Posted: January 6th, 2012 in Addressing Consumer Needs, Innovation, Innovation Training, Solution Generation
By Rishu Mendolia
Although innovation is best executed (with the highest rates of success) by using a disciplined customer-centric process, it is not uncommon for creative thinkers to come up with unprompted ideas for new products, services, and businesses. This is especially true for those closest to the market, as they are regularly exposed to customer needs and market opportunities. But how can the individual decide how to best evaluate the idea before bringing it to a larger group? Here’s a set of 5 questions that can help you think through an idea. Not all of these questions can be completely answered at this early stage. But by thinking through these topics, the idea can be better defined and evaluated.
1. Strategically, how does the idea fit the company’s growth goals? Which specific company strategies does the idea address?
2. How does this idea benefit the company? Is it new revenue through incremental business? It is higher customer retention? What are the potential financial returns?
3. Who is the target market for this idea? What need/opportunity does this address? Would customers change their behaviors to make use of it?
4. What does the current competitive space look like, including direct competitors and possible substitute solutions? How easy would it be for someone to copy this idea?
5. What kind of developmental effort would it take to commercialize this idea?
Of course, extreme care should be taken that this does not become the start of the innovation process – real innovation starts by identifying customer needs and THEN generating ideas. But in such an instance where an individual first comes up with an idea, the company should carefully conduct primary market research around the opportunity this idea is attempting to address, and then reevaluate – and shape - the idea if it still fits the uncovered needs. Additionally, thorough prototyping and market testing would also be required to maximize the impact of the idea.
Taking an idea through the rigorous innovation process is generally a lengthier effort than hurried commercialization. But by doing so the company can maximize the chances of its success and avoid substantial losses that would otherwise be realized by launching the untested offering.
Posted: November 4th, 2011 in Innovation Training
By Amy Larson
I spent two days last week with an industrial products company discussing Innovation Best Practices and how to build Innovation capabilities that would lead to sustained, profitable growth.
“We have a ton of ideas,” they said.
“Great!” I said, “What’s the problem?”
“We just don’t know how to move them forward.”
And what struck me about this conversation was that I’ve had it so many times, with so many different companies – from large consumer products companies to energy service providers to small chemical manufacturers.
It’s a classic innovation process problem. We need a systematic, stage-gate process with hurdles and forms and meetings. Perfect. Problem solved, right?
Wrong.
In order to pave a smooth road to innovation success, you have to start by understanding why all those ideas are stuck in the mud in the first place.
Problem #1: Lack of resources
The most common reason I hear that ideas don’t move through the innovation “funnel” is a lack of resources. And yet, most companies have sufficient resources to pursue the top organizational priorities, which means innovation (or at least this set of ideas) doesn’t make it to the top of the list. Why not? Especially when management is surely espousing the importance of innovation.
Answer: Develop an innovation strategy and get senior management buy-in
The problem usually resides in a lack of clearly defined and measurable goals for innovation. If “I’ll know it when I see it” is the de facto strategy, then it’s easy to say “No” to every idea that comes along. But if senior management has a clear view of what innovation will achieve – strategically and financially – then the resources should follow, commensurate with the magnitude of the goal.
Problem #2: Lack of Prioritization
Another oft cited reason for innovation stagnation is lack of prioritization. We have so many ideas, we know we can’t pursue all of them, and we just can’t decide where to focus. So we need screening criteria, right? And most companies do a good job of setting financial screening criteria, but they don’t know how to screen ideas in their infancy, before their revenue and profit potential can be measured.
Answer: Understand customer problems and needs
This again speaks to a missing step up front. The way to screen ideas early on is through understanding customer needs. If a problem is broadly, frequently and/or intensely felt, then it represents a significant business opportunity. These screens are a proxy for revenue potential before it can be measured. But in order to be able to use these screens, you must have in depth understanding of your customers.
So if you want to move innovation forward, stop ideating - get rid of the suggestion box, the web portal and the post-it notes. Instead, take two steps back to establish an innovation strategy and explore your customer’s unmet needs. Having these pieces in place generates fewer, stronger ideas that have the organizational buy-in and customer support necessary to become successful business ventures.
Posted: May 15th, 2009 in Innovation Training
K&A has been conducting innovation training for many years, and we think the lessons we’ve learned will help you make best use of any innovation training.
It’s certainly no secret given the news of the past 2 weeks that the American economy is in trouble. In times like this, companies often pull away from innovation as they try to shore up their base businesses by optimizing production, decreasing waste, and taking other measures to cut costs. However, top companies still have innovation at the top of their minds. One way these companies are continually investing in innovation is through innovation training. K&A provides a variety of targeted training offerings; as do many others. We want to take a moment to reflect on some of the factors that have been critical to the success of K&A training efforts in the past.
1. Upfront interviews
Any training effort needs to begin with an upfront assessment of your business. Too often training is not specific to your organization; the right approach is to begin by collecting data from 2-5 key decision-makers in the innovation process. Talk with managers who either drive innovation today or will be responsible for championing innovation in the next 3 years. When we conduct these interviews we look for:
- An understanding of where innovation fits in the culture: Important insights can be gained when a senior manager believes that innovation is “in the blood”; it’s just as important (if not more so) when senior managers indicate that the cultural focus is currently on cost optimization – not new products, services, internal processes or business model innovations.
- A guide to innovation processes currently in place (if any): Many companies look to upgrade their processes that have been successful so far at generating internal and closer-in innovations. Training modules need to be customized to supplement or modify current established processes, not to reinvent the wheel.
- Knowledge of the goals for innovation: Training efforts should focus on reaching whatever goals have been set for the business, whether it’s the development of breakthrough new products, entry into new markets, or successful application of a proprietary new technology.
The alternative to upfront preparation is that the training is delivered and a company then struggles to understand how to assimilate an alien process and culture.
2. Getting the right people
Training events should have the right group of people in the room. Obvious, right? It’s not always so. Innovation training should be directed at certain key groups in distinct sessions. This is because successful innovation training should be tightly tailored to a given level and function within your organization. Effective use of everyone’s time depends on taking account of the content necessary to impart to each audience, as well as the time available (especially when senior management is involved).
The goal is to get each audience exactly the information they need while minimizing time and expense. Senior management training should focus on strategy, integrating innovation into company culture, and leading innovation throughout the organization. On the other hand, innovation project teams which will be tasked with actualizing the new product/service development project need a much higher level of depth, including walking the team through the recommended process. (In the case of K&A training, this is the 7-Step Innovation Process.)
The key is not only to explain the process, but to provide hands-on experience with the process. For example, we often walk innovation teams through generation of problem and opportunity areas, solution generation, and the vetting of solutions against agreed-upon screens. While this experience is limited (compared with, for example, the 4-5 months hands-on joint innovation projects we execute with our clients), it gives project teams a flavor for the process they will be executing going forward.
3. Concrete plan for the future
Training engagements should end with a clearly defined and agreed-upon (to the extent possible) blueprint. Too often, we hear friends and colleagues tell us that training they received generated significant interest and enthusiasm but that when the training ended momentum was lost and, with it, excitement surrounding innovation. This not only dampens the benefits of training but often has a negative effect: when employees see management making a commitment to innovation and not really following through, they are less likely to devote serious energies to scaling up the next innovation effort. It’s better to have no training than innovation training that just leads to dashed spirits and disappointed expectations.
We end most of our training sessions by generating a 90 Day Innovation Blueprint, listing the concrete steps that need to be taken to achieve the goals of the organization, be it to agree on an innovation strategy and financial goals or to launch an initial innovation project. This way, training participants understand and have agreed on the next steps coming out of the session. Whatever your approach post-training, make sure to maintain momentum and build in a component of accountability and ownership to the process.
Training can be a valuable way of sparking innovation in your organization, a task that is especially important in light of the temptation to focus all available resources on cost-cutting. Successful training imparts a customized message, to the right people, and ends with concrete action steps.