dear Reader,
Welcome to the Spring 2007 edition of Innovation
Matters. Questioning is a key component of creative behaviour
and the article 'Does my bum look big in this?' provides some
thoughts on the subject.
Many people are suspicious when told that you can
quantify the effects of a creative intervention or that there
are tried and tested frameworks or methodologies for
Innovation. In the article 'The Way It Works', I
provide an outline of one such methodology.
Last month I mentioned a 'Techniques Kit' that contains
techniques cards for workshops in electronic format. Simply
print onto coloured card, laminate and away you go. A total of
11 techniques are available in 2 kits. Click here for details.
I hope you enjoy these articles and the regular trivia
items.
Happy reading Derek Cheshire
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Does my bum look big in this?
 As
every man knows, this is a question that is impossible to
answer. Say 'yes' and you will either be dead within seconds
or you will be drowning in tears to the words 'Are you saying
I'm fat and ugly? You don't love me any more do you?' Reply
'no' and you will be accused of not wanting your partner to be
slim and resemble a supermodel.
Joking aside, what sort of question is this
anyway? Does it help, is there likely to be a way forward, can
we develop a win-win situation? Much of creative thinking and
hence innovation projects are based on subtle questions being
asked at the right time. The art of questioning is paramount.
Here are some examples of frequently heard, but not always
helpful questions together with some suggested
alternatives:
- Why do we always do it this way? What sort of things
would happen if we did it this (or any other) way?
- Will it work? If it does not work, what is
likely to happen?
- How much will it cost? What is the target cost
that we need to be aiming for?
- What are we doing this for? The learning
opportunities are incredible. Can we explore all of the
options and capture the results?
- When can we have a meeting to discuss this? We
will start doing some prototyping and let you know our
initial results as soon as we have
them!
These alone could cause some of your team to
lose the will to live. Assume you do actually get started,
what about some questions that will help the creative
process?
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Innovation - the way it works
This is not the
definitive guide to innovation. It is just one way, and it
works. The process outlined below is for a single innovation
project, not continuous innovation. That is a step too far for
a newsletter.
To
start with there will be some sort of startup
event in which key stakeholders are seen to give approval. The
traditional rallying call to troops is not appropriate
here. Next you are likely to take stock of
where you are in terms of skills and capabilities. Our Innovation Toolkit can help you to do this.
The 'end of the beginning' is to set up the necessary
infrastructure, define objectives
etc.
If
there are any skills or capability gaps then these need to be
covered with appropriate training before
entering a research phase. This includes
market research, feasibility, trend spotting, reviewing
legislation etc.
Next
comes the idea generation phase. Although it
sounds like chaos, the aim is to produce a number of options
for products, services or processes but to then filter them
down to a manageable number.
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Trivia
- Runner's World, Wilfred Owen poetry and Uncle Tom's
Cabin are restricted reading in Guantanamo Bay.
- Nearly half of all cases handled by top divorce lawyers
last year involved a private detective to check on alleged
infidelity.
- Chocolate is better than a passionate kiss, causing a
more intense and longer-lasting buzz, and doubling the heart
rate.
- Eighty-eight percent of children in Poland aged 12 to 18
use instant messaging, compared to 50% in the UK.
- Only four postcodes in the UK do not have a Tesco store.
They are the Outer Hebrides, the Shetlands, Orkney and
Harrogate.
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