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<\/a><\/p>\nBasel, 20 July 2013<\/p>\n
THREE MANAGEMENT SKILLS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN REACHING THE MARKET<\/p>\n
The geography of technology innovation has changed markedly in the last decade as world R&D budgets have more than doubled and are more dispersed than ever on the planet.\u00a0 Multinationals have shifted their R&D centers to big markets, including Asia, pushing small market countries like Canada at the losing end of this shift. \u00a0At the other end, international venture capitalists scroll public R&D to arbitrage new intellectual property, low cost production and big markets.<\/p>\n
As a result products are getting smarter and product cycles are becoming shorter.\u00a0 Yet new innovation tracks offer richer potentials when services and user experience are actually integrated early into the innovation framework.\u00a0 It is a race track out there for innovation projects and speed to market counts as the new bible.\u00a0 If you are first to market and you crack it well, you can lock in your leadership position for many lucrative years.\u00a0\u00a0 You slip and a fast follower takes over, just as happened to RIM.\u00a0 Project execution is now at a premium.<\/p>\n
PROJECT EXECUTION<\/p>\n
Project planning is the new testament of project management: \u00a0when and where projects are diced up into steps, milestones, stage gates, critical paths and budgets. This is a well known management territory and experts abound to build upon this foundation.\u00a0 But the winner of the steeple chase is usually not the one with the best initial plan, but who that learns the fastest along the way.\u00a0 Management capabilities in execution<\/i> nearly always trump smart technology and creativity in the innovation race track. What makes the difference? \u00a0Consider three capabilities that often fall outside the planning phase but are recognized to make big impacts between success and failure in projects:<\/p>\n
1. The art of building great teams<\/p>\n
2. Insisting on a framework for learning<\/p>\n
3. Working on the right target<\/p>\n
1. GREAT TEAMS<\/p>\n
Building \u2018great\u2019 teams is a management skill that is much neglected.\u00a0 Over 50% of the important work accomplished in organizations is done today in teams in one form or the other.\u00a0 Yet little thought is given to the art of composing great teams. \u00a0About every executive can recall a nightmarish experience at college or university, when a dysfunctional team led to draining frustration.\u00a0 We can all shudder at the glimpses of those memories. \u00a0When teamwork in companies is poorly planned, teams often end up taking the road of \u2018exhaustion or death by endless meetings\u2019.<\/p>\n
Setting up great teams requires a look at a few key elements:\u00a0 Composition, spark and evaluation.\u00a0 Great team leaders take a very careful look at composition, in its different angles:<\/p>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Assessing the skills needed, particularly new ones<\/p>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Choosing the best people, whether from inside or outside<\/p>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Striking the balance between shared employees and dedicated members to a team<\/p>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Including people who are natural boundary spanners in the organization<\/p>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Considering outside people to challenge conventional wisdom that needs a shake out<\/p>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thinking about the skills to effectively work with external partners<\/p>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Finding a dedicated space for the team<\/p>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Planning for conflicts : anticipate and resolve<\/p>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Remembering that trust and respect are the ghost elements of great teams<\/p>\n
Great teams pick the right people with the resilience to overcome obstacles, and with the skills to convince the regular performance engine to market the innovation.<\/p>\n
A spark or a mission<\/p>\n
Team leaders know that people seriously <\/i>engage in their role and responsibilities when a mission calls to build something special, or sets a stretching goal that translates into a group challenge.\u00a0 A great team needs the spark to ignite the tinder of motivation. A great team needs an inspiring mission.<\/p>\n
Project evaluation<\/p>\n
Team leaders think at the outset about decision rights, evaluation metrics and proper incentives.\u00a0\u00a0 But they know that at the end of the day, compensation works best when it recognizes not only the results obtained, but also the effort put in and the learning progress achieved.\u00a0 Reward only results and you will soon shy away talented people.\u00a0 Reward learning, and you will quickly make mistakes in the right direction, build momentum and advance team spirit!<\/p>\n
2. A FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNING<\/p>\n
Planning counts but learning is key.\u00a0 Where most teams fail in learning is how they treat assumptions of cause and effect.\u00a0 By and large, most critical assumptions in most projects are poorly communicated, poorly understood and, sadly, quickly forgotten.<\/p>\n
Results don\u2019t speak for themselves.\u00a0\u00a0 But discussing results without its relevant assumptions leads to intuitive interpretation and value left on the table.\u00a0\u00a0 Negative results are dreaded, errors are camouflaged and corporate politics permeates the process.<\/p>\n
Great team leaders formalize the learning process:\u00a0 plan, budget, predict and learn.\u00a0 The predicting and learning part ought to be formally channeled on paper.\u00a0 The discipline of learning is simple enough:<\/p>\n
Step One<\/em><\/p>\n Predict outcomes<\/p>\n Discuss arguments and critical unknowns<\/p>\n Describe assumptions about cause and effects, and about innovation and sales<\/p>\n Step Two\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Set up a forum to compare results and predicted outcomes<\/p>\n Assess the lessons learned<\/p>\n Step Three\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Plan or review the next step<\/p>\n 3. WORKING ON THE RIGHT TARGET<\/p>\n For many innovation teams the product is THE target: a bundle of features, performance attributes, look and design.\u00a0 Immense efforts are delivered at making product development meet the ideal product specs.\u00a0 This is hard enough to achieve in normal times, and it is a mission for heroes when new technology is involved.\u00a0 But what is often critically overlooked is the fact that customers buy a lot more than just the product.<\/p>\n They also buy a level of service, a defined utility, some productivity and cost savings, an ease of transaction, a user experience, a bundle of emotions and even a stepping stone to personal agendas.\u00a0 They rarely buy just <\/i>a product in the A \u2018market gap\u2019 is a terrible marker that the company is at risk of developing a technical object that functions and operates well, but which does not attract buyers in the markets.\u00a0 In a nutshell, it does not really become a product and it disappears by the way side. The \u2018gap\u2019 grows when RD works in silos far away from markets, when pre-commercial investments are skipped, and when conversations are not steadily held up with prospective customers. The gap afflicts numerous start-ups, isolated R6D labs, and many new product initiatives in large companies.<\/p>\n Leaders of great teams dedicate the time, the effort and the funds to find out about the desired outcomes wished for by customers. \u00a0\u00a0The desired outcomes are in fact THE right targets and will influence the innovation project or the product development if they are identified early enough. \u00a0\u00a0The simple and powerful reason that the desired outcomes are critical is that they are closely linked to either the key buying criteria or the buying process.<\/p>\n The steeple chase is won by great teams.\u00a0 Great teams win because they choose the right target and because the constant learning they generate steers them in the right direction and reduces the risks of failures.<\/p>\n Andre Du Sault, MBA (LBS), MPA (Harvard)<\/p>\n DS&H develops practical innovation tools since 2008.\u00a0 We \u00a0have trained more than 300 executives on the best innovation practices.<\/p>\n Previous blogs on innovation:<\/p>\n Innovation Step 1: \u00a0The suggestion box: a bag of gold nuggets or crackerjacks?<\/p>\n Innovation Step 2: \u00a0From a hunch to a blueprint: How to improve a good idea that will rally organizational support<\/p>\n Innovation Step 3:\u00a0 Redefining the innovation committee: Choosing projects, crafting a portfolio, building the future. <\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Basel, 20 July 2013 THREE MANAGEMENT SKILLS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN REACHING THE MARKET The geography of technology innovation has changed markedly in the last decade as world R&D budgets have more than doubled and are more dispersed than ever on the planet.\u00a0 Multinationals have shifted their R&D centers to big markets, including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,6,7],"tags":[81,80,82],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361"}],"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=361"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":366,"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361\/revisions\/366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdaconseil.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nnarrow sense of it, but innovation teams focus essentially on the product in the narrow sense.\u00a0 This \u2018market gap\u2019 can be devastating at the stage of commercialization.<\/p>\n