Innovation is not always planned

I was interested in reading in Wired last month about the inventor of the Slinky!

In 1943, Richard James was working on instrumentation for WWII ships, when he knocked off a torsion spring from a shelf..... and it 'slinked' from shelf to books to table to floor. One patent and 300 million toys later it is as popular as ever!

Sometimes it is not about sitting down and having a brainstorming session, sometimes it is about using events that happen to come up with a new idea. It is about adapting those events to something that is commercial - thus the best tools for innovation, your eyes and your ears!

Beating the Competition

A quote from Mark Twain helps us understand our competition

"The best swordsman shouldn't fear the 2nd best: no the person for him to be afraid of is some ignorant antagonist who has never had a sword in his hand before; he doesn't do the thing he ought to do, and so the expert isn't prepared for him; he does the thing he ought not to do and often catches the expert out and ends him on the spot."

At work we need to concentrate on being the best, and learning from the young companies who think and act differently. The second best is watching you, but the younger companies are looking for a differentiating factor. To be a leader of a successful business make sure that you are at the head of the pack but then learn from new starters. This is also true for learning from the new managers...they might not have the experience but they do have new ideas.

Brainstorming needs Structure to be Successful

To be successful in brainstorming session you need to structure the sessions. Often people think that in order for people to be creative, you need a clean piece of paper. No matter what creative activity you are doing, people need some structure. A totally clean piece of paper can bring fear to the group, a pressure to come up with that world shattering idea.

Unstructured thinking is rarely successful, so there is a fine balance of providing some structure without stifling ideas.

To be successful

1. Send a clear memo outlining the purpose of the session with a clear sentence which outlines the issue, problem or opportunity. This gives people some time to think and prepare for the meeting.
2. At the start of the meeting, read out the sentence. Set out any limitations that are givens, or areas that must be covered.
3. Within those limits, then make everything else available for discussion - write every idea down....don't allow any judgement on an idea, not at this point. Bring
4. Keep checking that you are staying on track to the initial problem or opportunity.
5. Once all ideas have been captured, stop the session.
6. Then set a new session for looking rationally at all the ideas.

Structure brings a sense of purpose, and also separates the creative from the logical thinking.

Innovation - It is not just the product

People think of products when you talk about innovation. In 2004 Booz Allen Hamilton said that 10.2% of the R&D budget at the Top 500 industrial businesses, was spent on process innovation. Simplifying, clarifying, automating, quickening etc

Toyota and Proctor & Gamble are classic examples of how to engage people in your business by encouraging shop-floor innovation. They let people design process themselves.....bringing improvement in productivity, profit, engagement, product, morale, cost reduction.