The Creative Thinker
“ Innovation pivots on intrinsically motivated individuals, within a supportive culture, informed by a broad sense of the future”.
In the ideal business scenario, innovation would be integral to the thinking and motivation of employees at all levels, but few workplaces can claim this intellectual and creative utopia. Indeed, many businesses still cling to the belief that ideas can only emerge from management ranks.
There is no magic process to stimulate innovative thinking. You can hold or attend workshops on the subject, read countless books and even establish an R&D division, but intrinsic innovation in the workplace evolves from an environment in which new ideas and creative thinking are genuinely encouraged. It requires an environment and leadership that allows ideas to be aired, tested and flourish. This costs a business nothing, but requires a radically new mindset.
Common causes of failure within the innovation process in most organisations can be distilled into five types:
1 Poor goal definition
2 Poor alignment of actions to goals
3 Poor participation in teams
4 Poor monitoring of results
5 Poor communication and access to information
Poor goal definition requires that organisations state explicitly what their goals are in terms understandable to everyone involved in the innovation process.
Poor alignment of actions to goals means linking explicit actions such as ideas and projects to specific goals. It also implies effective management of action portfolios.
Poor participation in teams refers to the behaviour of individuals and teams. It also refers to the explicit allocation of responsibility to individuals regarding their role in goals and actions and the payment and rewards systems that link individuals to goal attainment.
Poor monitoring of results refers to monitoring all goals, actions and teams involved in the innovation process.
We have mentioned several times in this module that innovation involves a degree of risk: emotional, intellectual and often financial risk. The following seven strategies to reduce the risk associated with launching new ideas into a market are taken from an article by Allan J. Mac Grath, Director of Corporate Market, 3M Canada, Winter 1997 “Ivey Business Journal”
Mining customer complaints
Pay attention to what your customers tell you about your current products and services
Mining observed behaviour with existing offerings
Many new product ideas come from observing how customers use current products
Mining customer aspirations vs needs
Instead of focusing on customer needs, focus on their latent hopes and desires.
Mining neglected or overlooked customer segments
Some market segments are often overlooked, but can provide strong demand if the product fits their needs
Mining the extremities of science or art
New science or art can play a role in the functionality or styling of a new product by making the radical commonplace.
Mining holes in competitor product lineups
You may come up with new ideas by looking at what your customers are not doing
Mining lead-user customers for applications
Lead customers are the early adaptors, who have insights into the products and services.
Experience has shown that innovation in business often arises through networks rather than individuals. Clusters and networks in the otherwise fragmented tourism industry are particularly important to the development of skills and the creation and commercialization of ideas and knowledge. They can facilitate the sharing of knowledge, best practice, success stories and encourage industry partnerships.
In an industry that primarily comprises micro to small business operations, clusters and networks - on a geographic, sector or project basis - can be an effective way to break-down the reluctance to share knowledge. To ensure new perspectives, it is often desirable that cluster participation go beyond the obvious internal participants and even embrace external people, such as customers and suppliers. Higher education institutions are also a rich source of knowledge, expertise, facilities and talented people.
The characteristics of high performing clusters include extensive collaboration, teamwork and trust, geographic proximity and a high degree of specialisation and flexibility.