Innovate or Die! Implementing a Culture of Innovation Facilitator: Benny Stein Date: August 2, 2013
Innovate or Die! Implementing a
Culture of Innovation
Facilitator: Benny Stein
Date: August 2, 2013
Agenda
I. Self-expression
II. Aims
III. Defining a culture of innovation
IV. Implementing a new culture
I. Self-expression
Organization
We help companies use their knowledge
resources more efficiently for sustainable
business success.
We offer seminars on social business,
collaboration, open innovation and
design thinking.
About me
Self-employed creativity and
innovation consultant since 2011,
since 2013 operating as Ideara.
Benny Stein
Vision: Creating of new, unusual things
About you Questions to orient yourself
Who am I?
How do I earn my living?
Which experience do I have with
innovation?
What do I expect from this workshop?
Quote
“Never doubt that a small group of
committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”
- Margaret Mead
II. Aims
Aims You‘ll learn:
Aspects of a culture of innovation
Barriers on your way to it and
Ways to overcome these barriers
III. Defining a culture of
innovation
Brain Teaser
To warm up your brain:
Find 5 ways to check whether the light of a
fridge is off when you close it‘s door!
Why did it take the fax machine 5 years to
become successful?
Definition of „innovation“
Definition: „First-time usage of a problem
solution“
Innovation:
New product
New service
New process
New way of thinking
Difference to idea and invention?
Definition of „culture“
Definition: „Pattern of shared basic
assumptions“ (Annahmen)
These assumptions need to be:
Valid (enough)
Made visible („corporate identity“,
structures, processes)
Lived and taught to new members
Difference to climate?
Innovation culture
We combine:
Innovation: New ways of problemsolving
+
Culture: Pattern of shared assumptions
=
Innovation culture: „A pattern of shared
assumptions to enable new ways of
problemsolving.“
Innovation culture
Most important assumptions of a culture of
innovation:
We need innovation in order to survive.
We support innovative behaviour, provide
resources for it and tolerate mistakes.
Composition of a creative team
Crucial questions
Which persons are needed? Whose point
of view is truly relevant for the process?
Who is the end-user?
Who uses similar products?
Who will buy it?
Composition of a creative team
Main groups
End-users
Customers
Theoreticians
Experts, „nerds“
Contrarians („Querdenker“)
Uncomfortable persons that give you
impulses
Avoid the „comfortable clone syndrome“!
Composition of a creative team
We need to cover:
Inside view Outside
view
Process moderation
Creative
team
Exercise: Insiders and outsiders
Co-workers New customers Companies with the
same target group
(no competitor)
Competitors Marketing unit Branch experts
Teenagers R&D unit Trainees
Regular customers Students Suppliers
Canteen personal
Cooperation partners CEO
Associate the following groups: Insider or outsider?
Classification Insider - Outsider
Kn
ow
led
ge
of th
e t
rad
e
(Bra
nc
he
nk
en
ntn
is)
Yes
• Companies with the same target group
• Competitors • Suppliers • Cooperation partners • Regular customers • Branch experts
• Co-workers • Marketing unit • R&D unit • CEO • Canteen personal • Trainee
No
• New customers • Students • Teenagers
• (Trainee)
No Yes
Belonging to the company
Ressources of innovation
We need:
Time
Space
Material Motivation/ stimulation
Creative team
IV. Implementing a new
culture
Obstacles and barriers
Implementing a new culture means
overcoming the old one.
Common barriers:
Organizational
Peer group
Cultural
Leadership
Personal
We remember
Assumptions of (a new) culture need to be:
Valid
Made visible
Lived and taught to new members
Three-level-model by Schein
Artefacts
Espousing values
Basic underlying assumptions
Visible elements
Strategy, aims,
vision, philosophy
Unconscious
elements
Organizational barriers
Organizational barriers
Cause: Organizational structure and
conditions
Time pressure
Lack of resources (money, machines,
personal, …)
Long chain of command, over-
formalization of processes
Exceeding workload
Centralized knowledge
A short story
Employee on the 5th level of
hierarchy:
„I‘ve got a good idea which will
help to develop our company a lot“
He has to take the chain of
command and tells his superior.
A short story
The superior on the 4th level of hierarchy:
„His idea is good. It will help to develop our company a lot!
But wait… if I told my superior about that idea, what will he think?
He might think, this employee has to earn a preferment. I will lose power!
And by the way… the employee is good at his actual workplace… I don‘t want to lose him and train somebody new into it!“
A short story
The superior on the 3rd level of hierarchy:
„This employee‘s idea is good. It will help to
develop our company a lot!
But wait… it would concern many units and
lead to a big change. That is too much effort
and I don‘t want to be responsible if it
doesn‘t work out!
A short story
The top management, 1st level of hierarchy:
„We started our new innovation program
three months ago… why don‘t we get new
ideas?“
Work environment
Work environment
It should be:
Inspiring
Inviting
Allowing communication
Providing possibilities of retreat
Exercise/ Homework: Collage
Step 1: Collect all magazines, catalogues,
prospects, travel guides and pictures you
can get
Step 2: Grab a big piece of paper, scissors
and glue and model your dream work
environment
Also works to visualize the reward of a
competition.
Peer group barriers
Peer group barriers
Cause: Interpersonal processes
Social conflicts
Group pressure, tendencies of
normalization
Too homogeneous work groups
(comfortable clonde syndrome)
Short break
Cultural barriers
Exercise: Defining culture types
Step 1: Look at your worksheet.
Step 2: Answer the questions by marking
where you see your (future) company.
Culture types
Stable: Past-orientated, introverted, tries to keep the status quo, avoids risks
Reactive: Present-orientated, introverted, accepts little risks and deviation from the status quo
Anticipative: Present-orientated, takes calculable risks in known environments
Explorative: Future-orientated, extraverted, assesses chance and risk
Creative: actively searches for a new future and changes, extraverted, takes unfamiliar risks
Cultural barriers
Cause: Unsuitable culture
High need for secureness
Risk-avoiding
Little tolerance for mistakes
Lack of artefacts
Different underlying assumptions and
espousing values
Culture of risk-taking
Fast decision making
Which way should he take?
”You miss 100% of the
shots you never take.”
- Wayne Gretzky
Finding new ideas
Balance between randomness (chaos) and
control (order)
Culture of trial and error
Turning the question:
Why did you fail?
to
What have you learned?
Quote
“In the end, management doesn’t change
culture. Management invites the workforce
itself to change the culture.”
- Lou Gerstner
Personal barriers
Leadership barriers
Leadership and personal barriers
Personal barriers
Cause: Personal doubts
Persons perceive themselves as uncreative
No intrinsic motivation
Leadership barriers
Cause: Lack of trust, centralization of power
Exceeding control, little delegation
No setting of extrinsic incentives
Innovation roles
Creative geniuses
Innovation champions
Innovation leaders
Innovation roles
Creative genius
Key person in the actual development of
new ideas
Often bridges the gap between company
and customer, connecting an inside with
an an outside view
The creative mind, „idea generator“.
Innovation roles
Innovation champion
Influences, encourages, promotes and
supports innovation
They are usually the interface between a
company‘s strategy and it‘s operational
business
The practitioner.
Innovation roles
Innovation leader
Defines the core structures
Defines basic operations of an
organization
Sets the general focus on innovation
The strategic planner.
Exercise: 10 statements
Step 1: Build teams (maximum: 6 teams)
Step 2: You get 5 red, blue and green pins
Red: Creative geniuses
Blue: Innovation champions
Green: Innovation leaders
Step 3: Assign them to the statements on
your worksheets (1 pin per statement)
Exercise: Balancing innovation roles
Step 1: Take your 15 pins (5 red, green and
blue)
Step 2: Model the perfect balance of the
three roles by adding/ taking away the pins
you (don‘t) need.
Example: 1 genius, 5 champions, 3 leaders
Innovation motor Greatest motor of innovation:
Talent
Beware: Creativity is NOT intelligence.
It‘s not necessarily from within the branch.
Example: Sony hired an opera singer with a phenomenal hearing to increase their product‘s audio engineering.
Characteristics of „talent“
Look for people with these attitudes:
Divergent thinking
Fluent generation of ideas
Ability to elaborate and refine their results
And most important:
Obsession for what they do
Cost of talent
Amount of professional experience, degrees, inflexibility, …
Cost to get
the talent
Innovation motor
So when‘s the best time to get talent?
As early as possible!
(Including schools and universities.)
Innovation capability means
Human Resources
Motivation
Promote (healthy) competition
Rewarding success
Rewarding success
Money is not the only possible reward.
What about fulfilling a dream?
Which of your dreams is worth to win the
„ideation contest“ of your company?
A travel? A new lawn moyer? A language
course? A newspaper abonnement?
Be creative!
Recognizing successes
Recognizing success
Recognizing means
Celebrating!
Hit a bell, have a party, just show that you
encourage the trial and success.
Even mistakes can be celebrated. They
won‘t be repeated!
Giving feedback
Communication structure
Exercise: Modeling com. structures
Step 1: Build teams of at least 4 persons. One of you is your chief. Mark him somehow.
Step 2: You get twines. Each of them is a communication link.
Step 3: Model the most ineffectual communication structure you can think of.
Step 4: Now model your most effective communication structure.
Communication structure
Lessons:
The most ineffectual communication = no
communication
The best form: (Controlled) communication
with everyone
… leading to „dare to share“
Innovation lab
A company grants users access to some of
their resources, like raw intern ideas, source
code or even a real test lab.
What it gets in return:
New ideas
Advertisement
Direct contact to talent
Customers who developed „their“ product
Work-life-balance
Work-life-balance
Even the most creative minds need time to
refresh their batteries.
Why don‘t you plan their vacation?
Disentangle them from their work for a while
and give them one mission:
Find something cool for our company!
Providing with tools
Tools
Access to information
Access to resources of innovation
Tools of analyzation, measurement,
improvement
Creativity methods
7 steps of prototyping
1. On an A4 page: Describe a short practical
test.
2. Collect disposable material the cheapest
way.
3. Find a partner/ customer who provides a
testing area and will be a critical voice.
4. Fix a date for the test run (within 5 days).
7 steps of prototyping
5. Do the test as soon as possible.
6. Document and analyze your results.
7. Fix the date for the next test run. It should
be within 5-10 days.
Quotes
“Effective prototyping may be the most
valuable core competence an innovative
organization can hope to have.”
- Michael Schrage
„Fail faster. Succeed Sooner.”
- David Kelley
How to measure „innovation culture“
Indicators:
Output of ideas and innovation
Espousing values and assumptions have
been internalized
Visible artefacts
Perceived image
Regularity of innovation happenings
Troubleshooting
A few tips
…when trying to implement a new culture
The change must be supported by
management and employees. Let them
create the culture together.
People seek secureness, new things scare
them. Therefore, implementation needs
time.
The new culture must be visible, valid and
internalized.
Reactions towards a new culture
Innovators
Early
adopters
Late
adopters
Resistors
People of the organization
Change curve
• Shock
• Denial
• Resistance
• Test
• Acceptance
• Implementation
Turning point
Closing remark
„Excellence in innovation.
We can’t all be Apple or Cirque du Soleil or
Basement Systems Inc.
But we can damn well die trying.”
- Tom Peters
Questions left?
Thoughts and impressions
Evaluation
Anstehende Veranstaltungen
13.08.2013: Ideenworkshop 4x3 in Berlin
28.08.2013: Ideenworkshop 4x3 in Berlin
19./20.09.2013: Praxis-Seminar Zusammenarbeit
im digitalen Zeitalter
17./18.10.2013: Praxis-Seminar Open Innovation
13./14.02.2014: Praxis-Seminar Open Innovation