The Greatest Fear - A Fear of Change

An interesting thought from Virginia Satir (she of NLP fame) who said the greatest fear is not the fear of death or public speaking, but of having to change. Speaking as a therapist she gave the examples of clients who went to strange and incredible lengths to avoid having to change (creating new personalities, avoidance behaviour etc.).

If you are innovating you need to have this in the back of your mind at all times. You will face resistance and have to fight to have your ideas accepted. Most people do not want things to change and prefer the status quo because they are comfortable and know where they fit. Even the most innocuous idea can be, in this respect, dangerous.

When you are tired of the fight and want to give up, remember people are set up this way mentally, but they can be changed with the right approach.

Innovation Survey 2010 from Boston Consulting Group

Link below to the 2010 innovation survey from Boston Consulting Group. It gives some good insights and statistics. Particularly useful, I think, is how it brings out the gap between what companies think they are doing on innovation and what is really happening.



http://www.bcg.com/expertise_impact/Capabilities/Innovation/PublicationDetails.aspx?id=tcm:12-42622

When China Invents

There are over 1 billion people in China, with a large number motivated to become entrepreneurs. The sheer size and scale means the innovation potential is enormous. Once the relative income per household has risen to a certain level as China makes a transition to a broader market economy, you will see a rise in innovation that is unprecedented in human history. This will be coupled with the growing educational opportunities and number of people from China studying at university.

My prediction is that China, and later India, will be as inventive in this century as America is seen as having been in the last. If you are a company in Europe or the USA, you’d better be prepared for your leading position to be overtaken. And the situation will only get worse as the world becomes more connected and where it is easier to do business in a connected, global context with specialist skills no longer tied to one geographic area. You have been warned.

Why Open Innovation Doesn't Work

Open innovation could be a great way to create new ideas. But it is usually not used very well, and as a result the value (and profit) it could generate are lost. There are three main problems:

• The many is better mistake - just because more people take part doesn't mean better ideas will result. Once you open up an area to the outside world you are likely to get contributions from people who do not have enough experience to contribute usefully, or you may just get more of the same people from a similar discipline.

• Not taking it seriously - if you get ideas from people you need to be ready to deal with them quickly and let people know why you did or didn't take things forward. If you are only playing around and don't have the time to deal with the innovations, then don't bother. Make sure you are serious about new ideas and give it the proper resource.

• Provide feedback - let people know what's working and what isn't. Also, let them know the ideas which have already been done or considered so they don't waste your time. And if you get some great ideas from one person, spend more time on them as they are likely to help you in future.

Open innovation could be so much more useful. I think companies need to work on focussing the project more to be sure that relevant people outside the company are used, and that they understand what works and what doesn't. Then they need feedback as to why they are on the right track or if they are still giving ideas which have already been developed. Maybe then more effective creativity can arise.

Why Momentum Is Not Perpetual Motion

Everyone gets together and has a brainstorm and comes up with a great idea. They all agree it is something which could change the company and people go away to think how they could implement it in the business. Then nothing happens. Management doesn't understand why because the enthusiasm levels were so high on the day.

Many good ideas suffer this problem. The reason is that unless someone is committed to making an idea reality, it never happens and things fizzle out. Just because everyone was excited doesn't mean they will stay that way. You need to factor this into idea generation and implementation. To avoid this situation, make sure you do the following:

1. Set goals with deadlines and assign someone to make sure these are monitored.
2. Make sure someone is reminding everyone how good the idea is and why it needs to get done.
3. Most importantly, take immediate action on anything that could be done right away. Keep momentum going.
4. Create a prototype. Once something feels real it is more difficult to ignore.
5. Work backward from where you want to be and determine at the outset every step that needs to be taken to get the idea done. Then go back to step 3.

Don't fall prey to the idea that someone else will pick things up. Make sure everyone agrees who is responsible, then make sure the above steps are covered. You just might then be able to change the world.

The Sumurai Bowl

An old zen story has lots to say about creativity.

Once a master and his pupil were standing before the ocean. The master was holding a bowl filled with holes and asked the pupil to fill it with water from the ocean, but he was not allowed to cover the holes with his hands. The boy thought and thought, and tried a few things, but was unable to keep the water in the bowl.

Finally, he said, ‘This is impossible. It can’t be done!’

The master then threw the bowl into the ocean. After watching it sink to the bottom he said, ‘It is done despite what you thought.’

The story makes a number of points:

· Don’t make assumptions. Test your thinking and consider if you are constraining yourself unnecessarily.

· There is always an answer, but you may need to look at things differently.

· The answer may seem easy after the fact, but it is the leap you take to get you there that is the difficult part.

Can you think of any more? Think about it and please let me know.

Innovation and a Lack of Focus

At a recent business event, the guest speaker was Peter Jones, one of the dragons on Dragons Den and multi-millionaire telecoms guru. He was asked why there aren’t more entrepreneurs in the UK. His answer was, ‘lack of a clear focus’ on what people wanted. He said many people have great business ideas, but they don’t take them forward to completion.

I think the same can be said about innovation in general. If you don’t know where your company is going and what your customers need, you will find it hard to execute ideas. The funny thing is you may think you are very innovative because you’re generating lots of ideas. But without the focus on the ideas which will take you forward, you are really just making busy work.

Do you have a focus for your innovation? Have you clearly decided where you want to proceed, and what new products will get you there?