{"id":845,"date":"2013-09-06T09:21:43","date_gmt":"2013-09-06T09:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myrna.com\/blog\/?p=845"},"modified":"2013-09-06T09:21:43","modified_gmt":"2013-09-06T09:21:43","slug":"where-to-look-for-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myrna.com\/blog\/where-to-look-for-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Where to look for innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

At every annul\u00a0planning meeting with a client company,\u00a0we have the team take a look at their business from a different perspective, inspired by a\u00a0current business book or article. This year’s inspiration is Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs,<\/strong><\/em> by Larry Keeley, Ryan Pikkel, Brian Quinn, and Helen Walters<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/em>The authors write:\u00a0\u201cExecutives need to understand that not only can they expect innovation from anyone in their organization\u2014they are doing themselves and their company a disservice if they don\u2019t do so. The most innovative organizations rely on systems of individuals and teams working across functions in their organizations. Innovation isn\u2019t the work of only scientists, engineers, or marketers; it\u2019s the work of an entire business and its leadership.\u201d <\/em>Directly quoting from the book, here are five key insights that we are highlighting with our strategic planning clients.\u00a0<\/em>
\n<\/em><\/b><\/p>\n

Knowing where to innovate is as important as knowing how to innovate<\/em><\/b><\/p>\n

Striking oil or mining gold depends far more on knowing where to dig than on the digging itself. Identify the right innovation opportunities and be very clear about the nature of the innovation you intend to create before you begin a project. (Look at Keeley’s ten types of innovation in this short BusinessWeek<\/em> article.)<\/a><\/p>\n

Tackle the hardest problems first<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t look for low-hanging fruit. Instead, target big, gnarly problems with no easy answer. This isn\u2019t about what\u2019s easy for you; it\u2019s about solving deep problems for your customers. When innovating, focus on the hardest parts of a concept you have to get right. The easy stuff can wait until later.<\/p>\n

Turn complexity into simplicity<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to take something simple and make it complex: politicians and lawyers seem to do it for a living. Yet very few innovations are championed for their intricacy. Most are known for bringing elegance and simplicity to even the thorniest problems. (Then, and only then, can you be confident that you\u2019re on track for successful implementation of your company\u2019s strategy.)<\/p>\n

Refuse incomplete answers<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Having embraced big challenges, be patient and work to create comprehensive solutions. Look for ways to resolve tensions instead of defaulting to\u00a0trade-offs. This requires you to be comfortable with ambiguity and to wait for the answers to emerge.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t count until it\u2019s on the market<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

You haven\u2019t finished the process of innovating until you bring the offering to market and you\u2019re getting revenue for it. Or, in social or government contexts, until you have helped your stakeholders in a new and better way that can sustain itself over time.<\/p>\n

For more detail on the authors’ insights, click on authors’ video<\/a> or
\nthis BusinessWeek article<\/a> or a second video<\/a>. <\/strong><\/em>Better yet,
\npurchase the book from Amazon.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Creating an innovative culture can be a powerful status quo changer. Getting the team onto the same page and committed to strategic goals like this is what strategic planning is all about. Our two-day intensive planning meeting helps foster innovation in strategic planning in a similar manner to the way Bell Labs fostered innovation in technology \u2014 you\u2019ve got key people in a room, interacting and collaborating, even off-site to minimize distractions, thus somewhat mimicking the conditions of wide hallways, open doors, no elevators. (See my 2012 blog post\u00a0on this.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in having a facilitated strategic planning meeting that moves you from concept to tangible implementation, check out our service offerings <\/a>online, contact us by email<\/a>, or better yet, give us a call at (800) 207-8192 to arrange for a complementary consultation to determine if you are ready for strategic planning and if our program is right for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At every annul\u00a0planning meeting with a client company,\u00a0we have the team take a look at their business from a different perspective, inspired by a\u00a0current business book or article. This year’s inspiration is Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[37,58],"class_list":["post-845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-innovation","category-strategic_planning","tag-innovation-2","tag-strategic-planning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myrna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrna.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}