Managing innovation
Welcome to another edition of our regular newsletter with updates on ideas, insights and useful resources around the theme of managing innovation. (You’re receiving this because at some stage you’ve indicated interest in my work, via the website, LinkedIn, etc. If you’d like to continue to receive this Newsletter please subscribe via the button)
Contents
Ideas and insights
Interviews and perspectives
Research and recent publications
Additions and updates to the resource bank/supermarket
Other news
Watch/listen/learn with me
Ideas and insights
Prove it to me! - why evidence is so important for scaling innovation. A good idea will sell itself, right? Unfortunately not – Emerson was spectacularly wrong when he suggested that all you needed to do was build that better mousetrap to have the world beating a path to your door. History is full of examples of innovations that, whilst being good and proven solutions, more than just a gleam in their inventor’s eye, stubbornly refused to scale. There are plenty of them in the world of commercial innovation – and in the field of social change, innovations designed to have an impact and change the world, it’s even more difficult.
One of the challenges is around the role of evidence. At its simplest we adopt new things because we see some benefit in them, they make our lives easier, more comfortable or better in some way. That’s what gives rise to the S-curve shape which you can find associated with any innovation – it isn’t a case of all or nothing, adoption takes time. And one of the key influences on that is the role of evidence….. ( Podcast version here and YouTube video here)
Unlocking creativity – and why it’s good to keep working out at the creativity gym! For our ancestors, creativity was a matter of survival. Not being big, strong or fast meant that if we couldn’t think our way out of a problem (like an approaching predator), then we’d not be around for long! Dealing with the daily struggle to survive required us to be innovative, and the key to that was the ability to imagine and explore different possibilities.
And it’s pretty clear that creativity — the ability to come up with novel solutions to problems — is going to be even more in demand as we approach the future. Whether we’re a solo start-up entrepreneur, a member of a team tasked with helping the organization to think ‘outside the box’, or someone trying to change the world through social innovation this creativity stuff is going to be needed. This piece (based on our new book) explores some of the underlying skills which we can build on to deploy creativity within our organizations. (Podcast version here and video version here)
Tell ‘em a story - innovation is all about trying to convince others — people to help develop your idea, sponsors to back you, markets to buy in to your great new thing. So it makes sense to spend time and effort crafting a tale which will draw them in, intrigue them, capture their attention. Of course you don't want to oversell but as long as you've done your homework and the foundations are firm you’ll benefit from creating your particular version of a castle in the air….
Which is the message I’m trying to get across in the latest instalment of my long-term project to capture the key lessons of innovation and entrepreneurship in the form of a song…. (Podcast version here and lyrics here)
Not invented here - have you ever experienced a situation where your company receives a great idea from outside your organization that has the potential to speed up or improve a process, but the idea is immediately rejected? This is when the "not invented here" syndrome strikes. In this article, we explore what this syndrome is, how to measure it, and how to deal with it in your organization.
The entrepreneur’s journey - I'm running a new course on entrepreneurship and was looking for a way to help students remember some key milestones on the journey - value proposition, minimum viable product, prototyping, business model development, etc. So trying it out in the form of a song.... (podcast version here)
Interviews and perspectives
Scaling with confidence (webinar) – Good monitoring and evaluation is the foundation for informed decision making when it comes to scaling up successful innovations. This evidence can provide essential feedback on the performance and impact of the innovation, its cost-effectiveness and sustainability. It is critical when considering whether, when and how to scale up the innovation, and it can also highlight areas for improvements. But how can we determine whether an innovation is truly making a difference? How can we ensure that we choose the right approaches to effectively measure change in complex real-world systems? How can we avoid using vanity metrics that look impressive but don’t reflect the true impact of innovations? What kinds of evidence are needed to satisfy different stakeholders, including donors – and how can the generation of this evidence be supported? That’s the focus of this webinar drawing in expertise from Lydia Tanner (The Research People), Soren Vester Haldrup (United Nations Development Programme) and myself.
Cracking the innovation code - It's hard to disagree with the idea that innovation-led growth is of paramount importance, but how often do we associate it with taking risks and learning? This podcast and video interview offers an enlightening conversation with Robyn Bolton, founder and ‘Chief Navigator’ of Milezero, a consultancy specialising in helping organizations think through their innovation challenges. Drawing on her extensive experience working with amongst others Procter and Gamble, Boston Consulting Group and Clayton Christensen we explore a wide range of topics including the often misunderstood concept of failure in innovation, the role of innovation labs in fostering a controlled environment for experimentation and the significance of shifting our language from failure to learning. We look at the challenges that established organizations face when navigating disruptive shifts and we speculate the future of innovation in a constantly shifting context and stress the importance of cultivating a learning mindset.
Research and recent publications
Scaling the summit – how the United Nations can expand promising ideas to change the world
Scaling the summit – a primer on how to scale innovations for impact
Creativity for innovation management – our new book exploring the challenges of creativity and how we can develop and deploy these skills
Additions and updates to the resource bank/supermarket
(check out this link to find these resources)
New and updated cases on Build Up Nepal, DJI Drones, Field Ready, Luminaid, Translators without Borders, UAVs
Interviews with Natalie Turner (author of ‘Yes You can Innovate!’, Michael Pitts of InnovateUK on sustainability and innovation and Mandy Haberman, founder of Haberman Global Industries on user-led entrepreneurship
Other news
I contribute regularly to an excellent resource, Braden Kelly’s Human Centre Change and Innovation blog which features a variety of fascinating guest posts, well worth a look
There’s a useful new article about the power of storytelling in change management in the Harvard Business Review, worth a look
I’ve been working with colleagues at the University of Stavanger to develop some online materials to support a course on ‘Sustainable entrepreneurship’. You can find some of the videos on my YouTube channel - feedback and comments welcome
The ISPIM Future Educators group is a community of practice aimed at first-timers and experienced player sin the world of teaching and coaching innovation. We have a series of meetings (online and live) and a growing resource base on which members can draw. Interested? Check out this link for more information
Watch/ listen/ learn with me
I’ve written quite a few books and articles over the years but these days I’m also working hard at developing other channels. So if you’d like to watch more of my stuff, please click here for my YouTube channel
And if you’d like to listen, I’m podcasting here and you can find me on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other major sites
I’ve also been developing some online courses so click here to explore those
Feedback
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