“We don’t put any bureaucratic tape around ideas”, “We give people the opportunity to take action”, “Anyone can bring up any idea in their BU or practice group”, sound like best practices for innovation to thrive. However, from our 20 years of research and experience, we know that is not how organizations should go about […]
You launched an idea campaign. The results were fantastic. Lots of buzz around innovation and a boatload of creative energy floating around. A long list of ideas, with at least a few that seem to have real potential. What now? From idea to implementation The goal of an idea campaign is to get ideas out […]
Innovation campaigns are popular. They are an excellent way to get your organization engaged in innovation activities. The yield in numbers of ideas is typically very high. However, what happens thereafter? The good Engagement Innovation campaigns enable an entire organization, across multiple locations, to focus on a critical issue over a brief period. I don’t […]
How do you give your interns a meaningful experience in the brief period that they are part of your organization? Have you ever thought about the value of a (no-code) hackathon? A 2-days workshop within their internship in which they will get to experience what innovation truly entails? An experience that will make their summer […]
What happens with an idea, after it pops up in your head? You think about it. You read about it. Do some background research. Talk with a few people… Eventually, when it has passed these initial “sanity” checks, you may put it forward to your manager, to get his or her take on your idea […]
When in charge of organizing innovation in a professional service organization, you have the challenging task of both catalyzing innovation and overseeing the innovation process. Keeping these two objectives in play can be a strenuous balancing act, but it does not have to be.
There are many names for the Innovation Management function in professional service firms. It can be identified as new business development or quality improvement, or hidden in the marketing department. How to make sure the innovation function—whatever it is called—enables innovation to thrive in your organization?
Engineers, lawyers, clinicians, educators and many more, are all professionals. Most had to study for years to get into these professions. Now that you are in, how do you contribute to advancing your profession? How do you innovate?
Imagineering is the design and development arm of the Walt Disney Company. It is the methodology used to create the magic in each Disney theme park and kingdom worldwide. Although few professionals will consider their job entertaining, there are a few lessons to be learned from the Imagineering concept.
The Food and Drug Administration offers $500,000 for the best breakthrough idea it receives for detecting salmonella on fresh produce. Including coaching for the five finalists. The Washington Post called it “The Voice, but then for science geeks”. Are Idea Contests indeed tapping into the wisdom of crowds, or is this another fad of groupthink?
This add of GE says it all. Ideas are scary, messy, and fragile, but under the proper care, they become something beautiful.
How convenient would it be to have someone else innovate on your behalf? You point out the issue that needs to be resolved or improved, and someone else will do the work and come up with a new product, service that will do exactly what you asked for. Then you only have to …, well what parts of the process would you still have to do?