150 Make Innovation Simpler

                  Yes! And… Creative Gorilla # 150

Innovation has become a complicated topic. How can we simplify it?

 

“You made it so simple!”

“As innovation becomes a management discipline there is a danger that it is seen as the end, rather than the means”

John Brooker

 Want to make innovation simple again?

I was out riding my bike recently when I found I could not use any gear above number eight, so instead of twenty-four gears on three front cogs, I had just eight gears on one. I couldn’t fix it myself and didn’t have time to take it to the repairers so carried on using it.

I am no Bradley Wiggins (Olympic Gold cycling medallist and winner of the  Tour de France) and after a couple of rides, I noticed that the lack of gears was not causing me much of a problem, apart from going down steep hills where I could not pick up as much speed.

After noticing that, I compared the enforced simplicity of my gearing with how complex innovation seems to have become.

I appreciate there are some organisations that need more sophisticated approaches, just like the Tour de France. I am also sure most organisations could cope with a simpler approach. In fact many could cope with just three gears if they had the nerve to get on the “bike”.

So

In the spirit of keeping it simple (or perhaps Simplex which I noticed was a famous brand of gears in Europe in the 1930s and later), here is my three part (gear?) approach to help your people innovate. Essentially, it is based on three components: Climate, Model and Tools.

Create and nurture the right climate to encourage collaboration.

When you wish people to be more collaborative and creative you need to create a macro-climate within the organisation and a micro-climate within meetings.

Here are several actions you might take to make this happen:

• Create “Flow”[1]
• Provide Autonomy
• Encourage Creativity
• Allow Time for Creativity
• Build Trust & Openness
• Promote Playfulness and Humour
• Foster Open Debate
• Accept Constructive Failure
• Make the Workplace Dynamic
• Reduce Interpersonal Conflict
• Enable Open Communication

For a fuller article on my website about climate, click here.

 Use a structured innovation model to build creative solutions that gain a “Yes! And…” response

Someone in a client company once said to me that they “have no problems getting ideas but implementing them is difficult”. That is true. However, if you use a better model to create and think through the solution prior to implementation, many of the implementation issues will disappear.

Here is my eight-stage model:

1. Sense Opportunities
2. Explore Opportunity
3. Clarify Opportunity
4. Create Propositions
5. Hone Proposition
6. Shape Strategy
7. Foster Acceptance
8. Plan Sprint Actions

You can read more about this on my website here.

Have a comprehensive toolkit to facilitate logical and creative thinking

Many people, who are more logical and structured thinkers, think they cannot think creatively, yet they can if they use tools that help to stimulate creative ideas.

Many people, who are more creative thinkers, believe they cannot evaluate or plan implementation of their ideas. In fact, by using the available tools, they can evaluate and plan well.

You should build a tool kit of creative and structured thinking tools to use in your organisation. You can find some tools on my website here.

Small Action

There you have an approach to help make innovation simpler in your organisation. As innovation becomes a management discipline there is a danger that people see it as the end, rather than the means. There is also the danger that it will be seen as a job for specialists rather than the whole company. That would be a shame.

Think through your innovation approach. Is it becoming too complex, too specialised? How might you make it simpler and more, dare I say it, enjoyable?

To Close

Here we are at Creative Gorilla 150. I never thought I would reach it when I started in 2004. People have asked me if I am going to write a book on the topic so I am pleased to say that I am at the final editing / illustrating stage of my book. Writing it has been a bit like the Tour de France, enjoyable but exhausting.

As you might imagine I would find it hard to write a standard business book so it includes stories you may have read over the years, my practical approach to how you can innovate more effectively and of course, Creative Gorillas! I will let you know more just before I launch it.

In the mean time, thank you so much for being a Creative Gorilla, please pass the articles on to friends and colleagues so we can grow the troop even more.

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