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What Innovation Leaders Do Differently

In a lot of ways, innovation is a mystery.  It does not happen spontaneously, but it occurs in an instant.  Innovation is not the work of a lone genius, but it requires independent hard work.  It is not easy, but it is rewarding. 

Because it is so hard to characterize, innovation is also hard to define.  Is innovation just something new?  Or is innovation only a new use for something old?  Does innovation make life easier for some and bring profit to others?  Can innovation happen on the micro-scale as well as in the macro-environment? 

The answer is “Yes” – yes, to all these questions and more.  Innovation is the art and science of creating a new product, service, or technology that brings value to both customer and provider.  Innovation is leading greatness. 

Leadership and Innovation

While companies often struggle with repeatable innovation success, I argue that success with innovation is bound by leadership.  True leaders recognize and nurture the growth of innovation in their teams.  Innovation leadership is more than funding R&D or designing a clever marketing program.  Leadership in innovation requires an in-depth understanding of the organization’s culture, your customers, and even of yourself.  There are four levels to building innovation leadership:  learning, adopting, transforming, and sustaining. 

Learning

A learning organization is one that recognizes the importance of long-term, sustained innovation.  Yet, they don’t know how to get there.  These organizations inherently appreciate that standing still and hoping for our “old normal” isn’t going to happen.  But they don’t know what to change to take advantage of the next phase of economic growth. 

Learning organizations focus on strategic development, opportunity identification, and market insights.  Strategy integrates vision, mission, and values of the organization.  Where do you want to go, how will you get there, and what are your common beliefs?  Market insights mean you have an in-depth understanding of customers, trends, markets, and competition in your industry. 

Adopting

Once you understand the market space and your unique approach to customer needs, then you – as an innovation leader – make decisions about projects and pathways to achieve goals.  We all have more ideas than time, resources, and money.  Adopting innovation leaders apply tools, like new product development (NPD) processes, to frame decisions for generating value.  Great leaders are willing to accept calculated risk.  Winning the war is more important than 100% success in every small battle.  Failure in innovation is treated as learning and not as a time to blame or punish.  (Note that NPD processes cover a wide range of frameworks and approaches.  Read more in The Innovation ANSWER Book, Chapter 3.)  

Transforming

Many organizations stop once they have systems and processes in place to manage product innovation projects.  That’s okay but it’s not leadership.  Innovation leaders seek to transform the organization to drive higher level creativity and more satisfaction with customers.  Again, this is a decision-making process, but instead of focusing on each step in executing a project, transformative leaders aim to drive change in the culture and behaviors of team members.  Open cultures that tolerate constrained risk and defined exploration tend to be more innovative.  Train your teams in creative processes (like design thinking) and allow them freedom and autonomy to discover new and interesting relationships among customer needs, technologies, and market trends.  (Join our virtual Design Thinking workshop here.) 

Sustaining

One success is good.  Two or three successes is great.  Repeatable innovation success is terrific!  The way to achieve fantastic results in satisfying customers with continued innovation is by sustaining learning and growth.  Innovation leaders and teams need ongoing support and challenge for continued success. 

Because product innovation is often an isolated role within companies, many innovation leaders use a master mind or other peer support group to challenge their growth and curiosity.  Master mind groups allow innovation leaders to share with like-minded peers to speed learning for implementation success.  Trust among members allow you to go beyond your own constraints and boundaries as you both give and receive help. 

Innovation Leaders are Different

Operational managers and functional department heads are judged on hitting easily measurable targets, such as cost of production or number of widgets manufactured.  Success of innovation leaders is not as clear cut and success is defined by strategic objectives and customer satisfaction.  Thus, the goal posts are constantly moving. 

However, innovation leaders can build success for themselves, their teams, and their organizations by creating a framework for long-term change.  Innovation cultures learn from the opportunities presented to them, adopt industry best practices, and transform their organizations with defined decisions.  Truly successful innovation leaders continue the journey by sustaining growth and learning to establish cultures and relationships that support creativity and freedom. 

What is Your Level of Innovation Maturity?

Take the Innovation Health Assessment™ to identify your organization’s innovation maturity level.  (Free registration here to maintain integrity of the database.)  If you are a learning organization, what is your strategy?  If you are an adopting organization, what are your decision-making processes?  If you are a transforming organization, how can you further build teamwork and creative collaboration?  If you are a sustaining organization, how do you give your innovation leader support? 

One way to gain cross organization knowledge of product innovation is through the New Product Development Professional (NPDP) certification.  Register here for our next course in January 2021. 

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 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

This was first published on the blog at www.Simple-PDH.com. Follow me on Twitter @globalnpd.

Tools for Product Innovation

I love my hobbies.  Hobbies give us an escape from the stress of daily life and restore our inner peace.  They also allow us an opportunity to explore new ideas and to be creative.  My longtime followers, friends, and colleagues know that my favorite hobby is scrapbooking. 

One of my great pleasures that enriches my hobby is attending craft shows.  I am desperately hoping our newly tyrannical governments will once again allow such crowded, busy, and fun events!  At craft shows, I watch vendors demonstrate new tools and techniques.  I rub shoulders with other creative people sharing my hobby.  This encourages me to try new things and it expands my own creativity.  (Yes, there’s a reason I have glitter on my shoes!)

As product innovation professionals, we also need to expand our creativity and learn new things.  Perhaps more important, we must maintain our ability to generate new ideas and to examine our product portfolios with new perspectives.  And, just like the coolest news stamping platform or die cut machine for scrapbooking, we need to try new tools for creating, designing, and developing new products. 

Ideation Tools

The earliest stage of the product design and development process is ideation – kind of a fancy word for idea generation.  (Read more about the stages in the Product Design Process here.)  Formally, ideation is defined as a “creative process to generate and communicate ideas and concepts within the new product development (NPD) ecosystem”.  Let’s look at a few common ideation tools. 

SCAMPER

SCAMPER (read more here) is an acronym that uses verbs to stimulate new viewpoints toward a product solution.  You can apply the SCAMPER technique to an existing product, a new product, or a general customer problem.  The acronym is:

  • S = Substitute
  • C = Combine
  • A = Adapt
  • M = Modify
  • P = Put to Another Use
  • E = Eliminate
  • R = Reverse

Check out my Skillshare class here for more information and an example of apply SCAMPER.

Brainstorming and Brainwriting

Brainstorming is a traditional method of idea generation, often used in groups.  A problem statement is presented, and the group is encouraged to speak freely about potential solutions.  People are encouraged, but not required, to build from existing ideas and to even come up with ideas that defy science and logic (can anyone say lockdown or facemask?).

On the other hand, brainwriting (read more about this tool in Chapter 2 of The Innovation ANSWER Book) is a quieter activity, still utilizing free association and even wild ideas.  In brainwriting, each individual writes an idea on a sheet of paper and passes the paper to another member of the group.  Each person subsequently builds on the ideas they receive.  The activity is timed to further drive creativity.  After a few rounds, each idea originator shares the “best” idea. 

Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is also a free association method of generating ideas but is often used individually rather than in groups.  (Read more here.)  It is a graphical technique in which a core problem is presented and ideas or concepts are documented as words, phrases, or figures.  Clustering and grouping of ideas are conducted in the second stage.  Usually, each word or concept leads to additional “layers” of words and concepts so that the end result is reminiscent of a spiderweb. 

Customer-Focus

Several ideations techniques directly involve the customer.  This is highly beneficial for new product development since we intensify our focus on customer needs, thoughts, and perspectives without the bias of technology or pre-determined solutions. 

The ethnographic approaches to ideation are based on observing customers in their own environments where they face problems and use product solutions.  Complex challenges are better evaluated when an innovation team examines behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, and preferences at once. 

Another customer-focused ideation method is A Day in the Life.  This is essentially “shadowing” the customer to uncover routines, behaviors, and circumstances they face when using different products and services.  It also captures emotional aspects of product usage for further ideation and analysis. 

Another way to capture emotional inputs is through empathy analysis.  This is a way in which innovation teams connect with and understand customers deeply and share a direct emotional connection with them.  Empathy means understanding the customers problems from their point of view. 

From these customer-focused methods, the innovation design team may develop one or more personas.  A persona is a fictional character based on composite, objective, and direct observations of groups of users.  These personas become “typical” consumers for whom the innovation design team describes in terms of demographics, behaviors, attitudes, styles, and preferences.  Products and services are designed, therefore, to meet satisfy the needs of a specific persona.  This improves long-term product design and launch success. 

Ideation Tools for Design

Designing and developing new products and services is never easy but is always fun!  We use a variety of tools, techniques, and methodologies in the early stages of the product design process to expand creativity and to generate, develop, and communicate new ideas.  We use ideation for all activities and processes that broaden a set of solution alternatives for a consumer problem.  Ideation tools are also applied in risk management, troubleshooting for operations and in any situation where creativity is important in finding an ultimate solution. 

Just like we attend classes, conferences, and exhibits to expand creativity for our hobbies, we also must use similar opportunities to expand creativity for product development.  Ideation tools can be used individually or in combination to generate new alternatives for designing and developing products and services that solve customer challenges.  Many ideation tools use the power of a group to build on ideas and concepts but many of the tools are used independently to help an individual focus on troubleshooting solutions (e.g. SCAMPER, mind mapping, and empathy analysis). 

Learn More

Of course you must start with the vision – or strategy – before you jump into ideation.  I used to have hobbies of quilting, knitting, cross-stitching, and scrapbooking.  I had too many ideas and too little time.  Over the years, I have narrowed my focus and increased my talent in scrapbooking and card-making.  That’s a result of a strategic analysis.  With a strategy in place, new ideas are more cost-effective and lead to greater payoff. 

Do you know your strategy?  Is it time to refocus or narrow your focus?  Join me for the two-part Reset Your Strategy workshop on 18 and 20 August.  Register here – special discounts for the unemployed.

Reset Your Strategy

Reset Your Strategy is a four-hour workshop that will help you independently answer this question.  We will provide the theory, frameworks, and tools so that you will leave the workshop with a specific, actionable strategy to take you out of 2020.  Register here.  We have special discounts for anyone who is unemployed right now.  And, with all the depressing news on television and the radio, I promise to leave you laughing with our top-secret and mega-fun contest during the workshop (attendees only).

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

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 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

Have You Missed the Digital Transformation?

I never cease to be amazed at the number of buzzwords that enter our vocabulary.  Good ideas become nauseating when entrenched in bad phrases.  Of course, the idea of keeping sick people away from old people or those with weakened immune systems is good, yet the phrase “social distancing” is oxymoronic and getting very, very old very, very quickly. 

Digital transformation is another phrase that shot off like a firework but really doesn’t have a lot of teeth in its meaning.  The idea of digital transformation is that all businesses should read recognize technology is a constant and growing component of products and services.  Yet a whole lexicon of “digital” words has sprung up to describe a simple evolution in product innovation. 

Digital Innovation

One new phrase is “digital innovation.”  It means applying digital technology to increase operational efficiency, drive customer engagement, or to develop innovation products and services.  Frankly, this is a very broad definition and can hearken back to the good – but simple – idea that computers can do basic calculations faster than humans.  We have been using digital technology throughout my entire life to improve operations.  For example, petrochemical plants are controlled via a DCS (digital control systems) that monitors temperature, pressure, flow rates, and valve positions.  This is not a “new” concept.

What is somewhat different in the past few decades is evolution of a “digital strategy”.  Instead of tacking on an application or programming for a product after it is designed and developed, innovative companies today recognize the importance of integrating technology throughout the development stages. 

Digital Integration

Technology generally allows us to move product innovation at a faster pace.  Using social media and 3D printing to generate prototypes, new product development (NPD) practitioners garner rapid customer feedback.  We conduct many more inexpensive trials before freezing the design. 

Further, when software is fully integrated into a product’s functionality, features can be changed and adapted on an ongoing basis.  We can customize many of the features and functions of products and services for each individual user.  Digital transformation thereby enhances the relationship between the customer and the producer. 

Advance Your Digital Transformation

Did you miss the digital transformation?  Don’t feel bad if you missed the ascension and collapse of a buzzword.  It’s likely your company did not miss opportunities to integrate technology into product design or customer experience.  Using technology to analyze large data sets and to cull insights from qualitative measures is commonplace. 

If your organization is not integrating applications, software, and IT into product and service development, you do need a digital strategy.  The digital strategy also identifies how competitors are using technology to gain market share.  If you are falling short, you may need to consider simple steps such as how to reshape your organization using apps or text messages to gain customer feedback. 

Don’t Miss Another Opportunity

Language, phrases, and buzzwords don’t tell the whole story.  You need to look at your basic processes and systems.  Product innovation starts with proven best practices, customized to ensure competitive advantage.  If you are trying to integrate digital strategy or trying to figure out what to do emerging from the corona-panic, you must join our online Reset Your Strategy workshop.  Click here to pre-register (special rates for unemployed).  Contact me at info@globalnpsolutions.com or area code (281) phone 787-3979 for more information.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

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 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

Using PESTLE in a Recovery Strategy

Watch the short video (<1 minute) and then read on for all the details!

While our country has never before shuttered the economy, we have also never been faced with such challenges in innovation in business.  “Experts” predict V-shaped and U-s0haped recoveries.  Personally, the prediction of a “swoosh”-shaped recovery seems more reasonable; and it gives me hope for fan-based sports in its terminology, too. 

Regardless of size or scope of your business, the so-called “reopening” allows you a chance to reset your strategy.  In an earlier post, we discussed using SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) as a strategic assessment of your internal capabilities.  Opportunities and threats are external drivers in the model, yet how do you ascertain competitor actions when the shape of the business landscape has shifted irreversibly?

This is where another strategy planning tool can be of essence in resetting your business and innovation strategies.  PESTLE is a technique that forces an organization to examine trends outside their control, narrowing the possible scenarios for future conditions.  The acronym PESTLE represents political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental situations and trends. 

Political

In the US, the corona-panic has illuminated some strong political trends that are likely to continue unabated into the future.  First, increased socialism and government control is likely.  American citizens have demonstrated they will give up fundamental rights (e.g. the right to assembly and the right to religious freedom) when threatened with an unspecified health fear.  It is unwise to trust that all elected and appointed government officials will treat their power with fairness and justice. 

Second, policy makers have realized that using the word “science” in any conversation is effective to convince the electorate to succumb any personal responsibility or liberty.  Many US citizens have only a limited math or science education (and, unfortunately, we continue to fall behind most other first world nations), so telling someone it is “science” without providing factual data is proof enough for most. 

How do these political trends impact your business and innovation strategies?  Are you positioned to take advantage of growing government bureaucracies?  Will you be nimble enough to navigate a flurry and inconsistent network of illogical rules and regulations again?

Economic

There are not enough words in my vocabulary to describe the economic damage of the corona-panic.  As we plan new business and innovation strategies, one key economic trend stands out.  Debt.  Before the corona-panic, the US economy was already headed toward an unsustainable debt-to-GDP ratio.  With massive stimulus bills and shrinking output, the debt-to-GDP ratio is at astronomical levels, never seen before – even in times of war. 

With a fiat currency (meaning printed money and not based on bullion value), increased debt means inflation and higher taxes.  How can you incorporate these threats into your business and innovation strategies going forward?  What does it mean for product pricing strategies?

Social

Social trends are yet to be determined coming out of the corona-panic.  There are some people who had readily believe the disastrously wrong models from government agencies and consequently believe any social interaction will result in immediate death.  Many of us have looked at the data and will continue to want to live our lives with normal human contact:  going to the movies, concerts, and trade shows. 

As an individual, I dread the trend away from face-to-face events.  It is nearly impossible to meet new people and to connect in a virtual world.  The coffee pot conversations, lunch discussions, and happy hour connections at events allow us to interact as human beings were designed to do.  No one should be expected to sit in front of a computer screen for hours (or days) on end and expect to build an important relationship. 

Yet, as you reset your business and innovation strategies, virtual meetings are, at least, a short-term reality.  How can you involve customers in your product innovation work in a virtual world?  How will you plan for qualitative feedback when you can’t see your potential customers?  What does “moving online” mean for your business?

Technology

With the advent of doing everything virtually and without contact, your business and innovation strategies must incorporate technological changes.  We are sure to see a slew of new technical tools (other than zoom, I hope!) to run our business in a digital, nonhuman world.  There are also going to be more frequent and more numerous cyberattacks.  Are you building IT strength into your business and innovation strategies?  Digital transformation trends will continue to dominate physical product development.  Are you linking “digital” applications with all hardware development?

Legal

There is no doubt that legal implications will continue to grow as the world emerges from the corona-panic.  HR experts will tell you that if your employees are afraid of getting sick at work, you will need to make a legal disability accommodation and let them work from home.  How will you monitor project work and schedules when your staff does not meet together?

Further, if one of your team members coughs or sneezes, how do you treat that?  If another team member catches a cold, will she sue you?  I believe there will be a whole host of new illnesses arising from the overuse of cleaning products.  Government “experts” are encouraging nearly continuous use of hand sanitizer, yet I am reminded that it is the only solution I use to effectively remove bicycle grease.  Once I spilled a few drops of hand sanitizer on my desk and it removed the varnish.  Are you prepared for a trend of chronic diseases from chemical usage in a workplace?  What other legal implications threaten your business or the introduction of a new product?

Environmental

As a result of the corona-panic, I believe there are favorable environmental trends to influence our business and innovation strategies.  The tremendous hit that oil and gas took during the panic creates opportunities for petrochemical manufacturing.  Distribution costs should decline as diesel and jet fuel are less expensive.  Peoples’ fears regarding short-term environmental destruction have been replaced with an immediate health and safety fear.  While both fears are completely irrational (and not based on existing data but so-called “science”), environmental restrictions will be loosened in many areas so business can get going again.  For example, allowing a truck driver to haul two trailers in tandem versus a single trailer might benefit how your products get to market. 

Use PESTLE to Design a Recovery Strategy

Every business, large or small, must deeply probe its innovation strategy today.  Understanding and studying external opportunities and threats can help you formulate an effective recovery strategy.  Use PESTLE to identify trends impacting innovation and business conditions during “reopening”. 

What political trends are happening locally or nationally to threaten your business?  Will the economic conditions (especially increasing debt, inflation, and taxes) cause a change in your business structure?  Which societal trends will allow you to grow and which fears of society might threaten your innovation programs?

Examine technology advances and incorporate enhanced cyber security into your strategies.  Be prepared for a slew of legal actions, especially as elections are anticipated and the way we vote in a democracy is changed away from secure and known trends.  How will employee behaviors influence your strategies to prepare for health and safety lawsuits?  Finally, are there any environmental trends that can open opportunities or provide a benefit to your innovation strategy?

Learn More about Strategy

Strategy lays the groundwork for all innovation work.  If you don’t know what your strategy is, you cannot succeed.  Contact me at area code 281, phone 787-3979 for a complimentary 30-minute innovation coaching session.  We will discuss how you can apply SWOT and PESTLE in your own unique business situation to immediately see results. 

Other Resources

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

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 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

Mixed Skills for Work Today

Watch the short summary (less than 1 minute) and then read the full article below.

At the Fall 2019 AIChE conference for chemical engineers, keynote speaker Matt Sigelman presented the importance of developing and supplementing skills forproduct development and leadership.  He made the distinction of “jobs” as doing tasks while “work” is renting a set of skills.  To succeed in a changing workplace, Sigelman puts forth that we must continue to grow and enhance our skills.  I agree!

What are Skills?

Formal education gives us knowledge and some skills.  As a chemical engineer, I have learned theories of math, chemistry, and physics.  This knowledge is measurable in a quantitative way.  There is a “right” answer to a calculus problem or to balancing heat and energy in a standard chemical stoichiometry. 

Skills we learn in school or with work experience include analytical capability, writing, research, and creativity.  These skills are not necessarily measurable but do differentiate success as innovation leaders.  For example, the demand for team collaboration skills at work is in high demand for at least one-third of jobs today.

Mixed Skills

Sigleman defined “hybrid jobs” as work activities that require both specialized technical skills (e.g. math, chemistry, physics) and critical skills (e.g. people and processes).  Job growth and education experience change at 1-2% per year, but skills change as much as 40% per years.  Successful new product development (NPD) practitioners and product managers must not only maintain current knowledge in their field of specialization but also grow and enhance their leadership skills.  This means learning and practicing sound project management protocols while also adopting and sustaining team development practices.

Today’s most important jobs require mixed skills.  Data scientists cannot be content with analyzing a set of numbers.  They must translate that data into information on which to base technology and market growth activities.  Technical skills must balance against communication and decision-making skills.  New Product Development Professionals (NPDP) use quantitative market data to estimate pricing and market capacity for product innovations.  Yet, it is qualitative interpretation of customer knowledge that leads innovation leaders to product development decisions, profitability, and improved market share.

Building Mixed Skills

Lifelong learning and a commitment to growth are the fuel to build mixed skills for today’s job market.  As noted at the AIChE conference, credential demonstrate expertise and mastery of mixed skills.  Innovation leaders use NPDP certification as a stepping stone for product management career growth illustrating experience with product portfolio management and NPD processes as well as team management and leadership development.

You can learn more about NPDP certification here.  Benchmark your own innovation maturity with the Innovation Health Assessment™.  Take the complimentary Innovation Health Assessment here.  Contact me at info@Simple-PDH.com for more information on developing your skills for a rewarding career in product innovation.

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

You Get What You Pay For

The old saying goes, “There’s no free lunch”.  I think it’s true.  Almost no one is altruistic enough to offer something free with no strings attached.  My friend pays for lunch this time but next time I pay. 

Training is no different.  Today during (unconstitutional?) “stay-at-home” orders and government lockdowns, a lot of businesses have begun offering free training.  Some courses even come with certificates.  You have to ask yourself what do they expect in return and what is the quality of free training?

Quality Training

A quality training experience involves three things from the user’s viewpoint:

  • accurate information,
  • appropriate new skills, and
  • long-term viability. 

Let’s look at each of these to compare free training with a credentialed facilitation.

Accurate Information

Anyone can put together a YouTube video and type up a reference list.  However, a credential facilitator has demonstrated years of experience practicing in the field and in delivering proven outcomes to other clients.  Experienced facilitators are not only subject matter experts but also are skilled in the education process as well. 

Appropriate New Skills

Occasionally, we take refresher training to remind ourselves of basic skills or competencies.  Sometimes we take training on subjects we already know well because of government or trade association rules and regulations requiring demonstration of knowledge for renewal of a license or certificate. 

On the other hand, a lot of people today are presenting information they read in a book or in a magazine article as “new”.  Unless you have never before been hungry, are you really learning anything knew by watching a YouTube video on how to make a sandwich?

Valuable training and facilitation might cost more than watching a free YouTube video, but you will validate learning new skills as an outcome.  You should expect to do something you could not do before.  You should expect to trial and practice the new skill in the training course and get feedback from the instructor. 

A few years ago, I built Adirondack chairs for our patio.  I did not know how to use the router to smooth the edges of the wood.  So, I watched a bunch of YouTube videos.  But I did not learn how to use the router from the video – that only provided a view of how an expert used a router.  (See a related blog post, Innovation Leaders are NOT Teachers.)

Long-Term Viability

I have never used the router again.  This was not a skill that gave me long-term viability in my profession or my hobbies.  With shutdowns on lockdowns, people are producing crazy things and calling it “training”.  A lot of this free information is definitely short-term in nature, like how to exercise at home without weights.  To succeed as an innovation leader, you need long-term skills that benefit you today, tomorrow, and in five years. 

Real facilitation will give you skills that help you build your career (or hobby) for the long haul.  A credentialed trainer will support you in implementing skills even after the training session has concluded.  S/he will survey you and your manager to ensure you have been executing process steps accurately and that the organization has benefited from the training.  No YouTube video will ever ask you how you are doing three months later!

Why Not Free Training?

You get what you pay for.  Free training is generic and basic.  Customized facilitation from a long serving member of industry targets your needs to help you speed development.  They will work with you before, during, and after the training event to ensure your team gets accurate information, appropriate new skills, and long-term viability.  Expert facilitators maintain credentials with respected trade associations like the Project Management Institute (PMI®), the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA), and the American Society of Engineering Management (ASEM). 

Do you want to learn more about training for innovation or for leading cross-functional teams?  Please email me at info (at) Simple-PDH.com for more information on building innovation leaders. 

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

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 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

A Slow Recovery

Watch the 20-second summary and then read on!

Innovation leaders draw on stories to frame the context for new products and features.  We use these narratives to understand our customers – from their viewpoints – and to identify needs or opportunities.  We draw lessons from these stories to inform our approach to new problems based on how we solved a similar problem in the past.  Today, I’m going to share my story of recovery and apply it to how we can approach innovation in the current broken economy. 

Don’t Ride Your Bike in the Rain

About three and a half years ago, I broke my shoulder.  I rarely think about it now, but without an ability to work out for the past few weeks due to government lockdowns, I have had some discomfort in the joint.  Mostly, the accident was an interruption to my work and a nuisance to time management, but recovery from the injury was very slow. 

In October 2016, I checked the weather app on my phone.  No rain for 82 minutes.  “Great,” I thought.  That gave me time to ride a 12-mile route to the gym.  I assumed I could workout while it rained and head home after the storm passed.  Instead, a torrential rain stuck struck me about halfway into my ride.  The rain was so heavy I couldn’t see 10-feet ahead of me. 

Having had “safety” drilled into me from my work years at a petrochemical plant, I (ironically) decided to ride on the shoulder.  I thought it would be “safer’ than riding on the road like I usually do.  Unfortunately, I was unfamiliar with the shoulder which had lots of litter and I struck a large discontinuity in the pavement.  The next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground and couldn’t lift my arm. 

Ten days later, I had surgery to piece together the crushed bone.  The break was so severe that the doctor had ordered an artificial joint to be available in the surgery room in case the fragments of bone were too small to put together again. 

Keeping in mind that I’m normally very active – I don’t even know how to sit still for five minutes – the rehabilitation was excruciating for me.  The broken arm had to be in a sling for six weeks without movement to fuse the bone.  Six weeks!  And then physical therapy involved only stretching for several weeks.  I laughed when they finally allowed me to do bicep curls with a one-lb. weight.  I was used to bench-pressing 75% of my body weight. 

I worked and worked at the physical therapy.  They recommended doing at-home exercises a few times per week.  I did the exercises three times per day.  At the rehab center, I ramped up the weight, intensity, and duration of each exercise until I was the first patient in rehab to be released from the doctor’s care.  

For the next 18 months, I went to the gym religiously, sometimes twice per day.  When I traveled, I went to the hotel gym.  On car trips, I carried my own dumbbells and stretch bands so I could work out and heal quicker.  My overriding goal was to get back to normal.  And after 18 months, I could bench press just over 50% of my body weight.  (I lost more than five pounds in the first week after my accident and didn’t gain it back until this lockdown.)  This was/is a slow recovery!

Today’s Economic Depression

My shoulder has never gone back to “normal”.  I have lost flexibility and I feel an odd tightness at times – especially when I can’t workout.  On the other hand, I still love to ride my bike and bought a new road bike a year ago, converting (for the first time ever) to clipless pedals. 

The economic collapse caused by the government’s reactions to a virus impacting less than 1% of the population will have a slow recovery.  We are witnessing skyrocketing unemployment and debt which will surely be addressed with increased taxes and inflation.  Our way of life will never again be “normal”.  Like my shoulder, it might take 18 months to get close, but we will never have the flexibility we had before.  After all, like lemmings, we all dutifully take our shoes off for TSA with some strange assumption that the action makes us “safe”. 

Likewise, society will sacrifice rights for a vision of “safety”.  Without scientific data, people who are not sick will wear masks because a government bureaucrat told them to do it.  People will order food delivered to their home instead of shopping.  We will accept – as a society – a deterioration of civil rights in exchange for a continued facade of “safety” without explanation. 

Improvement

Instead of accepting that this is the so-called “new normal”, I challenge every innovation leader to work on improvement.  Just as I did after I broke my shoulder, we can test new products and ideas three times as frequently.  We can find new ways to do things so we can get back a semblance of normal.  But the journey will be slow.  It’s hard to rapidly influx a fearful public back into jobs when we’re told there are large groups of people who might have better financial benefits with stimulus than through the pride of getting up every day to go to work.

What Can You Do?

It takes hard work to recover from a sports injury.  The physical therapist told me I had to do more work to recover than an old person who had a shoulder surgery because I had been in great shape.  Our economy was roaring and now it is completely collapsed.  We have a long way to go.  The only way we get there – as innovation leaders – is through rigorous dedication to best practices.  Like physical exercise, best practices help us recover, even if the recovery is excruciatingly slow. 

If you want to speed your organization’s recovery during this economic downturn, please join me for a free webinar on 30 April 2020 at 1 pm CDT (2 pm EDT, 11 am PDT) for 20 Tips of Innovation in 2020.  Each unique company attendee receives a complimentary Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team™ Personal Development assessment and coaching session.  Register here. 

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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 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

Working in Virtual Teams

I had originally written this blog some time ago; however, as many people around the globe are being forced to work from home, I believe this post might be more relevant than ever.  Please note my personal best wishes for the wellbeing of you and your family until the craziness subsides.

Working in Virtual Teams

While much research has been published on why virtual teams fail, fewer publications have demonstrated what works.  We present a five-phase model that balances individual contributors, leadership skills, and necessary functional enablers.

What is a Virtual Team?

Virtual teams share three characteristics.  First, they are tasked with completing a common objective, meaning that there is a business need for the team to be assembled.  Second, team members are dispersed in different geographical locations or working from home.

Normally, we only think about dispersed team members located in different cities or in different time zones around the world.  In recent days, we also accept that panic and fear force dispersion for workers.  Any barrier to face-to-face communication results in a dispersed team.  For instance, team members located on different floors of the same building face barriers in face-to-face communication.  They must take an elevator or climb a flight of stairs to meet.  A chance interaction at the coffee pot or water cooler (do we still have these privileges?) is greatly reduced, even though these team members are theoretically “co-located”. 

Barriers to face-to-face communication reduce opportunistic social interactions, and decrease chances of random idea exchange and collaboration that lead to enhanced creative problem-solving. 

Finally, virtual teams conduct most of their communication by electronic technology.  Of course, many people today (especially millennials) choose to communicate through technology – texting instead of talking.  But in the case of a virtual team, electronic communication is the primary means of communication due to separation, distance, and time differences.

Improving Virtual Team Performance

The five-phase model to improve virtual team behaviors and to lead to enhanced performance includes:

  • Initiation and structure,
  • Methods of communication,
  • Meetings and protocols,
  • Knowledge management, and
  • Leadership.

Each foundational building block includes two or three specific tools, actions, or checklists that support the effectiveness of a virtual team.  For example, communication includes a recommended tool, a common practice, and a leadership action to get real results in virtual team performance.

Why Do We Need a Model for Virtual Teams?

Models help to frame the context and solution to problems.  Moreover, training participants in a given model establishes a common framework and provides clear expectations for team behaviors and performance.

We recommend training virtual teams on the five-stage model at the earliest group meetings.  One of the recommendations for a virtual project than is to hold a face-to-face meeting to ensure a common understanding.  The face-to-face kick-off meeting is also a time to develop special technical skills and team behaviors.  Technical training may include project management skills, software applications, and new product development processes.  Team training should include communication, leadership, and knowledge management.

Performance Measures

Projects are measured by their critical success factors determined during project initiation.  Likewise, virtual teams should be measured by team behaviors and metrics that are established for success of the team’s activities.  Virtual teams must have team metrics in order to support teamwork.

Many companies speak about teamwork but will evaluate employees on individual performance metrics.  The only way to enforce team behaviors is to include team measures in employee evaluations.  This is especially important for virtual teams in which a large amount of work is conducted independently and in isolation from others.  Such performance measure are a part of the Meetings and Protocols arena of the five-phase virtual team model (VTM). 

Identifying Virtual Team Members

Selecting team members to serve on a virtual team will be addressed in greater detail in a future post.  For now, however, be aware that virtual team members must have a different set of characteristics than those working in traditional, co-located teams.

First, virtual team members must demonstrate technical expertise.  One of the benefits of a virtual team is an ability to access technical experts regardless of their location.  Unique cultural, professional, and personal experiences yield a variety of perspectives that are advantageous to selecting technical expert talent on a virtual team.

Next, virtual team members require a higher degree of self-sufficiency, self-motivation, and emotional intelligence than traditional team members.  Team members may work in isolation without day-to-day routines or schedules.  Self-directed leadership is required for successful task completion.

Finally, dispersed team members should be skilled at operating within a virtual environment.  While they may not be computer wizards themselves, virtual team members must be tech-savvy in order to best utilize communication tools and shared knowledge to accomplish project work.

Learn How to Improve Virtual Team Performance

You can improve the performance of a virtual team by using the five-phase Virtual Team Model:  initiation and structure, communication, meetings and protocols, knowledge management, and leadership.  Learn how to improve your team’s performance in our online Virtual Team course.  Find out more here and register here.  Contact me at info@simple-pdh.com for questions/comments.

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A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

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Success for Innovation Leaders

One of the things I most love about Design Thinking is the opportunity to hear stories.  Everyone has a story to share; some are more far-fetched than others, but we all have a story to tell.  We laugh and we cry.  And, for those of us working in innovation and leadership, we learn. 

When we share our stories of our careers in innovation, we learn that no two people have followed the same path to success.  Many us have common themes in our career journeys but there is really no single way to achieve a position of success. 

What is Success in Innovation?

Of course, each of us has our own definition of success coupled with our own set of skills and accomplishments.  This is why each pathway to innovation leadership is so different.  Like many other New Product Development Professionals (NPDP), my background is technical.  As a Chemical Engineer fresh out of grad school, my first job was in research.  My supervisor honed and refined my leadership skills with training and job opportunities.  Over the years, I have tended toward areas of innovation that involve helping people learn and apply tools to improve their own systems and processes. 

Another person, who is also successful in innovation, started out as a retail sales clerk, and worked his way up in the sales division of his company.  He changed jobs a lot, going among firms closely related within one industry.  One day, he was tapped to lead a new marketing and innovation division; the organization recognized his quiet leadership skills and ability to connect with customers. 

The definition of success in innovation is never linked to just a title.  Being the CIO (Chief Innovation Officer) of an organization is a great position to hold, but only if you respect the role and responsibilities.  Success as an innovation leader means providing excellent service and skills to a market to improve the lives of others.  Seeking a title or position conflates our value as innovation professionals and might mistake monetary rewards over those that come from a job well done. 

How to Gain Innovation Success?

Demonstrating success as an innovation leader is intricately tied to success of our customers and clients.  Successful innovations benefit end-users by giving them basic necessities, convenience, or luxury.  (Watch for a future blog post on these different levels of innovation.)  While a new product offers optimal technologies for a consumer, providing a memorable experience leads to long-term innovation success. 

Let me share a story.  Having moved less than 10 miles within a local region, my husband and I ended up with two safety deposit boxes at two different branches of the same bank.  We needed to access the safety deposit boxes to get the title to the car to trade it in on a new one.  However, we didn’t know anymore which box held the title. 

At the branch closest to our house, the teller was friendly and immediately took us to the box.  She asked if we wanted a cup of coffee and chatted about the weather.  In contrast, at the other bank branch, we waited ten minutes in a queue.  Upon finally getting to the teller, she asked if we could wait for someone else to assist us.  Finally, after accessing the safety deposit box (and the car title – yay!), we had to wait another ten minutes for the teller to lock the box and let us leave the vault.  Though the teller did smile, she never offered common courtesies or apologies for the long wait.  Our experience at the two branches was like day and night.

Providing an excellent experience for your customer is as important as – and perhaps more so – than the technology foundation of your innovation. 

What is Your Innovation Leadership Career Path?

So how do you pursue a career for success as an innovation leader?  First, remember that success is defined only by you – using your strongest skills to help improve the lives of others.  Next, understand that “success” is not the same as a title or position.  Successful innovation leaders create outstanding experiences for customers, building on products, technologies, and markets.  Finally, sharing stories with customers and other innovation leaders guides your path and your career journey.    

Join me on Thursday, 5 March 2020 at the AIChE STS dinner meeting to learn Three Tips to Advance Your Career Effortlessly.  If you’re not in Houston or you are unable to attend the STS AIChE meeting, please join me for a recap of the three tips on Monday, 23 March 2020 at noon CDT (1 pm EDT, 10 am PDT).  Each webinar attendee receives a complimentary workstyle assessment to help you build innovation leadership (limited to one per company via the authorized partner network with Jill Hickman Companies).  Contact me at info@globalnpsolutions.com for more information on becoming a successful innovation leader! 

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 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.

Leaping Innovations

This year we are lucky to have a leap day – February 29.  Since paper calendars and solar calendars don’t quite align, every four years we get an extra day.  Since February is a short month, clever people have added that extra day as February 29. 

I think matters get confused a bit more because the following week (in the US) we “spring forward” one hour for Daylight Savings Time.  We will recover that hour in the autumn when we “fall back” to Standard Time.  I have permanently lost one hour during a business trip to Belgium and The Netherlands when the US on Daylight Savings Time and Europe was not.  But that’s another story… 

What is Leaping Innovation?

Basically, leap year gives us a chance to recover the time we lost in the previous three years and to set our calendars right with the sun and moon.  Leap year is a misnomer since we are slowing down by adding a day and we were actually “leaping” past the fractional days in the intervening years. 

A “leaping innovation,” on the other hand, is usually defined as one that advances the technology by a very large step.  A lot of innovations are more incremental in nature – adding a small tweak to an existing feature or increasing the options available for an existing product. 

For example, adding a calorie counter to a pedometer was an incremental innovation.  The device already tracked a person’s number of steps, so adding a small calculation to convert steps to energy burned was a small task.  Incremental innovations are important to product development and maintaining market interest.

In contrast, a personal fitness device that also gives notifications for incoming phone calls and tracks your running route with a GPS is a great leap forward from a basic pedometer.  The technology for this innovation was both sophisticated and risky to develop.  Moreover, new and existing customers required a degree of education to use the new product.  Accompanying sales and marketing strategies were more elaborate than in the case of an added feature. 

The late Clayton Christiansen taught us that sustaining innovations could be either incremental or a great leap forward.  What differentiates a sustaining innovation from a disruptive innovation is how vastly a market is changed because of the innovation.  Digital photography has transformed traditional image capture and supported the social media revolution.

Teams for Radical Innovation

Your team structure for designing and developing an incremental vs. radical or disruptive innovation is different.  Project teams made of liaisons and subject matter experts can serve an incremental innovation while.  In this case, depth of knowledge is more important than the breadth of knowledge.  In the field of new product development (NPD), we call this a lightweight team. 

When an innovation project requires significant technology and market development, and the resulting product is new-to-the-world or new-to-the-company,  we use an autonomous team.  Sometimes this is called a “venture team” to better describe the scope of work.  A primary driver for the autonomous team is the project mission, and team members serve with both depth and breadth of knowledge.  Customer orientation is another key aspect for a successful project team designing and developing radical innovations. 

Build Your Teams

Great innovation teams don’t just magically happen once every four years like the 29th of February.  Instead, successful NPD teams require nurturing and growth.  Team leaders assign team members based on skill, purpose, and desire for customer satisfaction.  Focusing on the needs of the project (e.g. depth and breadth of knowledge) helps to determine the right people at the right time to successfully innovate. 

One mistake I have observed by many companies in new product project management is to over-allocate resources.  One of the practices of successful innovators is to instead assign the most appropriate resources to an 80% level.  This allows time for hiccups in the product development schedule as well as time for team members to really absorb and apply learnings in a strategic way. 

Do You Want to Leap Forward?

If you want to leap forward in your innovation program, join me tomorrow for a free webinar.  We will discuss 20 Tips of Innovation and team-building practices for success with incremental or disruptive innovations.  Register here. 

Extra bonus: All attendees receive a copy of the 20 Tips of Innovation ebook and a complimentary work style assessment.  See you on Friday, 28 February at noon CST. 

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.