8 steps to innovation: in action

“8 steps to innovation” in action Vinay Dabholkar, Ph.D.

President, Catalign Innovation Consulting

[email protected], 99457-57913

www.catalign.com

May 08, 2013

Rishikesha T. Krishnan

Professor of Strategy & Corporate Policy

Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

[email protected]

What “8 steps” doesn’t advocate

Follow step-1 to 8 and you get a ready-to-use culture of innovation

Basket of techniques Pick the one you like

“8 steps” approach & 2 questions

Where do we stand? What to do next?

Use one or more steps and Iterate

Where do we stand?

Question #1

Don’t track idea pipeline

Level-1: Ad Hoc

Idea Mgmt Buzz creation L&D Participation >10%

2

Level-2: Foundation (of 3 key processes)

8 steps assessment framework

1

Prototypes>10%(ideas) Response time<1month Participation>30% Incubation pipeline Review: Quarterly

Level-3: Engaged (In Experiments/Reviews)

3

Idea/person/yr >1 Big idea pipeline> 10% of revenue # of sandboxes>1 Dedicated team(s) Specialists

Level-4: Aligned (with strategy)

4

Success of imple- mented ideas>50% % of rev from innov >20%

Level-5: High Batting Average

5

1

How to build an

idea pipeline?

2 How to improve idea velocity?

3 How to improve

batting average?

Measuring idea pipeline

Small

ideas

Patentable

ideas

New product

ideas

New business

ideas

ID/person/yr

Patents/yr

Potential biz impact / % of rev

100 ideas, $1 B each

Machine tools:

100 Cr Rev, 2 Cr each idea

Idea/person/yr

TVS Motors: 44

Tata Motors: 22

Cognizant: 1

Measuring idea velocity

Experiments Reviews Response

Time

Ideas with

champions

Shell Gamechanger

< 48 hr

Toyota < 1month

% of ideas

#of exp

Quarterly

Measuring batting average

Success rate Biz impact Sandbox Partnership

Network

# of active

partners P&G: 15%->50%

Cognizant:

$550M/yr

Avg response

time to a

challenge

# of

sandboxes

# of

technology

platforms

3M: 45

Question #2

What to do next?

Build Pipeline Improve velocity Enhance batting average

What to improve? H

ow

to

su

stai

n t

he

chan

ge?

The Elephant and the Rider model

Rider Elephant

Effortful Effortless

Slow Fast

Analytical Intuitive

Snooze Set alarm

Emotional

To sustain a change: Get Elephant and Rider to go together

Rider: Needs direction (goal, guideline, plan, framework)

Elephant: Needs motivation (passion, fun, recognition, pride)

Elephant: Will follow a changed path (process change – ATM card removal)

Build Pipeline Improve velocity Enhance batting average

Ho

w t

o s

ust

ain

th

e ch

ange

? What to improve?

Dir

ect

th

e R

ide

r M

oti

vate

th

e

Ele

ph

ant

Shap

e t

he

P

ath

Situation #1: Pipeline “uninteresting”

• Innovation program launched in Dec 2010 • Within a month 40 ideas came from 25 people • None of the ideas was “interesting enough”

Is it an Elephant problem or a Rider problem?

• A challenge book was created: 20 problems • President’s challenge was launched • 20 responses came – Many were “interesting”

It is a Rider problem: Don’t know which problem to solve

Build Pipeline Improve velocity Enhance batting average

Ho

w t

o s

ust

ain

th

e ch

ange

? What to improve?

Dir

ect

th

e R

ide

r M

oti

vate

th

e

Ele

ph

ant

Shap

e t

he

P

ath

Challenge Campaign (step-2)

Situation #2: Pipeline drying up

• Portal phobia – Not interested in one more log-in • Innovation council members felt portal is the only way

?

Is it an Elephant problem or a Rider problem?

It is an Elephant problem: resistance for one more login

An experiment: Put up a challenge next to cafeteria Wow! A number of responses in a couple of days And everybody passing by is stopping by to read!

In two months, 100+ ideas!

Generated gossip around ideas as well

Launched an “idea wall” on every floor

Build Pipeline Improve velocity Enhance batting average

Ho

w t

o s

ust

ain

th

e ch

ange

? What to improve?

Dir

ect

th

e R

ide

r M

oti

vate

th

e

Ele

ph

ant

Shap

e t

he

P

ath

Idea Wall (step-1)

Situation #3: Avg response time high

• Average response time > 4 months • Dept / Brand heads were not reviewing ideas (online)

Is it an Elephant problem or a Rider problem?

• Not sure… May be Elephant • Experiment: Took approver’s appointment • Took printouts of 10 ideas to him • In 15 minutes all reviews were done! • Looks like an Elephant problem! • Idea review not getting a priority

Shape the path: Review by walking around

3 Reviewers

50 ideas, 1 poster / idea

Prototypes if available

Idea authors in the room

Review done in less than an hour!

Some idea authors got opportunity to explain

Outcomes: Direct implementation, PoC, Parked

Build Pipeline Improve velocity Enhance batting average

Ho

w t

o s

ust

ain

th

e ch

ange

? What to improve?

Dir

ect

th

e R

ide

r M

oti

vate

th

e

Ele

ph

ant

Shap

e t

he

P

ath

Review by walking Around (step-5)

Situation #4: Lack of collaboration in group companies

• Group Chairman felt there was possible synergy • Nothing was moving

Is it an Elephant problem or a Rider problem?

100 prototypes on display in 3 months! Group Chairman visited

A mini-sandbox

Build Pipeline Improve velocity Enhance batting average

Ho

w t

o s

ust

ain

th

e ch

ange

? What to improve?

Dir

ect

th

e R

ide

r M

oti

vate

th

e

Ele

ph

ant

Shap

e t

he

P

ath

Sandbox + Chairman visit (step-7)

The book has many more options!

Build Pipeline Improve velocity Enhance batting average

Ho

w t

o s

ust

ain

th

e ch

ange

? What to improve?

Dir

ect

th

e R

ide

r M

oti

vate

th

e

Ele

ph

ant

Shap

e t

he

P

ath

Pain-Wave-Waste

Catalyst/Mentors

Domains of action

Internal role model

Community of practice

Emotional appeal

Idea mgmt process

Buzz creation

L&D

Low-cost High-speed Experimentation

Make idea sticky

Reward failures

Create a Lab

Champion ideas

Define review checklist

Effective review

Internal venture fund

Build a sandbox

Baseline rate

Last experiment first

Conduct pre-mortem

Affordable loss

Create a platform

Balance portfolio

Summary

Pipeline Velocity Batting avg

Direct Rider

Motivate Elephant

Shape the Path

Leve-1 to 5

Where do we stand? What to do next?

Pip

elin

e

Ve

locity

Ba

ttin

g a

vg

Thank You

http://www.8stepstoinnovation.com/

Other related links:

http://catalign.in/index.html

8-stps site:

Vinay’s blog:

Rishi’s blog: http://jugaadtoinnovation.blogspot.in/

Hope you read the book

http://www.catalign.in/2013/05/using-navigation-matrix-in-innovation.html

An article related to this presentation: