Methodology

How To Optimize Your Innovation Strategy by Making Your Idea a Sweet Idea

Published date: January 25, 2018 в 11:11 am

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Category: Innovation,Methodology,Strategy

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innovation strategy

What’s the perfect New Year’s Resolution?

 

Hint: think re: innovation strategy

Well, if that wasn’t sufficient, here are two additional hints…

(1) It’s not only challenging but actually promises a significant change in your life;

(2) It’s not pie in the sky, but applicable to your daily life.

 

Let’s take a more practical approach…

If your goal is to get in shape, watching TV while standing is maybe not the most effective initiative. However, regular mountain climbing is probably a bit of a stretch if you are a fairly immobile city dweller.

This is the Near-Far-Sweet Idea Mapping Model as applied to your daily life.

Near – ideas that are pretty close to current practice. They are new, but probably not impactful enough to be worth your attention.

Far –  exciting ideas, but not viable. Either the market is not ready to accept them, or you will not be able to implement them.

When optimizing your innovation strategy you want your ideas to be neither too close to home (“Near”) nor too challenging to be implementable (“Far”). You want your ideas to be new and exciting but at the same time realistic and useful. This is your Innovation Sweet Spot.

 

Learn How To Enhance Your Innovation Strategy By Making Your Ideas Sweet:

This all sounds pretty obvious and common sense. Surprisingly, the distinction is often overlooked, or at least not given systematic treatment. Categorizing the results of an ideation session or workshop into Near, Far and Sweet – as seen in the visual on the right – will give you an important indication as to the practicality of your ideas. It can also be a useful tool to improve the outcomes of your innovation strategies, by pushing some Nears and Fars into the Sweet Spot.

But before we share a quick guide to applying NFS to NPD, here are some thoughts of how it can serve as a practical tool to support the “Dual Innovation Approach” as defined by Ralph-Christian Ohr. Ohr cites research that shows that the Dual Innovation Approach is used by 70% of the most innovative companies:

innovation strategy

[With Dual Innovation] innovation management follows a balanced portfolio approach. The entire innovation portfolio is divided into exploitation-oriented and exploration-oriented innovation initiatives, where the following characterizations hold:

 

  • Exploitation-oriented initiatives are related to running the core business by executing and enhancing existing business models or technological capabilities. The primary direction of impact is valued capturing (commercialization). Examples: Product, service or process innovation, portfolio extension, innovation of selected business model components (e.g. channel or operations), market research.
  • Exploration-oriented initiatives are related to developing future business by searching for the novel, and often disruptive, business models or technological capabilities. The primary direction of impact is value creation (configuration). Examples: Business model development, platform/ecosystem innovation, basic technology research & development, startup engagement, innovation intelligence.

(https://dual-innovation.net/a-model-for-dual-corporate-innovation-management/) Ralph-Christian Ohr

 

Ralph-Christian further introduces three playing fields of dual innovation:

  • Optimize the Core (Optimization of existing business models and technologies)
  • Reshape the Core (Transformation of existing business models and/or scaling up new business models/technologies)
  • Create the New (Creation of new-to-the-company business models and Technologies)

(http://integrative-innovation.net/?p=1765) Ralph-Christian Ohr

 

Integrating Ideas

He then elaborates on the true challenge of dual innovation: neither developing extensions of the product/service portfolio within the existing business model, nor coming up with completely new ideas, but integrating new ideas into your existing innovation strategy:

When it comes to integration, most companies face huge problems. This is the space where two main activities need to be conducted to achieve business impact from innovation and to future-proof the existing business model:

  • Validated breakthrough or even disruptive innovation concepts need to be scaled up for achieving business impact. If a company does not master Scaling-Up there is a high chance that all ideation will remain only innovation theatre.
  • In the light of Digital Transformation, adapting the established core business models by innovating selected elements (e.g. platform strategies, x-as-a-service business models, bypassing the middle man or automatization of service processes) is mandatory. If a company does not master adaptation it risks to lose in Digital Transformation.

(http://integrative-innovation.net/?p=1765) Ralph-Christian Ohr

Ohr presents a challenge: strategic ideas ought to be transformed to have maximum impact – to be innovative enough but not too disruptive. Through the NFS model, the SIT (Systematic Inventive Thinking) methodology invites you to apply two principles that, together, cover both directions:

1. Qualitative Change. Very often, “near” ideas are generated by incrementally improving on existing offerings, making them “bigger, faster, better”, i.e a quantitative change. The QC principle calls you to observe the basic logic of your product or service but change a fundamental relationship in this logical structure. Example: don’t offer your product at a discount, but offer it for free, generating revenue by a totally different business model. This is easier said than done, of course, but using the right tools, it allows you to push Near ideas into the Sweet Spot.

2. Closed World. The second basic principle of SIT is rather counterintuitive: when innovating, try as much as possible to utilize only those elements that already exist in the system.

innovation strategy

Instead of reaching out of the box, innovate inside the box. Instead of searching for new elements, find new angles and possibilities in the existing ones. By applying several tools under this principle, you will be able to pull in some Far ideas, turning wishful thinking into viable options and improve your innovation strategy

So, here’s a NY’s resolution that hopefully resides within your Sweet Spot: Map your new ideas on an NFS diagram, consider whether enough of them are in the Sweet Spot, and then push and pull those that are not to create exciting but viable options for development of your innovation strategy. Enjoy.

Want to keep learning? Check out what you can learn from an innovation facilitation session.

Reinvention: Accelerating Results in the Age of Disruption

Published date: August 8, 2016 в 6:41 pm

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Category: Methodology

A SIMPLE FORMULA AND SET OF TOOLS FOR FACING AND EMBRACING DISRUPTION AND RADICAL CHANGE

    Technology, globalization, economic shifts, geopolitical shocks, and, yes, management thought leaders over the past 30 years have set in motion a continuous onslaught of radical, discontinuous change in the global business environment that will not abate anytime soon. In fact, worldwide economic turmoil will most likely only increase in the future. Is it possible for existing businesses to survive, let alone thrive, in this turbulence? Authors Shane Cragun and Kate Sweetman say “yes” – if you as a leader are prepared to look more inquisitively, even positively, at the global shockwaves that might impact you, and prepare your organizations and the people in them to remove self-imposed blindfolds and proactively seize the opportunity to improve performance in these revolutionary times.
In Cragun and Sweetman’s upcoming book, Reinvention: Accelerating Results in the Age of Disruption [Greenleaf Book Group Press, July 2016], the authors propose a simple formula, common principles, and set of tools for individuals and organizations facing disruptive and radical change. Reinvention is supported by the authors’ combined 50 years of experience working with executives, organizations, and teams around the globe. Cragun and Sweetman are the leading global experts on the new competency of Reinvention — the ability to create ‘quantum individual and organizational change accelerated.’
“The ability to pivot quickly, profoundly, and effectively might be the most important core competency for individuals and organizations to acquire who hope to prosper in the new economy,” says Cragun. “It’s no longer enough to change when you have to. Leaders must change before they have to, and they must enable their organization to surf the incoming global shockwaves with intelligence, agility, strength, and command.”
“When they do, leaders and organizations can actually accelerate performance,” adds Sweetman. “When they don’t, they will no doubt begin down the path of irrelevance that ultimately leads to failure. It’s vital that leaders understand that success in the age of disruption requires significant shifts in world views, approaches, skills and behaviors.”
Reinvention uses compelling and eclectic stories and cases from around the globe over the past 100 years to reinforce key learnings: from polar explorations, village microcredit innovations, defiance in the war on terror, all the way to global politics and big business. Each chapter ends with practical insights from an assortment of global experts from the six corners of the world.
Reinvention also thoroughly examines: •

  • The opportunity to proactively leverage disruptive events in an effort to leapfrog the competition and actually accelerate results.
  • 20 Global Shockwaves* that have impacted global business since 1981, and how new global shockwaves will only continue to do so.
  • The danger and threat of the Six Deadly Blindfolds* that leaders and organizations often wear that result in vision loss when dealing with incoming change (and how to successful remove these blindfolds using the Reinvention Agility Matrix*).
  • A simple Reinvention Formula* and Reinvention Roadmap* (for both individuals and organizations), and assorted tools that can create breakthrough results, overcome resistance and inertia, and ensure that every change made reinforces and aligns to the end goal.
  • Exciting new management concepts such as The Law of the 21st Century Business Jungle*, Age of Disruption Principles*, and the 21st Century Competitiveness Cycle*.
  • How five Reinvention Accelerators* promote the strength necessary to outpace the speed of change.
  • How the same overall Reinvention solution can effectively apply at the individual, team, organization, and societal levels when disruption must be faced.

* trademark of SweetmanCragun
Shane Cragun is a founding partner at SweetmanCragun, a global management consulting, training, and coaching firm. His passion is creating high performance excellence at the individual, team, organizational, and societal levels around the globe. Cragun has worked as an internal change agent within a Fortune 500 High Tech Firm, a line executive at FranklinCovey, and a global external management consultant. His projects have received prizes in the areas of leadership and change. He recently co-authored the Employee Engagement Mindset published by McGraw-Hill, has presented a TEDx talk in Silicon Valley, spoken at business conferences worldwide, and was featured in Open Computing magazine.
Kate Sweetman is a founding partner at SweetmanCragun. Sweetman was listed as an Emerging Guru with Thinkers50, and is co-author of the bestselling business book, The Leadership Code published by Harvard Business Press. Her first-hand experience with world leaders, Fortune 100 organizations, and Asian multi-nationals provides a substantial foundation for insights that extend beyond borders. A former editor at Harvard Business Review, she has been published in HBR, Sloan Management Review, Boston Globe, and the Times of India, and has appeared on CNBC in the U.S. and India. She is also a coach and visiting lecturer at MIT’s Legatum Center for Entrepreneurship. For more information, please visit www.sweetmancragun.com and connect with the authors on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Creating New “Benefit Delivery Vehicles”

Published date: August 1, 2016 в 1:00 pm

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Category: Innovation,Methodology

Innovation is all about delivering value to customers, and you do that by offering them the right products and services. Think of products and services as benefit delivery vehicles. They’re a collection of various features that create value when customers use them.
So how do you build the right product or service? For that, you need to do a detailed comparison of how your product compares to the competition’s, feature by feature.
You’ll also need to do a customer analysis, especially on what factors are most important to customers when they buy a product as well as how they perceive your brand versus the competition.
Finally, you’ll need your marketing strategy as expressed in your value proposition. As an innovator, you have to give your development team guidance on four aspects so they build the right product.
First is what features the product must have to compete against the competition and also satisfy the customer. You have to especially guide them on what feature or features to emphasize the most. Look at your value proposition. What benefit are you promising? Then look at your competitive comparison. Find a benefit and its associated features where you outperform the competitors. You want to make sure those features are most evident when the customer uses the product.
Next, your development team needs guidance on performance of each feature. Once again, your value proposition should guide you on whether the product needs to work better than, the same as, or slightly less effectively than the competition. Also look at your market research. If consumers perceive your product as less effective on a particular feature, you may need to have the development team increase its performance.
Your development team also needs guidance on design, meaning the “look and feel” of the product or service. What does your brand stand for? Given that, what must your product or service look like to express that brand essence?
Finally, your team must think of the product or service as an entire customer experience. Think of each step as a touch point, where you as the innovator have an opportunity to figuratively touch the customer with something about your product or service. Touch points include things like the service customer’s get in a store and how your products are displayed. It also includes things like the packaging and perhaps the instructions on how to use the product. Everything the customer comes in contact with, including things online, are touch points.
Based on their experience at each touchpoint, the customer will form beliefs about what your brand stands for, whether it’s consistent, believable, and authentic. The more authentic, the more loyal your customers will become. And that’s a very good way to build your business.

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