Chuck asked his readers to respond to the following question:
"What is the most important lesson you learned regarding innovation during 2006?"
Chuck also invited me to post a response to his question (my insights are included below).
Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world
I have included herewith a selection from the many innovation lessons learned from the article:
Use customer communities to innovate
One of the take-aways that surprised me most from my new book, Outside Innovation, was the fact that online customer communities were one of the key ingredients for success in 80% of the dozens of organizations I studied. Forward-thinking execs actively monitor the online communities in which their customers and prospects "hang out" to spot new patterns and behaviors. Savvy product developers invite lead customers to participate in closed communities in order to pick their brains about the problems they're trying to solve, the outcomes they're trying to achieve and the work-arounds they've already improvised. Smart business people engage their most insightful customers as co-designers, co-creators and co-inventors, encouraging them to share their ideas, their creations and their solutions with other like-minded customers.
Innovators both empower and harness the collective wisdom of their most inventive customers, often by amplifying customers' creativity by encouraging them to strut their stuff to gain recognition from one another and from the company's own thought leaders and subject matter experts.
-- Patricia Seybold, author, Outside Innovation
I discussed the new innovative business of co-creation in "Co-Creation driving Innovation" and "People Innovation."
Companies are gaining momentum in breaking down barriers to innovation
One key thing I learned this year is that companies of any size are further along in revamping how they approach innovation than I thought. That said, even the early majority of firms are finding they lack the champions and the internal entrepreneurs needed to dream up and execute bold ideas. Companies have been operationally-minded for so long that even with emphasis on innovation, they aren't able to bust the bureaucracy and execute quickly. You can dream up a great idea, but if it takes months of hassles and delays to get approval from your boss, her boss, and your bosses boss, forget about it. So we're still finding a lot of structural resistance to this new world order but I do see progress when senior management is onboard.
-- Robert Tucker, author, Driving Growth Through Innovation
Companies must build systems and processes to create innovations through creativity and entrepreneurship. There are many key innovation ideas from Six Ways to find Innovation, Unblocking Creativity and Innovation, and successful practices from the top innovators of The Innovation Index and their practices: 3M - The Innovation Machine, Toyota's Innovation Factory, Innovations Brewing at Starbucks, and Innovations Driving Growth at GE and P & G.
Never forget the power of questions
Never forget the power of questions. In a recent interview Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, said “We run the company by questions, not by answers.” Innovative leaders put the emphasis on questioning, not telling. Ask fundamental, challenging questions and encourage others to do the same. For example: “What business are we in? Why do customers buy our services? What is our real added value? Is there a better way to do this?” The style and type of questions matter. Don't ask aggressive, inquisitorial questions, such as: “What went wrong? Why did you screw up?” Instead, ask broad questions, like these: “What lessons can we learn? What are the opportunities for us here?”
-- Paul Sloane, Destination Innovation
Creativity begins when you question everything. Question is the fundamental building block of Creativity and Innovation. Google successfully acquired YouTube while answering key innovation questions about the growth of on-demand video and entertainment when you put millions of people in charge. And Google continues to grow by constantly taming ambiguity and chaos and questioning the status quo.
Here are my insights gained from the top innovators and some disruptors from The Innovation Index:
Five rules for successful innovation
Successful business innovations that drive growth require:
1. Vision to create new products, business models or processes that make a difference and create new markets
2. Systematic processes and rigor that stimulate creativity and learning to execute on the vision
3. Reward and recognition system for teams to take measured risks and experiment
4. Focus on clear and present customer needs, the market facts, and the intangible
5. Growth-oriented leadership that is decisive, inclusive, focused, takes risks, and has market expertise
Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world
If you enjoyed reading this Creativity best practice, I recommend the complete list of Creativity Innovation Best Practices.
For further insights and lessons learned on innovation in 2006, please visit Chuck's InnovationTools Blog.
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