The Way To Innovation

By
Derek Cheshire

Published by
Creative Business Solutions
Brookside Cottage
Mill Lane
Corston
Malmesbury
SN16 0HH
United Kingdom
Tel: 0845 156 7385
Email: derek@creative4business.co.uk
Web: www.creative4business.co.uk
Copyright
2006 Creative Business Solutions
This publication is protected by international copyright laws. All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be copied or transmitted in any way or by any means without the prior
permission of the copyright holder.
The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the
information contained within this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility for any errors
and omissions that might take place.
Trade Marks and Registered Trade Marks mentioned within this text are the property of their
respective owners.

The Way To Innovation

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION WHAT IS INNOVATION? .................................... 4

A TOP LEVEL INNOVATION METHODOLOGY .................................... 5

2.1 KICK OFF ...................................................................................... 6
2.2 AUDIT .......................................................................................... 6
2.3 IDEAS LAB ..................................................................................... 7
2.3.1 Setup ...................................................................................... 7
2.3.2 Initial Training .......................................................................... 7
2.3.3 Research.................................................................................. 7
2.3.4 Idea Generation ........................................................................ 7
2.3.5 Test & Refine ............................................................................ 7
2.4 IMPLEMENT .................................................................................... 8
2.5 ROLL OUT ..................................................................................... 8
2.6 KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER...................................................................... 8
2.7 PROJECT MANAGEMENT ...................................................................... 8

CONTINUOUS INNOVATION............................................................ 9

REGIONAL INNOVATION .............................................................. 10

4.1 KICK OFF .....................................................................................10
4.2 AUDIT .........................................................................................11
4.3 IDEAS LAB ....................................................................................11
4.3.1 Setup .....................................................................................11
4.3.2 Initial Training .........................................................................11
4.3.3 Research.................................................................................11
4.3.4 Idea Generation .......................................................................12
4.3.5 Test & Refine ...........................................................................12
4.4 IMPLEMENT ...................................................................................12
4.5 ROLL OUT ....................................................................................12
4.6 KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER.....................................................................12
4.7 PROJECT MANAGEMENT .....................................................................13

TIMESCALES ................................................................................. 14

MARKET OFFERINGS ..................................................................... 14

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1 Introduction What is Innovation?
Innovation has become a buzzword, uttered alongside such catch-phrases as competitive
advantage, sustainable development, the connected knowledge economy, globalization,
convergence, digitization, moving at the speed of thought. There are three distinct models
that are being widely publicised but of course these can be mixed.
1. Acceleration - The future will be a continuation of the recent past, only much faster
2. Chaos - The future will be utterly unlike the past, driven by radically new and
discontinuous events
3. Evolutionary - The future will be, like the past, a continuous series of mostly
predictable changes
How businesses themselves cope is independent of the actual definition of Innovation,
something which is lacking in most books and which would help all stakeholders to begin
to create a strategy to cope with this topic.

I = F(C,K,c,k)

The above represents a pseudo equation to allow the understanding of the Innovation
process. The variables are defined as:
I

c,C
k,K
n

Innovation
a need or willingness to embrace innovation
creativity, either on a personal (c) level or an organisational (C) level
existing knowledge or know how at personal (k) or organisational (K) level
the effectiveness or maturity of the innovation processes put in place

In plain language, the equation states that innovation is a function of creativity (the way we
generate new ideas) and know how (the things that we already know about). The more
effective and mature the processes we have are, the greater the contribution to our
businesses. If there is no need or desire to innovate then Innovation cannot occur on its
own.
At this point there may well be readers who are disagreeing and arguing about getting
things into production as well as science and technology transfer. The methods of getting
things into production are simply knowledge, some we already have, some we need to
create as part of our innovation process.
There will also be those who worry about creatives doing their own thing and issues
surrounding HR and Quality. These are all catered for in the equation within the process
variable n. What the equation is telling us is that to be successful in innovation we need
everyone to play their part: HR, Finance, Quality, Strategists, Research and Production.
This document attempts to show how innovation can be turned into reality both within
companies and geographic regions such as states and countries...
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2 A Top Level Innovation Methodology
The diagram below shows a generic flow for coming up with ideas and implementing them.
This is what actually happens in our offices and factories. We are prompted into action as
a result of listening to our environment, we make sense of it and then plan some action.
This leads us to a creative process where we generate and refine ideas, test them and
finally design and implement our finished product, service or process.

Understand

Listen

Organise

Experiment

Design

Be creative

Implement

In order for this to be taken seriously at a high level we need to show the other activities
that must take place along with any time lines to indicate time scales, dependencies and
parallel activities. The diagram on the following page and accompanying text describes
such a process or methodology in greater detail. Note that at this stage we are still only
concerned with working within a business and the context is a new innovation project or
programme, we have not yet considered making innovation into an integral part of an
organisations culture.

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Kick Off
Audit
Setup
Training
Research
Idea
generation
Test +
refine
Implement
Ideas Lab

Roll out

Knowledge transfer
Project management

The above diagram shows the common phases of an innovation programme as a timeline.
The phases shown are described briefly in the following subsections.

2.1 Kick Off

This is simply the formal start to the innovation programme and should ideally show the
support of key sponsors and stakeholders (senior management), communicate objectives
to those involved, lay down ground rules etc. The means by which this is done is crucial
and depends on many factors. In line with the concept of innovation, it is suggested that
the traditional rallying call to the troops is not appropriate here.

2.2 Audit
In order to ensure that scarce resources are targeted and to identify developmental
activities for the future, an audit of the innovation capacity of the organisation should be
carried out here. If this is coupled with another audit after a reasonable period of time then
the effect of the programme can be assessed directly independently of financial
performance indicators. The Innovation Toolkit is ideal for this.

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2.3 Ideas Lab
The Ideas Lab is actually composed of several smaller activities but is shown as one since
it lends itself to a separate module that can easily be delivered either internally or
externally by outside agencies. The training and idea generation typically take a couple of
days with refining and testing being taken offline or worked on at a later date.

2.3.1 Setup
Here, organisations need to be addressing the infrastructure requirements of the
programme i.e. accommodation (a separate house of ideas?), additional resources and
materials, appropriate research tools, prototyping, design and manufacturing facilities.

2.3.2 Initial Training

The exact nature of this depends on your organisation but any developmental activities
should cover both convergent and divergent techniques, techniques other than traditional
brainstorming, nominal group techniques and some slightly weird techniques that people
can experiment with over the duration of the training. Apart from direct instruction, a series
of technique cards should be produced and made available.

2.3.3 Research
There is no fixed scope for this although the following should at least be covered:
Trend spotting, customer surveys, distributor surveys, worker surveys, input from
professionals (doctors, engineers . Whatever is appropriate).
The idea is to spot trends, find gaps for new products or improvements, make use of
legislative changes or changes in working practices etc.

2.3.4 Idea Generation

Using the output from the training activities and the material generated during the research
activity, the left/right brain model can be put into use to generate a large number of ideas.
In a full blown programme one might reasonably expect 1500 or so crazy ideas to be
generated which in turn will be whittled down to 150 or so ideas worth recording and
progressing with. A 2 day workshop may generate only about one third as many.

2.3.5 Test & Refine

Here, we are typically making prototypes, testing services and creating focus groups as
well as feeding back information to sponsors. The activities depend very much on the
nature of your business but the output should feed directly into the implementation phase.
If you are creating a new product then you need a design, drawings, manufacturing details
etc.

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2.4 Implement
Once again this depends on the exact nature of your business but if you have a new
product then you should have plans for sales and marketing, manufacturing, distribution
and logistics etc.

2.5 Roll Out

This will see your new ideas actually going into the marketplace. A key component is to
have built in learning as there are bound to be improvements that can be made (not just
about your product but about the process itself).

2.6 Knowledge Transfer

Ideally, such an activity should be continuous but in reality you will have been too busy to
get stuck into this. Mechanisms should be put in place to capture learning points in as
many different ways as possible (both formal and informal). As this is a one off project then
a method of transferring knowledge to other people in the organisation needs to be put in
place (briefings, demonstrations, storytelling, videos are all good methods).

2.7 Project Management

An ongoing activity that needs very little explanation in the main, however, any project
manager must be fully aware of the innovation process and the subtleties of managing a
diverse group of people and living with a great deal of ambiguity. There will also be
pressure to perform when sponsors apparently see nothing happening.

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3 Continuous Innovation
The previous section described an outline methodology for an innovation project or
programme. But what happens when we wish to keep going, to innovate constantly? Our
timeline of activities changes but the activities themselves remain pretty much the same as
is shown below except for the fact that they all loop back on themselves i.e. they are all
now continuous.

Management

Ideas Lab

Kick off

Knowledge Transfer

The only activities that do not form part of this arrangement are the knowledge transfer
and management activities as they now form part of the environment. The initial kick off
activity also takes on a slightly new meaning as it implies that new initiatives are started at
the centre i.e. bottom up in the traditional hierarchical organisation.

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This is not quite the whole picture as it only shows relationships between processes. Now
imagine the whole picture turned on its side so that you are looking at the side of a disk or
coin.

Time

If this now moves sideways to represent the passage of time, we have a series of
concentric cylinders to represent continuous activity in each area. The actual passage of a
single project is in fact a corkscrew. Now try and imagine that all of these cylinders or
corkscrews are moving at different rates and are all in existence at once. Maybe more are
being added as you think about this! This neatly illustrates the organised chaos that is
innovation and the complexities that must be considered when managing it.

4 Regional Innovation
It does not make sense to talk about regional or countrywide innovation in terms of
anything other than continuous innovation, governments are unlikely to fund programmes
that will not deliver long term economic benefits. To deliver innovation on a regional basis
we will consider the continuous innovation model previously described, highlighting the
different activities that must take place at each stage.

4.1 Kick Off

As before, this is the formal start to the innovation programme and should ideally show the
support of key sponsors and stakeholders (senior officials, trade associations,
manufacturing groups etc), communicate objectives to those involved, lay down ground
rules etc. A regional strategy should be created, setting out clear objectives but with the
understanding that this is a living document which can (and should) be updated as the
learning process continues. The communication of objectives is key as the power of

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external stakeholders will be considerable. A simple announcement in the press will not
do.

4.2 Audit
In order to ensure that scarce resources are targeted and to identify developmental
activities for the future, an audit of the innovation capacity of the region should be carried
out here. If this is coupled with another audit after a reasonable period of time then the
effect of the programme can be assessed directly independently of financial performance
indicators. The Innovation Toolkit is ideal for this.
Unlike company audits, it is essential to capture significant amounts of demographic
information so that any initiatives can target geographical regions, industry sectors, socioeconomic groupings etc.
Key findings will need to be fed back into the regional strategy immediately.

4.3 Ideas Lab

The grouping of smaller phases under this title is not quite so helpful and it is perhaps
more sensible to think of these five small phases as an incubation activity. Also the
timescales will be considerably long than when working with an individual company.

4.3.1 Setup
Here, regional and local government must address the infrastructure requirements of the
programme i.e. accommodation (for incubating businesses, action learning groups etc),
administrative functions (website, databases, event planning etc), additional resources and
materials, create links with stakeholders such as academic institutions, trade associations,
industry sector representatives, unions.

4.3.2 Initial Training

Although we are now concerned with a regional strategy, we need to understand that we
are trying to help businesses understand how to innovate. Here, a business innovation
methodology needs to be taught to, and experienced by representatives of stakeholders
as well as local trainers and consultants. Facilitation skills for use within action learning
groups are vitally important here.
In tandem with this, there needs to be a period of leadership and management education
to prepare people for the experiences that they are about to have. There should also be
plenty of support in the form of business mentoring, publications, seminars etc.
This is also a good time to be gathering information about future training requirements for
future phases of strategy implementation.

4.3.3 Research
There is no fixed scope for this although the following should at least be covered:
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Trend spotting, customer surveys, distributor surveys, worker surveys, input from
professionals (doctors, engineers . Whatever is appropriate). Such trend spotting will
probably look further afield. For company innovation programmes we might look at local or
national markets but for regional programmes we are looking nationally, and globally.
The idea is to spot trends, find gaps for new products or improvements, make use of
legislative changes, changes in working practices, exploit raw materials and expertise or
event identify skills shortages. This may very well lead to clustering of industries that have
either similar or complementary interests.

4.3.4 Idea Generation

Cluster groups should be encouraged to participate in activities that can lead to new ideas
and the sharing of best practice. Depending on the country and/or region there may well
be cultural issues here to do with sharing.
There may very well be ideas that spawn products or services involving collaboration but it
is more likely that ideas will be related to infrastructure and support requirements. It is thus
important that all such information is recorded and transparency is key.

4.3.5 Test & Refine

Instead of a product or service, we are concerned with the delivery of innovation, thus we
have a product already, we are dealing with the creation of a service that delivers this
product to all sectors within the regional economy. Those involved in the process will
create their own ideas and terminology, but expect action learning groups, knowledge
transfer partnerships, cultural change initiatives and infrastructure projects (broadband,
planning, power etc) to be on the list. Any such ideas must be well thought out as
implementation is likely to be a costly exercise.

4.4 Implement
At this stage, implementation is a bit unknown, all you know is who the stakeholders are
likely to be and what the desired outcomes are. This is a bit like a brand new
manufacturing line waiting to create a new product. They know what they have to do but
not how to do it yet. Stakeholders can be briefed in advance and should be kept informed
during all of the phases anyway.

4.5 Roll Out

This must be phased if a region or country is being considered. It is also the region why
cascading any methodology from experts to other trainers and facilitators is important. It
helps to speed up roll out and gives ownership to the new methodology.

4.6 Knowledge Transfer

Regular action learning groups can help to ensure that knowledge is transferred both
between stakeholders and to the sponsoring bodies. Product and process specific

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knowledge can also be transferred locally with industry-academic partnerships and
between participants in clusters.

4.7 Project Management

This is an extremely important activity, which in many cases, is given to just one person.
They then spend their time in meetings and lose contact with the innovation project. It is
suggested that a multidisciplinary team is created that may have had the company
innovation experience and who will be familiar with the pressures and ambiguity that exist.
Other than that, this is still a project management exercise although attention should be
paid to the following:
Ensuring sustainability of initiatives
Ensuring transferability of skills and initiatives
Transparency of planning and funding issues
Communications (press releases, events)
Funding (sufficient but not wasteful)
Timescales things will happen immediately but a full cycle may take 3 5 years.

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5 Timescales
This has been briefly mentioned above and without detailed knowledge of the type of
innovation project being considered this is a hugely difficult question to answer. As a rough
guide, allow up to 12 months for company programme to go through one cycle and
introduce new products or services. A regional programme will take 3 5 years to
demonstrate significant benefits throughout, although there will be noticeable changes in
particular sectors or attitudes much earlier than that, again 12 months would be an
appropriate timescale.

6 Market Offerings
Kick Off

Coaching, mentoring, strategy and business planning.

Use of standard tools and templates.

Audit

Use Innovation Toolkit to measure innovation capacity,

create a development plan and benchmark for the future.

Setup
Training
Research
Idea generation

Ideas
Lab

The Ideas Lab is an activity that can last from 1 day to

10 days, depending on your exact requirements. Our 2
day workshop will give you tools and techniques to take
away as well as a guaranteed number of ideas for new
products and services. Our 10 day program is
comprehensive and covers all aspects of idea
generation, research and prototyping. These are all
activities that can be carried out separately if you cannot
run your innovation activity full time. This section may
require several iterations before you can actually create
a plan for the rest of your activities.

Test +refine
Implement

Project Management, training and development

Planning, logistics, mentoring

Roll out
Knowledge transfer

Assistance in the transfer of knowledge around your

organisation using techniques such as Action Learning.

Project management
The above table shows how our offerings can help to start, and manage an innovation
programme.

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