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Leadership

Growing in Innovation

Nature is fascinating.  A tiny seed is placed into the ground.  It is fertilized and watered, sprouting into a fledgling plant.  If the soil conditions are just right and the tiny plant receives sunlight, more water, and additional nutrients, it grows into a tree.  A tree yields fruit that, in turn, produces more seeds.  We harvest the bounty and prune the tree to encourage further growth.

Successful innovation follows the same path as nature.  Ideas and organizations are seeded, nurtured, grown and harvested, and pruned for continuous improvement.  In the Flagship Innovation Leader program, we call these development stages Learning, Adopting, Transforming, and Sustaining. 

Learning

A seed has to take root in order to start any growth stage.  I have a loquat tree in my backyard.  Most years, the number of fruits it produces is manageable but last year, the branches bent over with a bumper crop of fruit.  Most of the fruit fell to the ground and consumed by the neighborhood squirrels.  Every square inch of my entire backyard was covered in loquat seed remnants. 

Yet, not every seed takes root.  Many do, but most do not.  Learning to be a strong and successful innovation leader is similar.  We can provide the necessary elements for innovation success, but most individuals and companies will pass on the difficult challenge to learn skills, to have the desire to take root in learning best practices.  Learning requires the proper conditions, including a fertile and open mind; Acceptance of new ideas, theories, or concepts; and support, encouragement, and time to let learning take root. 

Adopting

A fledgling seed sprouts a tiny green shaft above the soil.  It grows only if proper nutrients are supplied on an ongoing basis.  But as it grow , the small plant will grow stronger and stronger. 

Innovation leaders also grow stronger as they adopt new skills and spread best practices within their organizations.  Adopting new practices is a little scary and requires strength, just as the seedling needs strength to penetrate through the soil.  As you adopt innovation best practices, team-building skills, and new product development (NPD) tools, innovation will grow.  I recommend Innovation Best Practices training leading to New Product Development Professional (NPDP) certification as way to learn and adopt industry best practices for innovation.  Situational Leadership is core curricula for teams seeking successful adoption of best practices and management of innovation projects.  Contact me at info@globalnpsolutions.com for more information on implementing this brilliant program to enhance team collaboration efforts.

Transforming

One little seedling requires long periods of sunshine, nutrients, fertilizer, and water to grow into a tree.  Likewise, innovation leaders need to learn additional skills, including time management and communication, to transform an organization into a productive, new NPD factory.  Implementing Product Portfolio Management in 100 Days, for example, transforms an organization from one that uses NPD processes into an organization that truly creates value for customers and shareholders.  Continued investment and nurturing are keys to transforming a fledgling innovation culture into a thriving innovation culture. 

Sustaining

Trees provide fruit but also must be pruned to remove the dead wood.  Innovation leaders build networks through Master Mind groups and coaching to sustain the pace and liveliness of their innovation programs.  We sometimes need to prune bad habits and bureaucratic processes to sustain growth in new product development.  Neglecting this step in developing innovation leaders will weaken the system, just as leaving dead wood on a tree eventually weakens its roots. 

Flagship Innovation Leader

Do you want to grow in innovation?  Just as nature provides a pathway for seeds to be fertilized and watered for growth, successful innovation leaders need to learn the basics of product development, adopt innovation best practices, transform their organizations for productive innovation, and sustain repeatable processes for long-term success.  Click here for more information. 

Take the Innovation Health Assessment now to benchmark your innovation maturity.

Learn More

To jumpstart your innovation journey, don’t miss our next webinar.  Register here.  I’ll cover the summary of our 20 Days of Innovation in 2020.  Everyone who attends will receive a copy of the associated eBook.  You’ll also want to watch the recording of a recent Q&A webinar on innovation leadership (click here).  Of course, your best reference for all things innovation is The Innovation ANSWER Book available at Amazon.  

About Me

I am inspired by writing, teaching, and coaching.    I tackle life with an infusion of rigor, zeal, and faith.    It brings me joy to help you build innovation leaders.    I am an experienced professional with a passion for lifelong learning with a PhD in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Computer and Information Decision Making.    My credentials include PE (State of Louisiana), NPDP, PMP®, and CPEM, and I am a DiSC® certified facilitator.    Contact me at info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281 + phone 280-8717 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.            Learn.            Earn.            Simple.

Leadership is a Verb

Dictionary.com defines leadership as “the ability to lead” and “an act… of… guidance.”  The formal definitions of leadership are nouns-meaning it is something that acts or is acted upon. 

Overtime, I have begun to think of leadership as a verb.  Instead of being acted upon, leadership is acting and performing a service for others.  Of course, I went to college to study engineering, so grammar is not necessarily my strong suit! 

Acting for Others

Regardless of grammar and proper English from high school, leadership requires acting on behalf of the best interest of others.  Leaders in organizations are there to lead others.  Leadership is a skill that demonstrates expected behaviors and rallies the team around a common purpose.  Leaders support the goals of the team and the project objectives. 

What’s important to observe about successful innovation leaders is that in acting for others they suppress their own egos and agendas.  I remember working with a team leader who spent hours gathering the data and consensus of the team.  Assigned to a “war room” to solve a complex problem, the team discussed and debated the scientific theories to address the issue.  Yet after these lengthy meetings, our manager would next present a deliverable that we had never discussed.  He was not acting for us; instead, it felt like he was acting against us. 

Performing Service

Another reason I view leadership as a verb is that leaders are servants to their teams and other stakeholders.  By performing service for the team, a leader demonstrates his or her strengths and confidence.  None of us is too elite or has too grand of a title to lend a hand to those working for them.  As we lift up the entire team, we lift ourselves and the organization. 

Performing service does not mean going whole hog to build an entire housing community for the homeless all by yourself.  Service as a leader means considering the needs of your team and your customers and then addressing those needs to the best of your ability. 

For example, I fondly recall my first boss out of college.  I had been tasked to run equations and an analysis of large amounts data from a pilot plant to correlate with ongoing operations.  To understand the data and to convert it to useful information blog I was plotting dozens of graphs charts, and tables daily.  (Read this blog on the difference between data and knowledge.)

Our group had only a shared printer per company guidelines.  As a leader, my boss observed me walking down three hallways and around the corner several times per day just to collect my printed documents.  He acted as a servant leader and presented me with my own printer!  His service was not just a nice thing to do, it saved the company money to recover my wasted time walking back and forth to the shared printer.  It also allowed other group members more access to the printer since my graphs and charts took a long time to produce. 

Innovation Leaders

Beyond acting for others and performing service, innovation leaders are responsible for strategic decisions and delivering results.  Innovation leaders both drive and support strategy through market interactions.  Working to design and develop new products, innovation leaders gain customer insights and translate this information into target product attributes for the design team. 

A key skill of successful innovation leaders is the ability to examine themselves and to model behaviors that are expected for creative technology organizations.  The fancy word for this trait is self-awareness.  Self-awareness allows us to identify and capitalize on our strengths, and also helps us as leaders to identify and grow the strengths of our teammates. 

Learn More

Watch the recording of a recent Q&A webinar on innovation leadership.  (Click here or type https://www.anymeeting.com/806-095-661/E959D78286463D into your browser.)  Grow your innovation skills through a New Product Development Professional (NPDP) and Innovation Best Practices course (available online or self-study).  Contact me for innovation coaching or to join a mastermind group of leaders who are passionate about innovation.  A great reference for all things innovation is The Innovation ANSWER Book available at Amazon.  

About Me

I am inspired by writing, teaching, and coaching.    I tackle life with an infusion of rigor, zeal, and faith.    It brings me joy to help you build innovation leaders.    I am an experienced professional with a passion for lifelong learning with a PhD in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Computer and Information Decision Making.    My credentials include PE (State of Louisiana), NPDP, PMP®, and CPEM, and I am a DiSC® certified facilitator.    Contact me at info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281 + phone 280-8717 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.            Learn.            Earn.            Simple.

Entrepreneurial Leaders

Today, many companies seek out the skills of entrepreneurs.  Leadership candidates are encouraged to demonstrate entrepreneurial experiences to get hired or promoted.  And while entrepreneurial characteristics are important for an innovation leader, traditional supervisors are better suited with conventional management skills.  Let’s look at three areas of differentiating leadership for innovation success.

Watch the 20-second summary and then read on!

Complete Ownership of a Problem

Entrepreneurial leaders are motivated by the finished product.  They are visionary and adaptable.  In order to achieve their goals, they are willing to take acceptable risks and are comfortable with uncertainty.  Because they are intensely vested in the final product, an entrepreneurial leader exerts power and control as a way to completely own the problem. 

On the other hand, traditional managers in operations, finance, or logistics might be ill-served by a total ownership perspective.  Functional managers need to work across organizational boundaries and with both internal and external stakeholders.  Predictability and meeting expectations enhance the cost-effectiveness and quality of operations.  Collaboration and cooperation are appropriate skills for accomplishing day-to-day work.

Motivated by Uncertainty

Entrepreneurial leaders are not necessarily more risk-seeking than traditional managers.  But, they are more comfortable with uncertainty, knowing that the path to the final product might not be straight or narrow.  Exploring different alternatives and accepting failure for its learning value characterize an entrepreneurial leader’s approach to uncertainty.

In contrast, functional managers have stringent performance objectives and rely on predictable, trouble-free operations to meet commitments.  While these leaders also appreciate learning, it is used to streamline and improve systems.  Learning is experiential and based on data analysis.  Planning and delivering on the plan are the metrics of success for conventional management tasks.

Persuasion

All of us can benefit from mastering skills of persuasion and negotiation.  But entrepreneurial leaders excel at selling their ideas to both their team members and sponsors.  They have an uncanny ability to demonstrate and convince others of the value in their concepts, obtaining funding to pursue these goals.  Entrepreneurial leaders are not hard-nosed salespeople, but use their passion, motivation, and charisma to convince others that their path of action is the right one.

Traditional managers in operations also need to use persuasion and negotiation skills, especially in budget battles.  However, their approach tends more to details.  Technical leaders, especially, find such negotiations painful and they are not optimistic in getting what they want.  Functional managers may convert the lack of a maintenance budget yet are not using their positive power or expert power to weave a compelling story.

Entrepreneurial Leaders Skills

Not every job needs to be staffed by an entrepreneurial leader.  Manufacturing, marketing, and accounting need conventional managers to lead these functions with a focus on operational excellence.  Quality, predictability, and cost-effectiveness are the focus.

Innovation programs do need entrepreneurial leaders.  New product development (NPD) projects are uncertain and involve inherent risks.  Entrepreneurial leaders are motivated to own the whole problem in order to generate a new solution.  Entrepreneurial leaders are adaptable and have a willingness to accept uncertainty, especially as a learning activity.  Finally, entrepreneurial leaders use persuasion to convince others that their ideas are valuable and beneficial.

How Do You Become an Entrepreneurial Leader?

Register now for a complimentary webinar on Innovation Leadership.  This interactive session is held Monday, 27 January 2020 at noon CST (1 pm EST, 10 am PST). 

You can also learn more about teams and leadership for innovation in our Innovation Best Practices and NPDP prep courses.  Check out the 1Q2020 schedule here.  You can also read more about innovation leadership and team development in Chapter 4 of  The Innovation ANSWER Book, available from Amazon here.  

About Me

I am inspired by writing, teaching, and coaching.  I tackle life with an infusion of rigor, zeal, and faith.   It brings me joy to help you build innovation leaders.  Teresa Jurgens-Kowal is an experienced innovation professional with a passion for lifelong learning with a PhD in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Computer and Information Decision Making.  My credentials include PE (State of Louisiana), NPDP, PMP®, and CPEM, and I am a DiSC® certified facilitator.  Contact me at info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281 + phone 280-8717 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

Innovation Leaders are NOT Teachers

I’m a disaster in the kitchen.  Beyond microwave popcorn, you are probably taking serious risks to eat something I have cooked.  Curiously, my mother was considered a good cook, so I don’t think there is a gene or DNA sequence that I missed to make me a terrible cook.  Instead, I blame my mother’s leadership style in the kitchen.  Leaders are not teachers. 

Every night, one of my chores was to set the table for dinner.  As my mother prepared dinner, she would tell me to watch her cook and she often told me to read the recipe.  Occasionally, she would have me help to gather ingredients and hand them to her.  “When you are older,” she would say, “then you can try cooking.” 

Leaders Mentor, Not Teach

Good leaders are mentors.  This means that after a short period of observation (and learning the safety rules), a leader lets the team member try out the tasks.  Starting small to minimize risk, leaders switch from doing and explaining (teaching) to watching and counseling.  A good mentor allows people to make a few mistakes so they can learn because tactile learning (learning by doing) is the most valuable lesson. 

Leaders as mentors can offer advice and share their own stories as learning tools.  Yet lecturing and teaching often falls short.  Innovation leaders, in particular, need to set boundaries for the team but then let creativity flow.  Flexibility is a hallmark of a strong leader. 

Too Much Coaching Fails Leadership

Today’s workers are lucky that coaching is a standard practice in most organizations.  Many leaders have been trained in the basics of coaching.  Unfortunately, many managers tend to overdo it.  Constant coaching is more like micromanaging and also hurts the innovation process. 

In certain situations, managers have learned that coaching is important but have not necessarily been given the right tools.  While coaching involves asking “why” a new product development (NPD) team made certain decisions or “what” the design pathway is, a constant barrage of questions destroys trust and autonomy.  Successful innovation leaders understand that a few well-placed why, what , and how questions can better guide and direct the team, ultimately increasing customer satisfaction. 

Innovation Leaders Acknowledge Failure

Failure is a part of learning.  Teaching – by itself – does not allow someone to learn failure.  Watching my mother cook and add a pinch of salt or test baked goods with a toothpick only allowed me to observe her skills.  Without adding too much or too little salt to a stew and not finding out for myself what a “clean” toothpick means for bread, I never failed. 

Successful innovation leaders tolerate failure as an element of the learning process.  Of course, boundaries and constraints must limit the risk and cost of failure, yet mistakes and errors provide hands-on learning that is invaluable for a team.  Innovation should be expected to leave a trail of lessons learned to build the inevitable successes. 

Innovation Teachers

While I’m still not a good cook by any stretch of the imagination, I cautiously and continually try recipes and new tools to improve my cooking skills.  I understand the cost of failing in the kitchen is learning – and pizza delivery for dinner.  Without trying my own hand at adding spices to a soup or baking a birthday cake, I could never improve and learn new skills.

Likewise, great innovation leaders go beyond teaching and learning.  Being a mentor to serve as a guide and to govern the NPD process makes innovation leaders approachable and builds team skills internally.  Coaching your team includes a few well-intentioned “what” and “why” questions, but not peppering them with advice (pun intended).

Build Your Innovation Leadership Skills

To be a successful innovation leader, you must allow your team members to learn by doing and accept failure.  Join me for 20 Days of Innovation in 2020 to grow and develop as an innovation leader.  Starting on 6 January 2020, you will receive a short daily email tip, tool, or technique for 20 days.  You’ll learn about applying strategy for more success with time-to-market and how to improve your NPD processes.  It’s free!  Register here for 20 Days of Innovation in 2020. 

About Me

I am passionate about innovation and inspired by writing, teaching, and coaching.  I tackle life with an infusion of rigor, zeal, and faith.   It brings me great joy to help you build innovation leadership.  I am an experienced innovation professional with a thirst for lifelong learning.  My degrees are in Chemical Engineering (BS and PhD) and in Computer and Information Decision Making (MBA).  My credentials include PE (State of Louisiana), NPDP, PMP®, and CPEM, and I am a DiSC® certified facilitator.  Contact Teresa Jurgens-Kowal at info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281 + phone 280-8717 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

Winning with Incremental Innovation

Innovation always involves risk.  Sales revenues might not balance the investment cost.  Customers might not like the design or features of the new product.  Competitors might not perceive a product advantage. 

There are several strategies to address innovation risk.  Of course, following a well-established new product development (NPD) process increases the odds of repeatable success within a firm.  Likewise, ensuring productive innovation leaders build successful product and service development through effective and efficient decision-making requires training.  However, the type of innovation is often overlooked by firms as managers try to balance risk with market share. 

Get the quick summary in the video (less than 1 minute) and then learn how you Incremental Innovation Wins!

Sexy Gets the Press

Social media and the press, in general, tend to promote sexy, new ideas.  Yet these radical innovations fail more often than incremental innovations.  Sexy innovations often do not live up to customer or corporate expectations.  The vast majority of new products and services launched by firms include small improvements in features and functionality.  Enhancements are more predictable and stable innovations. 

Sexy new product ideas grab our attention but rarely live up to the hype.  Think about laser discs, the Segway, Google Glass, and the Apple Newton.  All of these were great ideas hailed as technology marvels.  Yet these inventions were expensive to design and difficult to use for customers creating losses instead of profits for the developers. 

Benefits of Incremental Innovations

There are several benefits to incremental innovation innovations.  First, you know the market.  Second, you know the competition.  Third, you know the technology.  And finally, you know the product. 

The Market

Knowing the market is incredibly valuable for successful innovation.  New markets require a lot of investment to educate customers and to explain product advantages.  Existing markets are easier and cheaper to test with prototypes and to gauge feature attractiveness for new, incremental product development. 

The Competition

incremental innovations are successful because you know the competition.  Customers have brand loyalty based on past experiences.  Knowing the competition allows a firm to innovate for differentiation as well as to take advantage of inexpensive, incremental new product development.  For example, packaging changes make a difference to consumers yet are simple, incremental innovations. 

The Technology

R&D and technology development are long-term investments that involve substantial risk.  Fundamental research may or may not apply to multiple product lines.  And it can take years to work out the bugs of a new chemistry or other technology while simultaneously working on regulatory approvals.  Knowing the technology and advancing it just a little allows incremental innovations to cost less than radical product development efforts.  Lower cost means higher profit for the business. 

The Product

Radical innovations are sexy and newsworthy.  Yet, they fail because the product does not solve a consumer’s real problems.  Building incremental innovations from existing product lines brings depth and richness to the solution.  Creating ancillary services and complementary products enriches the brand and supports the core product.  Consider Gatorade™.  With a core product and a number of spinoffs designed for various market segments, an aging and established brand has maintained and grown market share in a highly competitive market through incremental innovation. 

Winning with Incremental Innovation

While much of social media and the press focus on sexy new ideas, companies that sustain focus on core products can win at innovation.  Incremental innovations offer advantages in cost-saving and development time since the firm knows the markets, understands the competition, and can leverage the technology.  Moreover, building complementary incremental innovations around a core product family differentiates the brand and strengthens consumer loyalty. 

Do You Want to Win at Innovation?

Learn how to apply tools and techniques for innovation success in 20 Days of Innovation in 2020.  Register here for free.

About Me

I am inspired by writing, teaching, and coaching.    I tackle life with an infusion of rigor, zeal, and faith.    It brings me joy to help you build innovation leaders.    I am an experienced professional with a passion for lifelong learning with a PhD in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Computer and Information Decision Making.    My credentials include PE (State of Louisiana), NPDP, PMP®, and CPEM, and I am a DiSC® certified facilitator.    Contact me at info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281 + phone 280-8717 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.            Learn.            Earn.            Simple.

Authentic Innovation

Some words are overused and are part of fads in the media.  Some words are slang, and some are part of our technical jargon.  Other words become a part of our day-to-day language but have multiple, deeper meanings. 

Innovation is exactly one of those words.  There are multiple means to innovation depending on the context.  Often, people use innovation to simply mean new and creative.  For example, a company’s tagline might say “We are innovative”.

For about ten years, I have helped individuals and companies think big in launching new products and services.  During this time, I have generated my own definition of innovation:  to transform an idea into a commercial product or service that generates profit for the company.  Innovations must bring value to consumers as well as the producer. 

Watch the short video summary and read on for details of how you can become more authentic with innovation.

Characteristics of Authentic Innovation

So, the first characteristic of successful innovation is that it must be profitable.  Products and services that do not deliver a profit are ones that fail to bring value to either the customer or the firm.  If not enough people want to buy a product at a price that exceeds the cost of making it, it is not successful or useful.  It might be an intriguing invention, but not an innovation.

In addition to profitability, there are other characteristics that apply to authentic innovation:

  1. Organic,
  2. Personal, and
  3. Incremental.

Organic Innovation

Authentic innovation is organic, meaning it grows from a customer need.  A technology, feature, or product function is designed to satisfy a gap in a customer’s service experience.  Organic innovations are successful because customer insights drive research and development efforts within the firm. 

In contrast, what I will call “forced innovations” start with technologies or products first, and then search for customers and markets.  Consider the Segway.  the Segway has really interesting technology but no large commercial applications.  A much-heralded “innovation” has been relegated to security people at the mall and groups of eager tourists.  There simply is not enough market volume to convert the Segway idea into a commercially profitable product. 

Innovation is Personal

Nearly every purchase made by a human being has a personal element to it.  We buy things and use services to add to our emotional enjoyment of life.  Every purchase, and therefore every innovation, is personal. 

The Walt Disney Company is well known for its high level of customer service and for innovation.  Their success is based on delivering a highly personalized experience for each guest.  Before you visit Walt Disney World in Florida, for instance, you are asked to select your favorite color and most beloved character for your “Magic Band”.  This Bluetooth enabled wristband then serves as your unique key to your hotel room and gives you access to ride reservations in the theme parks as well as a host of other services, including payments for snacks and souvenirs.  The Magic Band is an example of a very successful personal innovation.

Incremental Innovation

Incremental.  Successful innovation that is authentic is incremental.  I am guessing a lot of my colleagues will scream, “Heresy!” when they see that authentic innovation is incremental.  In the field of new product development (NPD), we always train and discuss breakthrough, radical, and disruptive innovation as the ultimate, golden award and to such to seek such innovations unrelentingly.  Yet, most companies and most individuals build success through incremental change.  Consider the retrospective review completed at the end of each sprint in an Agile project.  The team will make one change – only one – in their behaviors for the next sprint.  The reason is that too many changes are hard to track and to verify improvement.  Multiple changes can be confusing to the team members and customers alike. 

Likewise, a vast majority of innovations are incremental.  Understanding customer needs and any gap with their current experience drives the most successful development of next generation products and services.  It is an incremental innovation to have both a forward-facing and rear-facing camera on your cell phone, but such innovations can be highly profitable. 

What is Authentic Innovation?

Authentic innovation brings value to a market and to the producer by transforming ideas to profitable products and services.  The characteristics of authentic innovation are organic, personal, and incremental.  Successful innovations focus on customer needs before design and development of new technologies or features and don’t necessarily need to be brand new-to-the-world.

Learn How To Win With Incremental Innovation

Join leading innovators for 20 Days of Innovation in 2020.  You’ll get a free innovation tip, tool, or technique in your inbox for 20 days, starting 6 January.  Sign up here. 

About Me

I am inspired by writing, teaching, and coaching.    I tackle life with an infusion of rigor, zeal, and faith.    It brings me joy to help you build innovation leaders.    I am an experienced professional with a passion for lifelong learning with a PhD in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Computer and Information Decision Making.    My credentials include PE (State of Louisiana), NPDP, PMP®, and CPEM, and I am a DiSC® certified facilitator.    Contact me at info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281 + phone 280-8717 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.            Learn.            Earn.            Simple.

Changing Innovation Performance

Innovation has a dark side.  While everyone wants to be “more innovative”, new products fail at alarming rates.  When your business is to create new ideas, new technologies, and new markets, failing more than half the time is troubling indeed. 

On the bright side, however, innovation is more accessible today than ever.  Industries share their product development processes openly and companies partner with suppliers, distributors, and even competitors.  We have learned to integrate customers into the development cycle with open innovation and Design Thinking.  How do organizations continue to move forward, making progress with speed-to-market and changing internal performance?

The Purpose for Change

Read on or watch the 20-second summary to learn how you can change your innovation performance.

As senior managers present an argument to increase innovation performance, we have to explain the need for change.  Many people in the organization see only a narrow slice of the business.  R&D professionals, for instance, view their daily work and can see frequent, small gains in knowledge.  Marketers identify new insights from customer focus groups when they are held.  Project management professionals view small successes in meeting deadlines and milestones.  From each individual or functional perspective, things appear okay. 

Leaders inspire innovation and significant performance improvements must first demonstrate that a change is needed.  Teams build cohesion around a common purpose in the threat of competition.  New product development (NPD) teams can accelerate performance in time-to-market by uniting behind a common goal with a tight deadline.  This is especially important for virtual teams. 

Simplify Work Processes

A friend was recently telling me a story of bureaucracy.  She didn’t call it bureaucracy, but her frustration was obvious.  To implement a change that sped up the process and was a change that operations desired, she had to obtain approvals from her boss’ boss, the operator’s boss, and a person in the IT department.  To submit the change order, she needed to get access to an antiquated computer system for which the organization had no internal training. 

If you want to improve innovation performance, you need to simplify your processes and procedures.  Agile processes, like Scrum, offer the advantage of focused teamwork and quick feedback from customers.  The Agile Manifesto, commands us to emphasize people and interactions over paperwork and bureaucracy.  Let your NPD teams work on what they do best – designing and developing new features and technologies. 

Measure What Matters

Human beings are programmed to perform our best against the metrics by which our behavior is measured.  If your dad gave you a dollar for every hour you were quiet on a road trip, you could manage to be silent for hours on end.  If your boss measures efficiency to award your bonus, you will strive to eliminate waste. 

Innovations take time to pay off.  Short-term metrics drive short-term performance resulting in mundane, incremental products.  Developing new technologies and new markets are long-term investments and innovation rewards must recognize learning and growth as a purpose of new product development research, as well as product profitability.  Building effective, cross-functional teams is a stepping stone in the journey of improving innovation performance. 

Improving Innovation Performance

Innovation is important in every organization.  They say if businesses don’t innovate, they die.  Customers demand new and better products and services, and companies no longer have the advantage of geographical or technological monopolies.  To improve innovation performance, we must share the driving purpose and strategy.  Innovation requires change and as flagship innovation leaders, we must communicate the need for change. 

Next, innovation succeeds when creativity is unhindered.  Simplify your processes and procedures and let the NPD teams be free to do their work without complicated bureaucracy or reporting authority.  Finally, measure what matters.  Innovation is a long-term adventure where learning is paramount.  Experimentation often results in short-term failure yet innovation leaders value knowledge above short-term stock prices. 

Do You Want to Improve Your Innovation Performance?

If so, what are you waiting for?  Check out our 20 Days of Innovation in 2020 to receive a fresh innovation tip in your inbox daily during the month of January.  It’s not spammy and it’s free – sign up here.

About Me

I am inspired by writing, teaching, and coaching.    I tackle life with an infusion of rigor, zeal, and faith.    It brings me joy to help you build innovation leaders.    I am an experienced professional with a passion for lifelong learning with a PhD in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Computer and Information Decision Making.    My credentials include PE (State of Louisiana), NPDP, PMP®, and CPEM, and I am a DiSC® certified facilitator.    Contact me at info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281 + phone 280-8717 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.            Learn.            Earn.            Simple.

Innovation Leaders Build Team Diversity

We are all taught that innovation and creativity increase when there is diversity in team membership.  We are told that teams with representatives from different groups and that interchange members frequently will outperform teams that have long-standing members.  Yet, leaders intuitively know that familiar teams are more productive and efficient than groups with more fluid memberships.

Watch the 20-second summary and then Read On!

What is an Innovation Team?

Innovation teams are groups of individuals seeking a common goal to create a new “something” that brings value to both users and producers.  Typically, innovation teams generate new, improved, or enhanced products and services within known markets.  Often, new product development (NPD) involves new technologies or new applications; occasionally, NPD means business development to create a new market.

NPD and innovation teams are usually small with membership of six to ten people of various skills.  The best NPD teams are cross-functional and involve all the necessary disciplines to transform an idea into a commercial product.  Ultimately, success of new products is defined by revenue and sales volume.

Team Diversity

Innovation teams do need diversity to be successful, but many companies misinterpret what “team diversity” means.  It is not uncommon for uninformed managers to define diversity purely along lines of gender and ethnicity.  Team diversity for innovation means creating a team with a wide range of technical experiences, educational backgrounds, and industrial exposure.  Again, each function necessary to transform the idea into a realistic product or service must be represented on the team.

Team diversity also means that members have different styles of thinking and working.  If everyone on the team – regardless of function – bases decisions on detailed statistical analysis, the emotional needs of customers are neglected.  Conversely, if every team member is people-oriented and sympathetic to independent consumer needs, a single product can never be designed for profitability or ease-of-use.  This type of diversity goes well beyond skin color or gender identification.

Familiar Teams vs. Changing Members

Robert Huckman and Bradley Staats argue that familiar and intact teams offer advantages to project outcomes in the areas of quality and efficiency (Harvard Business Review, 2013).  Familiar teams can predict actions and needs within their membership, and therefore, can outperform teams with frequent changes in membership.  

The standard argument against keeping innovation teams intact for lengthy periods is that they would become stale and isolated.  Such teams are assumed to have built-in biases and assumptions that prevent them from recognizing new opportunities and from being creative.  Instead, familiar teams are better able to identify knowledge gaps and can be more flexible when unexpected project changes emerge.

Your Role as an Innovation Leader

Innovation leaders wear many hats.  One is to compose and manage the innovation team.  Successful innovation comes from being able to transform ideas into commercial products and services.  Profitability derives from getting to market first (or fast) and maintaining market share.  Customer satisfaction is built on quality of products and services and customer loyalty is generated when firms release new products that meet their needs.

Designing an NPD team focused on a common purpose (such as commercial success, profitability, and customer satisfaction) requires a leader who can manage diverse team members over the long run.  Team member diversity means more about functional experiences and identifying with the customer than race and gender.  Successful innovation leaders value cross-functional and multi-disciplinary teams that know one another well enough to adapt to change.  A continuous focus on the team’s common goals is the most important message a leader sends.

Your Next Steps

Learn more about teams and leadership for innovation in our Innovation Best Practices and NPDP prep courses.  Check out the 1Q2020 schedule here.  You can also read more about innovation leadership and team development in Chapter 4 of  The Innovation ANSWER Book, available from Amazon here.  Also, be sure to check out our complimentary webinar on Transitioning from a Technical Role to Management on Friday, 13 December 2019 at noon CST (1 pm EST, 10 am PST).  Register here.

About Me

I am inspired by writing, teaching, and coaching.  I tackle life with an infusion of rigor, zeal, and faith.   It brings me joy to help you build innovation leaders.  Teresa Jurgens-Kowal is an experienced innovation professional with a passion for lifelong learning with a PhD in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Computer and Information Decision Making.  My credentials include PE (State of Louisiana), NPDP, PMP®, and CPEM, and I am a DiSC® certified facilitator.  Contact me at info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281 + phone 280-8717 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

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A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

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Questioning for Creative Leadership

We are always told to be good listeners.  Our moms and grade school teachers often told us to “shush and listen.”  And as adults, as many of us think we are good listeners as we think are good drivers.  (By the way, that’s a lot more than 50%, leading to an irrational conclusion.)

Active listening is more than just hearing what someone says.  Listening involves silencing our own thoughts and opinions, connecting empathetically with the speaker, and providing feedback.  The best way to provide feedback and to gauge if you really, truly understand what someone has said is through questioning.  I’ve observed that there are two general forms of questions:  transactional queries and questions for reflection.

Transactional Questions

In a market economy, we exchange money for a product.  Just as in a commercial exchange, conversation and dialogue can be transactional.  If there are multiple product choices with comparable features and functions, a rational consumer selects the least expensive product.  The decision is based on logic and the transaction is designed to minimize time, effort, and resources.

Some conversations are transactional in nature and should be.  “What time does the meeting start?” and “Where is the restaurant?” are responsible transactional questions that allow us to increase our efficiency and productivity.  The responses are typically used to complete the exchange, just as handing money to a cashier completes the purchase.  “The meeting starts at 10 am” and “The restaurant is at 123 Main Street”.

We use transactional queries to obtain data.  Remember that data and information are different.  Information allows us to make decisions, create opportunities, and to expand our knowledge of a given situation.  In a transactional conversation, we exchange impersonal data and the individuals may translate that data to information on their own.

For example, if I know that the meeting starts at 10 am and is held at a restaurant on Main Street (data), I will plan to leave my office at 9 am since I also know it is a one-hour drive.  Converting the transactional conversation to information also tells me that I need to take dimes and quarters with me to put in the parking meters on Main Street.

Reflection

While my decision to leave at 9 am and carry small change with me is not necessarily creative, it does explain another level of communication.  Questions for reflection use “right-brain” thinking to analyze the conversational feedback, to draw conclusions, and to offer alternatives.  For instance, I could have countered the restaurant location with a suggestion to meet at a different place that allows me to take a shorter drive.

It is through questions for reflection that we build creativity.  Innovation is enhanced when we look at things from a different perspective and try to envision a unique outcome.  Transactional queries normally limit the participants from seeing alternatives but can support incremental improvements and operational efficiencies.

Leadership Questioning Skills

How do you know if you’re asking transactional or reflective questions?  As an innovation leader, you want to drive creativity and encourage alternatives in new product development (NPD).  You want to empower your team to listen and to learn.

Transactional questions, potentially hindering radical innovation, are easily rephrased to “yes” or “no” inquiries.  We could easily have said “Is the meeting at 10 am?” instead of asking what time the meeting is scheduled.  This gives us a strong clue that the question is purely transactional.

Another indication is that the response to a transactional query is quick.  The meeting time is known so there’s no hesitation in providing the answer to the question.  At most, people will need to check their calendars to confirm the data.

On the other hand, reflective questions introduce a pause in the pace of the conversation.  A person has to stop and think about how s/he might respond.  The response provides information and not just data.  And, information allows us to take on different perspectives and to generate alternative solutions.  An indication that a question is designed for reflection is that a “yes” or “no” answer would be totally inappropriate. 

Creativity is driven by viewing problems from different perspectives.  Those viewpoints should include all potential stakeholders, including designers and developers, functional organizational representatives, customers, and end-users.  Understanding the entire ecosystem of innovation lays out the scope of a new product development effort.

Customers and Open Innovation

When customers are involved in innovation, we call it open innovation.  While customers cannot tell us what features and specifications they want in a new product, they can answer our questions and we gather both data and information.  It’s important, however, to focus customer interactions on qualitative data, such as that gathered through reflective questions.  Market research and open innovation are driven by understanding and empathizing with customer needs.  And only when this information is collated, can a development team go into the labs and pilot plants to design a new product or service.

While questions for reflections are best used in gathering customer impressions and feedback, there is a place in innovation for transactional questions.  Of course, these are often limited to setting pricing parameters and in A/B market testing.  You’ll also want to collect and analyze demographic and geographic data about potential customers since this can frame future marketing efforts.

Questioning for Innovation Leaders

Leaders set the tone for the culture and climate of an organization.  Restrictive, distrustful environments hamper creativity and are often characterized by strict boundaries and constraints.  In these situations, questions are largely transactional.  Managers are tracking directives for scope, budget, and schedule metrics.

In open, creative cultures, leaders provide freedom and autonomy for innovation teams.  Questions seek knowledge building and deeper understanding.  Open-ended questions without right or wrong answers can stimulate perspective-taking and novel approaches to solving problems.  Involving customers and end-users in creative questioning can improve innovation exponentially.

Summary and Learn More

Learning to ask good questions and to fully listen to the response are skills that can be honed and grown through training and coaching.  We can each practice creative leadership questioning by converting transactional queries into questions for reflection.

Learn more at our complimentary webinar on 13 December 2019 at noon CST (1 pm EST, 10 am PST).  We will discuss the Transition from a Technical Role to Leadership.  Register here.

About Me

I am inspired by writing, teaching, and coaching to build innovation leaders.  I tackle life with an infusion of rigor, zeal, and faith.  I am an experienced professional with a passion for lifelong learning with a PhD in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Computer and Information Decision Making.  My credentials include PE (State of Louisiana), NPDP, PMP®, and CPEM, and I am a DiSC® certified facilitator.  Contact me at info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281 + phone 280-8717 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

The 3Cs of Innovation

Innovation is both easy and complicated.  The easy part of innovation is focusing on customer needs and the complicated part of innovation is … focusing on customer needs.  Customers vary and our ability to serve them depends on three key aspects of a company’s strategy:  choice, collaboration, and competency. 

Read on or watch the 30-second summary below.

Choice

Firms have many choices in innovation.  First, a company can choose to serve a broad customer base or a narrow market segment.  In choosing a broad market, companies often look to cost competency for a leadership position.  However, when products compete on price, customers lack loyalty to the brand.  Serving a narrow market segment, on the other hand, allows a firm to create products and services that are differentiated.  Typically, these markets allow the firm to charge a premium and generate significant revenues.  But, of course, there is no utopia.  Choosing a narrow market segment for innovation ties a firm to a specific pattern of development and technology.  If an unhealthy marketplace matures, it can be disastrous to revenues. 

Next, new product development (NPD) choices also involve the degree of innovativeness.  Are products simple line extensions or are they radical departures from existing competition?  These business choices reflect investment, risk, and global economic conditions. 

Finally, innovation choice includes decisions matching product development with strategy.  Some firms are more risk tolerant or cash poor than others.  These choices reflect strategic decisions to grow the business or to expand in existing markets.  One of the most frequently cited failures of NPD is a lack of strategic alignment; therefore, choices of product and service development efforts must closely align with growth objectives for the company. 

Collaboration

Cross-functional teams that work together from idea to launch are proven to be most successful in NPD.  Collaboration means more than naming individuals from different functions to be part of the “team”.  It means sharing ideas and problem solving with various perspectives, including the customer’s view.  True collaboration crosses departmental barriers and external boundaries.

Collaboration also means the team shares trust.  Trust requires sharing vulnerability and a social contract among innovation team members.  New products will be “ho-hum” if team members do not trust one another enough to share crazy ideas and so-called “outside-the-box” thinking.  The more risk involved in an innovation the more trust is necessary for the team. 

Competency

Quality in design and competency of execution differentiate the best companies from average ones.  To always consider the customers viewpoint and what service means is a hallmark of a firm delivering high quality.  Such companies hire, train, and nurture innovation competences in all of their employees.  And competency feeds back in a continuous loop to customer intimacy – understanding needs and wants. 

Training is the starting point to build competency for a quality-driven innovation organization.  Sustaining best practices through coaching can take an organization to even higher levels of success.  In the Flagship Innovation Leadership program, we recommend both individual coaching and master mind groups for senior leaders.  Both opportunities increase accountability and accelerate learning. 

The 3Cs of Innovation

Innovation should be simple, yet in practice is often quite challenging.  The 3Cs of innovation help teams and leaders to focus on what is most important to create success for new product and service design.  First, the company must choose who the customers are.  Innovation takes different forms, risk, and investment for broad markets or narrow customer segments.  Customer choices align with the organization’s strategic growth goals. 

Next, innovation teams must collaborate across functional barriers and with external stakeholders to be successful.  Collaboration is built on trust and trust is essential for taking on disruptive innovation.  Finally, successful innovation requires competency to deliver high quality results.  NPD team members build competency with customer interactions and training in innovation best practices (check out our 1Q2020 innovation training schedule here).  Organizational leaders grow their competency through coaching and sharing with others in master mind groups.  Join us for an Innovation Master Mind pilot on Friday, 22 November at noon CST (register here). 

Your Next Steps

Consider how NPD project choices are effectively implementing strategic goals.  Then, ensure your teams are cross-functional and collaborative.  Finally, implement training to sustain quality through competency.  Read more about innovation best practices in my new book, The Innovation ANSWER Book, available from Amazon here.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.