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<\/a><\/p>\nHUNCH<\/p>\n
As we argued in a previous blog (Innovation Step 1), finding great ideas requires time, sweat and grit.\u00a0 They are rarely to be found in suggestion boxes.\u00a0 Great ideas come from detecting new emerging patterns, unarticulated needs, subtle\u00a0 market changes, new technologies, critical incidents for the customer, etc. \u00a0These are all elements bearing the promise of value for the customer.<\/p>\n
Yet most new ideas come to life half-baked, in a rather incomplete form.\u00a0\u00a0 They are often just a hunch. They need to add the missing bits and pieces of the puzzle before they can truly rally organisational support.\u00a0\u00a0 Time and again we have noticed in our interviews with successful innovators that the critical input of at least three or four people was necessary to shape the original idea into an attractive blueprint.\u00a0 Not unusually, the brewing period may last from six months to a year. \u00a0Sometimes it is much more. \u00a0Promising ideas need to be properly nurtured and protected, like seedlings amidst harsh elements.<\/p>\n
NURTURING<\/p>\n
Consider the actual physical environment of your company and how it plays a determinant role in your innovation ecosystem.\u00a0 Good ideas need to bounce off in conference rooms, over coffee tables and communal areas.\u00a0 They need the breathing space of informal forums, where they can enter into collision with other ideas, face positive criticism, dip into informal brainstorming and emerge stronger. \u00a0They look for bold connectors of ideas and embrace the arms of serendipity.\u00a0 They take leaps when they cross-fertilize and interconnect with adjacent fields of expertise.\u00a0 \u00a0They slow down through hierarchies, but accelerate via networks.\u00a0 They thrive in a culture where creative work is valued and risk taking is encouraged.\u00a0 Few innovation ecosystems possess all the tools, the brain power, the talent resources and the critical insights to grow the original idea into a promising project in a timely fashion.\u00a0 Sadly, many work environments do not provide the minimal slack in the organisation to leave room for inspiration.\u00a0 Rather they are \u00a0too often about perspiration, squeezing rows of lemons.\u00a0 This is the desert environment for good ideas to flourish.\u00a0 As Einstein said, ‘creativity is the residue of time wasted’.<\/p>\n
SNOWBALLING<\/p>\n
At one point your great idea will need to step out of official boundaries, outside the office walls to snowball.\u00a0 Bouncing off your idea against the viewpoints of various stakeholders will significantly accelerate the development of your idea.\u00a0 Prime stakeholders are customers<\/i> that may directly benefit from your project, and who will highlight what is yet missing in your idea and what is promising.\u00a0 Doing a round of talking with existing or potential customers will make your idea quickly snowball in the right direction, growing better and connect with the right dots.\u00a0 Next in the line of important stakeholders are the key opinion leaders<\/i> in your field, happy to be part of the pool of bright minds that provide new and fresh alternatives.\u00a0 Finally, the lead users,<\/i> on the lookout for promising new ideas should be tapped, for \u00a0they quickly spot weak lines in proposals and raise the bar. They are great partners for low cost pilot schemes.\u00a0 Snowballing with your customers will provide a reality check that will prove invaluable when you later promote your blueprint inside the organisation.<\/p>\n
JUMPING HURDLES<\/p>\n
New projects create yin and yang in the organisation, in other words both support and resistance.\u00a0 As resistance (explicit and hidden) builds up faster than support, one must first scout for the path of resistance ahead. \u00a0\u00a0The early steps of promoting a project inside the organisation can be deceptively tricky moments:\u00a0 enthusiasm usually trumps reality.\u00a0 Most classical organisations are steel-tempered by task efficiency, process optimisation, deadlines and cost reductions. They throw suspicious looks at new ideas that might just disrupt the established order.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless the nurturing and snowballing phases should add enough attractive features to your project to win deliberate support.\u00a0 \u00a0At this stage your blueprint should answer a couple of basic questions to overcome the early dissenting voices:<\/p>\n
Can the business potential move the needle?<\/p>\n
Are market risks manageable?<\/p>\n
Is the customer outlook positive:\u00a0 will the fish bite?<\/p>\n
Can the project clear the ROI hurdle?<\/p>\n
Will the technical feasibility profile scare the operations people?<\/p>\n
Sometimes the promoter may have to address organized stealth resistance that sets out to work against him.\u00a0 Who might feel a loser in this change?\u00a0 And who, on the other hand, has a lot to win in a success? Big ideas disrupt.\u00a0 Short term profit pressure on the business may divert your great idea in the dustbin.\u00a0\u00a0 Veto power may easily kill a promising idea.\u00a0 The promoter needs to display a pro-active strategy to win the day in the organisation and beat the forces of the status quo.\u00a0 Make sure you are on top of\u00a0 these points:<\/p>\n
Outlining an inspiring vision for your project<\/p>\n
Identifying the proper stakeholders<\/p>\n
Building a support network of seniors<\/p>\n
Planning to manage explicit and hidden resistance.<\/p>\n
When passion drives innovation and when due process guides innovation, great ideas can change markets and make the sales needle move. \u00a0Step 2 is a critical element of the innovation competence.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Andr\u00e9 Du Sault<\/p>\n
MBA (LBS), MPA (Harvard)<\/p>\n
DS&H trains executives to master innovation as a new competence<\/p>\n
and helps organisations to boost their innovation performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Montreal, 15 March 2013 HUNCH As we argued in a previous blog (Innovation Step 1), finding great ideas requires time, sweat and grit.\u00a0 They are rarely to be found in suggestion boxes.\u00a0 Great ideas come from detecting new emerging patterns, unarticulated needs, subtle\u00a0 market changes, new technologies, critical incidents for the customer, etc. \u00a0These are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338,"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions\/338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}