How To Leverage Collaborative Innovation
Every now and then I read an article like this one in Forbes that touts the virtues of looking outside the walls of your company for innovation. There is a whole section in Mavericks at Work devoted to this, and the concept was, in fact, a partial inspiration for the name of this blog. I’m an outwardly focused individual, and naturally seek opportunities to collaborate and increase my knowledge. Similarly, organizations can seek the same opportunities for all kinds of situations - new products, new business solutions, new technologies, new perspectives on old problems.
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Software, games and books - here’s seven ideal gifts for the innovator on your shopping lists.
Try Out IBM’s Innovation Assessment Tool
I found this cool innovation self-diagnostic at the IBM website that lets you assess your company’s innovation level against the results of their Global CEO Study 2006. It’s a nice strategic innovation tool that gives goals and objectives for instituting an effective innovation program in your company.
Sphere: Related ContentDo You Know If You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know?
Do you produce the best solutions possible?
How do you solve an easy problem? Probably, based on your experience, the solution comes quickly. You solve it easily because of what you know.
What happens, though, when you’re confronted with a problem outside of your experience? Chances are, you know SOME of the right stuff, but you don’t know enough to solve it. So you find out what you don’t know - you research things, or consult others.
But your solution is only as good as the knowledge you acquire. If the knowledge is adequate, so will be your solution. But if it isn’t, your solution may come up short.
You know what you know.
Sometimes, you know what you DON’T know.
But other times, you DON’T know what you don’t know. Hard to follow, eh? But essentially true.
Sphere: Related Content7 Levels Of Change (Part 9 of 9) - Bringing It All Together
Table of contents for 7 Levels Of Change
- The 7 Levels Of Change - Introduction (Part 1 of 9)
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 2 of 9) - Level 1: Effectiveness
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 3 of 9) - Level 2: Efficiency
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 4 of 9) - Level 3: Improving
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 5 of 9) - Level 4: Cutting
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 6 of 9) - Level 5: Copying
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 7 of 9) - Level 6: Doing Things No One Else Is Doing
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 8 of 9) - Level 7: Doing Things That Can’t Be Done
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 9 of 9) - Bringing It All Together
The last in a nine-part series on Rolf Smith’s 7 Levels of Change, I bring everything together and discuss how to put the 7 Levels to work.
Sphere: Related Content“Forty Uses For A Brick” - A Real World Example
Back in September I posted an example of how to use creative thinking techniques to proliferate ideas. “Forty Uses For A Brick” became one of my most popular articles. I promised to give an example of how to apply these same techniques to a real-life problem. This is taken from an actual project I worked on earlier in the year, revisiting the “Brick” techniques but also illustrating how to use the perspectives of others to illuminate and redefine the problems at hand.
Sphere: Related ContentProtected: The Crazy Idea
Have you ever had a crazy idea? An idea that you positively know would never work, but if it DID work, would easily solve your problem? This will teach you how to turn a crazy idea into reality.
First of all - what are the traits of a crazy idea? It is the most extreme example of “out of the box” thinking - an idea that not only challenges the assumptions of the situation at hand, but challenges what we assume about the world itself. Laws of man, nature, and reality are challenged by crazy ideas. Here then are some possible traits of a crazy idea:
- Abstract rather than concrete
- Cuts to the heart of the problem with a definitive solution
- Sounds magical, illegal, impossible or supernatural - no practical way to make it happen
With this in mind, let’s say you were in a scientific organization faced with a messy problem - the world around you has changed in ways that require your professionals to collaborate with those outside their disciplines. To older scientists this can be very painful, as scientists value professional credentials and credibility more than just about anything. You are faced with the following problem: “How do we make our organization more collaborative?”
Instead of coming up with the same ideas that everyone else does, come up with a Crazy Idea - “Kill the non-collaborators.” Does this meet the definition we fashioned above?
- Abstract - it’s not as specific as it could be, doesn’t answer enough of the ‘how,’ and on its face there’s no way of determining how it would work.
- Cuts to the heart of the problem - yes, this would probably solve the problem. Either the non-collaborators would be dead, or they’d learn to collaborate in a hurry.
- No practical way to make it happen - murder is illegal.
The abstract nature of a crazy idea is the key to making it work. Taken literally, there’s no way this idea would be feasible. But when you consider it as a metaphor, you capture the essence that makes the idea effective.
What is the essence of the idea? In other words, what is the practical end result of the idea? In this case, killing the non-collaborators removes them from the organization and leaves you with only the people who will collaborate. So can we restate the crazy idea in ways that will achieve the same result but are more practical?
- “Remove the non-collaborators from the organization.”
- “Kill the careers of the non-collaborators.”
- “Create an environment that would coerce the non-collaborators to leave.”
These restated ideas are interrelated. Perhaps a solution would be to create a new requirement that all published papers coming out of the organization must be co-authored by at least six collaborators of different disciplines. In the scientific community if you don’t publish you lose credibility, so not being able to publish would effectively achieve Idea 2. This alone may cause the non-collaborators to seek greener pastures (Idea 3) where collaboration isn’t required, or degrade their performance reviews such that they could lose their jobs (Idea 1). Then you could focus on better ways to help the willing people collaborate more effectively.
In summary, to turn a crazy idea into reality do the following:
- Identify the essence of the idea - what does it really accomplish
- Consider the essence as a metaphor - what else would achieve the same goal
- Restate the idea in more practical ways based on 1) and 2)
Not all crazy ideas will result in earth-shattering solutions but when done often enough it can produce revolutionary, disruptive innovation.
Sphere: Related Content“Together We Innovate:” Apart We Fail
Name a famous creative genius. OK, I’m tired of waiting - let’s take Thomas Edison.
When we think of his many inventions and his seemingly singular drive to innovate, we assume that the sole source of the creative energy was Edison himself. But the truth is, he had a *bit* of help - Edison actually led a collaborate team of about 14 people. His inventions are the result of the collective creativity of his team.
Sphere: Related ContentThe Power of Positive Thinking
No, I’m not talking about the famous book by Norman Vincent Peale. I’m talking about one of the most powerful tools in the innovation process.
Sphere: Related Content7-Step Guide To Crushing Innovation In Its Tracks
Is your organization just too damned innovative? Do you suffer from exquisitely sustained product lines, great branding, and excessive profits? Do your people bear the burden of creativity, happiness, and motivation? Do your customers endure the drudgery of a one-of-a-kind experience? Do your collaborative partners curse your name as they share in your great success? These simple steps will help you kill innovation more effectively than a bludgeon to the head.
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