A642.9.3.RB - The Innovation Experience

A642.9.3.RB - The Innovation Experience

Reflect on the entirety of this learning experience.

Identify the three elements that had the largest influence on your perspective on innovation.

            I think that innovating and the ideation process are much harder than I had initially thought. Having been part of process improvements and new process implementations I knew that innovation and change in general are not easy things but the whole creative thinking process that I’ve been accustomed to is just so much more within the innovation process. To narrow it down to three elements that had the largest influence on my perspective, I’d go with: building a bigger brain, Christensen’s disruptive innovation, and ideation skills.

Define the elements and why they are important.

            The first element is building a bigger brain. McKeown describes this as [e]ven a creative genius cannot have all the best solutions to all of the world’s problems. Everyone has something to offer to the process of innovation. (2014). I love this idea. It gives what has always made sense to me a name and a process within itself. Bringing a room full of the right people together to solve a problem collectively just makes the most sense. One person doesn’t build an airplane, it takes many people with many different backgrounds and skill sets to design, program, finance, support, and construct one single airplane. All of these people coming together to solve problems around this airplane just makes sense. Building a better brain isn’t just about involving more people. It can also be about developing the creative skills of people who become involved. (2014). I love that the innovation isn’t limited to just the product but can also be a part of the development of the product.

            The second element is Christensen’s disruptive innovation and how it actually has a place in the improvement of processes and products. Understanding the room for disruption is useful whether you are trying to disrupt an existing situation (to your advantage) or defending an existing situation (to your advantage) (McKeown, 2014). I relate to this by comparing it to the idea of Devil’s Advocate in a problem solving collaboration. By bringing productive dissent into a problem solving situation, we make sure that the entire room isn’t just agreeing to get out of the room. By bringing in the disruptor role, we check our ideas against realities and regulations; zooming out to make sure that we’re solving the right problems and not just building something cool because it’s…well…cool. Disruptive innovation makes sure that our resources and support is going to the right project and that the subsequent innovation is effective and meaningful to the organization for which it was created.

            The third element is ideation skills. Idea generating skills are crucial to an organization’s success. They are the stepping stones to decisions and support. Implemented well, these ideas are transformed into improved business performance (Canfield & Smith, 2011). The basis of any good innovation – or organizational change is the thought that goes into it. Generating ideas; brainstorming with colleagues helps to narrow the thoughts into ideas that will spawn the next new thing. This also flows into effective creative thinking skills. Effective process improvement is all about generating lots of good ideas about possible solutions, choosing and confirming the best, and implementing decisions that improve the target processes. Effective creative thinking skills are all about generating lots of good ideas about possible new products and services to add to the company revenues and profit. (2011).

Discuss how you will use them in the future.

            I will have an opportunity to use all of the above elements in the very near future. I was traveling for business this week as part of the newly formed supply chain culture council. We are a group of about 15 people from all levels: executive leadership, management, salary employee, and hourly employee. We are working toward coming up with and marketing our council to help educate and train our co-workers on the different cultures and tolerance at work and in life. We are in the process of building that bigger brain by bringing in all different people to develop a charter and structure for our council. In our meeting this week, I tried to implement productive disruptive innovation by asking questions and asking validation on some of the charter elements. We are all going to be constantly using our ideation and creative thinking skills to make this council effective, meaningful, productive, and different than other groups who have tried something similar. Culture takes generations to evolve and it’s not something we can just break down and infiltrate with new ideas overnight. Our ability to generate ideas is going to help us get our message out in a way that will be effective to as many people as possible.

References

Canfield. J. & Smith, G. (2011). Imagine: Ideation skills for improvement and innovation today. Holland, MI: Black Lake Press.

McKeown, M. (2014). The innovation book: How to manage ideas and execution for outstanding results. Edinburgh Gate, Harlow, United Kingdom. Pearson Education Limited.