innovation leadership

Four Elements of Creativity

Posted on 07.22.21

Product innovation is a fabulous field in which to work. Innovation mixes several interesting ingredients – markets, technologies, creativity – to generate products that are valued by customers. In turn, companies generate profits when they deliver products and services to consumers that delight and inspire them.

Researching markets and technologies is deliberate and structured within product innovation. Product managers use inquiry tools and statistical analysis to understand categories of customers as well as to pinpoint areas of opportunity. R&D practitioners analyze experiments and data to design novel technical solutions. Market research and technology development both follow specific processes with known performance metrics.

Yet, creativity if often shrouded in mystery. Many people assume they are not creative because they don’t view themselves as “artists”. Others claim that only wild-eyed scientific geniuses are creative, coming up with ideas like a lightning strike. In truth, creativity for product innovation is also a structured process with four key elements.

Cross-Functional Teams

There are two elements to creativity from a people perspective – individual and team creativity. As individuals we all have different experiences and bring that diversity when generating ideas for new products. Individuals with various work skills and backgrounds “see” the problem differently. For example, a marketing specialist might define the problem in terms of product awareness while a technology specialist might see the problem as a set of puzzles and a technical code that will unlock the solution.

Higher levels of creativity occur, however, when we collaborate as a team. The marketer cannot successfully deliver innovation on his own by simply raising product awareness. The technologists cannot deliver a new product by simply designing a great piece of hardware. Instead, when we combine the viewpoints of a cross functional team, we can generate truly radical innovations. Sharing the different perspectives of a problem – from the customer’s viewpoint as well as from each team members standpoint – enhances creativity and the end solution.

Boundaries

While it seems counter-intuitive, creativity increases when we place reasonable constraints around the problem. You might dream about your weekend plans if you had infinite money and no restrictions on your time. Perhaps a trip to an exotic beach or taking in a Broadway show would be on the agenda? Yet our dreams of limitless wealth are not actionable.

Teams are most successful in identifying creative product solutions when there are some boundaries around the problem space. Having infinite funds or unlimited time opens every possibility and too many choices can be overwhelming. Instead, your weekend plans must be creative if you can only spend $100 and have two fixed time commitments. Maybe you take the kids to the zoo just after their Little League game. It’s a fun and unusual family activity while solving the problem within the given constraints.

Curiosity

It goes without saying that curiosity must be a key element of creativity. The status quo cannot serve to grow a business or to generate innovative products over the long-term. Creative curiosity is a desire – a passion – to figure out how things work. In new product development, the marketing representative is curious about the problems consumers face and the technical representative is curious about how to build a widget to solve that problem. Creative curiosity is always looking for ways to improve a system and searching for the “real” problem.

Are you curious? How do you approach a new opportunity? Creative curiosity involves jumping in to quickly learn the who, what, why, and how of a problem.

Learning

The final element of creativity is learning – learning from failure and learning from each other. Not every idea works out as we planned. Sometimes our ideas are too radical for an existing market. Oftentimes, we cannot find the cost-effective technology to scale for commercial application. These are “failures” by one definition, yet there are also opportunities for learning. Each piece of knowledge stacks up to help us solve the next problem, even if one particular approach didn’t work out perfectly.

Another aspect of creative learning regards quality. A lot of us are perfectionists because of our passion and love for our customers and career. Yet, sometimes, good enough is good enough. When a famous artist changes his style from realism to abstract, he might learn new techniques and learn to be satisfied with the quality of each new painting, even though it isn’t perfect. A mystery author can add new twists and turns to the story line, depth of characters to her text, but the book must be written in order to be read and appreciated. Learning to define “done” is an important feature for creativity within the bounds of product innovation.

Four Elements of Creativity

A lot of people I know claim they are not creative. This is troubling since I know a lot of people working in new product development. Everyone can be creative. I suggest you start with these four key elements of creativity.

Use a cross-functional team to build empathy across many different perspectives.
Place loose boundaries around the problem space to enhance creativity.
Encourage curiosity by offering new options and seeking to deeply understand the problem.
Practice continuous learning and accept failure by recognizing that good enough is good enough.

Creativity starts with leadership. Please join our best practices Master Class on Leadership for Project Managers starting 18 August. Register here.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

4 Critical Skills Every Innovation Leader Must Master

Posted on 06.16.21

Watch the 20-second summary and then read on!

Innovation managers are outliers in a world of functional managers. An engineering manager hires and grooms talent to design safe and reliable manufacturing processes. A business manager balances administrative tasks to maintain operational efficiency, and a sales manager ensures customer visits are scheduled as continued touchpoints. Each of these roles includes measurable performance indicators: safety incidences, organizational productivity, and sales revenues.

In contrast, innovation and product development managers have no certain goals and their output is fuzzy. Innovation leaders integrate skills of the functional managers: talent management, safety, reliability, manufacturing productivity, customer interactions, and sales revenues. Yet, innovation leaders face higher levels of technical and market uncertainties.

So, which skills are absolutely critical to success in innovation?

What is Innovation?

First, let’s take a step back and define innovation. If I were to ask 25 people what innovation means, I would get 35 different definitions! For our purposes, let’s assume innovation means the creation of a new product, service, or program that brings value to the producer and to the consumer. Thus, we include sales revenues as value to the company and utility, functionality, and convenience as values to a customer.

The Four Critical Skills

Knowing that innovation is fraught with risk, innovation leaders must master four critical skills to succeed. These are:

Business knowledge,
Talent acquisition,
Process capability, and
Strategic decision-making.

Business Knowledge

Successful innovation leaders process information from a variety of internal and external sources. They must understand the business from a technical perspective and understand customers from a market perspective. Traditional business goals, like financial analysis and productivity studies, are a factor in mastering the business. Innovation managers must use this information to prepare a profitable business case for any new product or service.

Business knowledge extends to trends, fads, and emerging technologies. Innovation relies as much on learning and change as it does in building efficiency into a current model. Successful innovation leaders study adjacent markets and industries and apply world-class best practices to compete over the long-run.

Talent Acquisition

Because new product development (NPD) is inherently risky, innovation project team members use different tools to work together. A successful innovation manager builds a team that balances creativity, operational expertise, and customer interactions. Persuasion, negotiation, and conflict management are capabilities of an innovation manager who recognizes diversity of functional experience to commercialize a profitable new product.

Process Capability

It goes without saying that any manager must be organized and efficient with his or her time. Innovation managers use NPD processes and product portfolio management (PPM) to drive product development. Choosing and adapting an appropriate process is a hallmark of a successful innovation manager.

NPD processes range from conventional phased-and-gated waterfall systems to agile methodologies with hybrid systems like WAGILE becoming more popular today. (Read more about WAGILE here.) Understanding the organizational culture, executive risk tolerance, and the business model allows an innovation manager to select an effective NPD process. Of course, the execution of a product development project within the NPD process is linked to effective collaboration of team members – a direct link to talent acquisition as a key skill for the innovation leader to master.

Strategic Decision-Making

Finally, innovation leaders act strategically as well as tactically. We have discussed the tactical and operational skills of acting on business knowledge and deploying an appropriate NPD process already. But, knowing “how” is very different than knowing “why”.

Successful innovation managers use decisions as opportunities to increase product knowledge and to improve customer service. Strategic decisions include which markets are attractive, what technologies are appropriate, and what products ought to be developed. This focus on specific growth objectives and competitive analysis differentiates a successful innovation leader from other functional managers. Check out our new virtual Master Class on Leadership, starting 18 August here. This course is specifically geared to the challenges of innovation, product, and project managers.

Four Critical Skills that Innovation Leaders Must Master

Innovation leaders must be adaptable, flexible, knowledgeable, and expectant. All managers must know their trade and be ready to measure performance outcomes. Yet, successful innovation leaders balance risk, investment, markets, and talent in a unique stew to produce customer satisfaction. Mastering the skills in business knowledge, talent acquisition, process capability, and strategic decision-making differentiates the successful innovation leader.

Learn More

I highly recommend New Product Development Professional certification for any innovation manager. You will learn how strategy, portfolio management, and NPD processes guide decisions for innovation with best practices tools and techniques in process design, market research, and team-building. Register now for the next session of the NPDP workshop here.

What Word Will Describe 2021?

Posted on 01.07.21

I think we can all agree – with a giant sigh of relief – that 2020 is behind us. Yet, to succeed with personal and professional growth, we must look ahead. What will 2021 bring for you?

While I believe that some world events and forces engulf us in ever-growing avalanches of events, we do have much control over our everyday lives. We make choices – to keep or change jobs, to invest in new technology or to adapt existing systems. The selections we choose help us to achieve our goals.

Each year, I choose a single word to help me guide my decisions and choices throughout the year. I ponder my word of the year on a daily basis and I consider my short-term and long-range goals in light of my word of the year.

Outreach

For 2019, I chose the word outreach as my word of the year. I spent a lot of time developing new relationships and making the effort to rekindle old relationships. Reaching out to others was my mantra for the year – how could I help my family, friends, and clients?

I used the word outreach to guide decisions for my business and to increase my network of professional colleagues. Each day I considered how I could reach out to others and help them increase their success in innovation and management?

Economical

In December of 2019, I chose the word economical for my word of the year in 2020. As I described in another post here, I never imagined that “economical” would mean searching for toilet paper at the supermarket. As 2020 dawned, I wanted to optimize (economize) my use of all resources.

In the end, the word economical served me well in 2020. I optimized both business and personal relationships, streamlined processes and systems, and added new time management programs to my daily routine.

In my personal life, my husband and I temporarily moved to an apartment much smaller than our house, so I have learned to economize space as well. (Though, the local Goodwill employees started frowning when I showed up – I guess they didn’t want to sort through another hundred items of my barely-worn shirts and skirts…)

Willingness

So that brings us to 2021. I learned a lot about myself in 2020 with the relocation in the middle of a government lockdown causing shortages at the supermarket. Economizing was important. But I also learned that I needed to be patient, flexible, and continue to optimize my time. Thus, my word of the year for 2021 is willingness.

Willingness will help me focus on goals and objectives. This year, my business goals include expansion of course offerings – check out my 1Q 2021 classes here. I also want to continue growing my network and helping others connect. These goals lead to the initiation of the Creative Cafe.

Creative Cafe

In the Creative Cafe, we can share ideas on innovation, leadership, and engineering management while growing our networks. We’ll meet about every two weeks for an hour for a completely open discussion. Our first introductory session of the Creative Cafe is Friday, 8 January 2021 at 10:00 AM CST. Here’s the Zoom link. Join the fast-paced hour-long conversation at no cost.

What is Your Word for 2021?

Share your word for 2021 in the comments and come to the Creative Cafe on Friday, 8 January to share your word. My goal is to go above and beyond your expectations this year – willingness!

See you soon!

To define yourself as a transformative innovation leader, you need to sustain continuing education. Innovation is learning! For more information on open courses and customized learning for innovation best practices, please contact me at info@simple-pdh.com or area code 281, phone 787-3979.

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.

Lessons for Creative Leadership

Posted on 12.09.20

I love to travel. I enjoy seeing new places and trying different foods. It is fun for me to learn what is unique about a city or town. I also enjoy visiting familiar places – in Seattle, I have a favorite coffee shop and in Phoenix, I must go to a special place for tacos!

Travel incorporates the lessons of creative leadership. As innovation professionals we trial, test, and enjoy both the new and the familiar. The three common themes between travel and innovation are: vision, learning, and decision.

Vision

When you visit a new place, you see it differently than if it is familiar. You may notice that street names change every few blocks or that the city has a lot of billboards. When you are familiar with the town, these elements fade into the background.

As an innovation leader, you must envision your products and services with fresh eyes. Imagine that you have never considered buying your own product. Does the packaging strike you as interesting or is it boring? Does the product name describe what it does? Is the product unique or are there lots of competitors?

A drawback of working within one brand or category is that we become too familiar with our products and services. We need to see features and benefits as if we’ve never seen the product before. One way to get a fresh vision for your products and services is through a focus group or lead user group. Real customers provide the feedback that an internal new product development (NPD) team may miss.

Learning

And with vision comes learning. When I first visit a new place, I like to get a road map. I’m old fashioned and like to have a paper street map. It gives me the whole view of a town or city instead of turn-by-turn directions. I get a sense of what is to the north or east, as well as how far away different attractions are.

But as I walk around for a few hours (or days), I find that I don’t need the map anymore. I have learned where to turn and how long it takes to get somewhere.

Innovation leaders also focus on learning – not simply to transfer a vision into the boring and familiar. Yet, learning as a method of transforming customer needs into features and attributes brings satisfaction to consumers and profits to companies.

Learning, in innovation, is crucial. They say that whoever is not innovating is dying. A harsh statement. What it means is that successful leaders are constantly identifying needs and pain points while working to resolve them. It is easier and quicker to navigate without a street map – when the route is familiar. Our job, as innovation leaders, is to make product selection and use as quick and as easy as possible for our customers.

Decision

Vision and learning are important, yet without action you don’t go anywhere. I often daydream about where I want to go on vacation. I research places on the internet and buy travel books to learn about parks and attractions in a new area. But, until I buy an airline ticket, I have not committed to the travel. When I book my air travel, I demonstrate a decision to visit one place over another. Effective decisions are crucial for innovation leadership. One arena in which I see a lot of failure in NPD is a failure to make a decision. Many, low-value projects linger on the books. These projects consume valuable (and scarce) resources. Worst, ho-hum projects do not invigorate your customers or your team members.

The best way to make new product decisions is through portfolio management. Join me in 2021 for a special hands-on, interactive course to streamline your product innovation portfolio – 100 Days to PPM. You will learn to make the critically important decisions necessary to compete effectively. Join as an individual leader or bring your whole team!

The Traveling Innovator

Whether you love to travel (like me), or you’d rather be a hermit, innovation professionals must practice the three critical skills: vision, learning, and decision. With vision, you view a product or service from your customer’s perspective. You learn what is easy, or difficult, for consumers so you can improve new product designs. And, finally, you act by making prudent and efficient decisions with product portfolio management.

Don’t forget to register here for 100 Days to Effective Product Portfolio Management. Space is limited.

About Me

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

What Innovation Leaders Do Differently

Posted on 11.19.20

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

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.

Wagile Leadership

Posted on 10.29.20

I became interested in leadership when I was first appointed to a supervisory position. My first exposure to leading a team was negative – from my perspective – but my management saw a different view. I thought that being a manager meant I was not smart enough to continue on the technical ladder. Little did I know that most technical answers are easy compared to motivating a team toward a common goal.

Innovation leadership takes many forms. In all cases, there must be a follower for a leader to exist. Leaders engender willing followers. We want to learn from others who have been successful. We want to take direction from someone who has demonstrated skill at problem-solving. We want to mimic the behaviors of inspiring people.

What is a Wagile Leader?

Before we discuss Wagile leadership, I want to take a quick detour to define Wagile. Wagile is a product innovation process to create and launch groundbreaking new products and services. The word Wagile comes from a combination of the terms “waterfall” and “agile”. Waterfall approaches to project management use upfront planning while agile project management acts on an evolving scope of work.

The Wagile philosophy thus integrates the best of both project management approaches.

Move fast
Practice discipline
Understand risk
Engaged customers
Provide autonomy

Wagile Roles in Leadership

Each Wagile role serves as a leader. Being non-hierarchical and flexible, Wagile does not specify one person, one role, or one organization as a primary decision-maker. Rather, all roles act as leaders to ensure customer satisfaction with new product development (NPD). As described in detail here, the Wagile roles include:

Project leader,
Customer representative,
Team leader, and
Cross-functional team.

Wagile leadership characteristics focus on engaging customers to deliver high-quality products and services that meet market needs while generating profit for the firm. Servant leadership traits of putting the team before self are important as are elements of Emotional Intelligence (such as self-awareness and self-control). I have observed that the most successful teams are mission-oriented to create a common good rather than egocentric to promote a manager’s self-interest.

In my practice of innovation teaching and coaching, I often used work style assessments to drive the leadership conversation. An important starting point for product innovation teams is the Innovation Health Assessment™ to benchmark your organization’s NPD maturity against industry standards. (Take your complimentary Innovation Health Assessment here.)

Another work style assessment I use is called the Team Dimensions Profile. As a DiSC-certified management facilitator, I prefer the language of Team Dimensions for innovation team growth. We identify individual working preferences as Creator, Advancer, Refiner, or Executer. Note that these are not the same as ingrained personality because each of us can stretch to different work roles as needed to accomplish the project goals. (Learn more about Team Dimensions here where I spoke with the Everyday Innovator podcast.)

In fact, it is the capability of team members on a Wagile project to stretch and serve as generalist-specialists that make each of us leaders. Generalist-specialists are people who have a deep knowledge and expertise in one arena (specialist) but also a desire to learn and help across the board (generalist).

Learn More

If you want to know more about Wagile and how to apply it in your own organization, join me for a short seminar on 10 November 2020 (2-4 pm CST). Upon completion of this course, you will be equipped with a set of tools to speed product to market for innovation success. Register here. To investigate and expand your personal development style, please join me for the Life Design Master Mind Q&A on 11 November 2020 at 11 am CST (free), followed by subsequent in-depth workshops over the next six months. Register here for the free webinar. Contact me at info@Simple-PDH.com with questions about these workshops.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

About Me

Innovation Workflow

Posted on 10.21.20

Watch the 37-second video summary and then read on for full details!

For several weeks we have been discussing the Wagile product development process.

Wagile is a hybrid project management process that blends the discipline of a waterfall system (“W-”) with the adaptability of an agile process (“-agile”). Customer orientation is a key component of Wagile.

Like all project management approaches, Wagile follows four primary steps that link to team behaviors. You can learn more about Wagile in our upcoming 2-hour course on 10 November (2-4 pm CST) and you can learn more about team behaviors in an article here. The innovation workflow is described below.

Generate Ideas

The first step in any project is to define and describe the purpose of the effort. It may be as simple as “freshen up the garden at my house” to as complex as “build a new petrochemical plant”. Regardless of the scale of the project, we always start with defining the scope of work. In innovation, we must also discover customer needs and identify potential product functions and concepts to address those needs.

When you look around your organization, who is best suited to help generate ideas? In the language of Team Dimensions, we call these folks “Creators”. Creators enjoy coming up with new ideas and can formulate concepts that are interesting and creative. Successful innovation teams balance Creators with other work styles to ensure they capture disruptive ideas.

Build Support

Once we have generated an attractive product concept, the innovation workflow moves to gathering support for the idea. This includes negotiating resources and investing in preliminary testing. Other activities at this stage involve concept testing with potential customers to refine the idea. A set of tools and an approach called Design Thinking is extremely beneficial at this stage. You can learn about Design Thinking at our complimentary Q&A webinar on 11 November 2020. Register here – spaces are limited so we can ensure an interactive discussion!

Team members called “Advancers” are skilled at generating product support at this phase. Advancers split behaviors of capturing new ideas and putting them into a familiar context. This is why we want to have team members that are exceptional at listening and promoting as part of the innovation team.

Create the Project Plan

Some people are really good at planning. Of course, we want these folks, who we call “Refiners” in Team Dimensions language, to layout the required work to accomplish project goals.

As history teaches us, no project plan is perfect. However, we do need to plan the work and convert customer needs into actionable tasks. That is the real purpose in creating a project plan. An added bonus of planning is that we are able to better anticipate risks and building quality to both the process and the product. (Read more about Risk Analysis in a special download for the University of Houston Sustainable Energy Development course materials here.)

Execute the Work

We only earn revenue when we complete a project and commercialize the new product innovation. We need to do the work of the project! Team members will build and test the product at scale during the execution stage.

Folks that are good at executing are usually good at troubleshooting. Their behaviors are methodical and normative. They can convert 2D drawings into functional, working equipment. In Team Dimensions, we call the people that love to get their hands dirty “Executors”.

Work Styles and Workflow

Successful innovation teams match the preferred work style of team members with the phase of the innovation workflow. Employees are happiest – and most productive – when they are working on tasks they enjoy. Each of us can stretch beyond our preferred work style (Creator, Advancer, Refiner, Executor) to do other tasks. Yet we can accelerate the innovation process the most when we match preferences of work styles with workflows.

Learn More

Recently, I discussed the benefits of the Team Dimensions model at the Texas ACMP Conference this year and with Chad McAllister on the Everyday Innovator podcast. You can listen to the podcast here (about 30 minutes).

When you join the Life Design Master Mind group, we will review your work style assessment in a confidential one-on-one coaching session and you will learn to apply Design Thinking skills to personal and professional decisions. Register for the complimentary introductory session here (11 November 2020 at 11 am CST).

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

About Me

What is Innovation Management?

Posted on 08.06.20

Since the world turned upside-down in March, we have all encountered a tremendous amount of change. In my viewpoint, a lot of the changes in society have been negative and I suspect the politicians in charge are finding it difficult to extricate themselves from the mess they made. One change we have seen from the corona-panic is, of course, limited contact with other people.

Limited contact and limits on group gatherings has had a weird impact on my casual acquaintances. I used to go swimming at an indoor pool and would arrive, jump in, swim laps, shower, and head home. Once in a great while, I would exchange a few words about the weather or temperature of the water with another lady in the locker room.

Now, I am swimming in an outdoor pool. We all must make paid reservations in advance and can swim for only 45 minutes. What is unusual, though, is that all of us chat with each other. We are gathered together, outside the building, following all the random spacing and inane mask rules, waiting for the allotted time. Most of us prefer swimming longer than 45 minutes, so we all get kicked out at the same time. Again, we chat as we head home across the parking lot. Overzealous government regulations have led to me getting know people I would not have otherwise met.

On Monday, for example, David asked why I was even at the pool. He knows my schedule is to swim on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I explained I had a meeting on Tuesday, and then the resident swim coach asked what I do. “I’m an innovation management consultant and coach,” I replied. He looked at me questioningly. “Innovation is making something new?”

Innovation is Making Something New

The word innovation has been overused a lot (see an earlier post on Authentic Innovation here). In short, innovation does mean making something new. It might be a new product or service. It might be a new technology or introducing an existing product into a new market. We might create a new business model, or we might find new ways to manufacture a product.

So, innovation management means planning and implementing those things that are new. My goal is to help others – individuals and companies – find effective and efficient ways to make new things. The ultimate goal is to improve speed-to-market and increase profits.

Innovation Change for Customers

We know we are “winning” at innovation when we make money and our customers are satisfied. Change can be easy, or change can be difficult. Sometimes change creates new opportunities – like my newfound friends at the swimming pool.

What change is your business facing right now? We all know that the corona-panic has disrupted supply chains and availability of retail goods. But I want you to be specific. Describe exactly what change your business faces today, in one month, and for year-end.

If your changes relate to sales, you may simply have to wait it out. But if the changes you face are structural and institutional you need to find an innovative solution. This means polling your customers to understand their real needs and problems.

Talk to Me

As an innovation management consultant, I want to know what changes you are facing. Please post in the comments or email me at info@globalnpsolutions.com to describe your greatest innovation challenge emerging from the corona-triggered economic downturn. Everyone who responds is entered into a random drawing for a free NPDP certification exam question set (a $125 value). We will draw on 21 August 2020 and announce the winner on 25 August.

See you at the pool!

Learn More

Check out where I’m speaking next (click here).
Get your copy of The Innovation ANSWER Book available at Amazon (now available on Kindle).
Reference the new PDMA Body of Knowledge, available at Amazon.
Do you know your strategy? Is it time to narrow your focus or expand to serve more customers? Join me for the two-part Reset Your Strategy workshop on 18 and 20 August. Register here – special discounts for the unemployed.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

About Me

I am inspired by writing, teaching, and speaking at great professional events. 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.

What Does Leadership Look Like?

Posted on 07.30.20

Years ago, I recall sitting in a conference room with a senior engineer. He spent a great deal of time sharing with me and other junior staff that we could – and should – be leaders. He went on to tell us that we did not have to be managers to be leaders. The very next month, I was promoted to my first supervisory role.

To be completely honest, I was devastated at being promoted. I am not an emotional person (think Spock), but I went home and cried. What did the company think of me if they were making me a supervisor? Wasn’t I smart enough? Why had I spent all those years working hard to achieve high ratings at the company? Was my graduate research in chemical engineering meaningless?

Later, I came to realize that instead of thinking I was dumb, the company valued my ability to work with diverse groups of people. They appreciated my aptitude to quickly understand data and make a logical decision. I also learned that in a managerial role, I was naturally exposed to more technologies and opportunities to learn. I have an insatiable appetite for education and learning, so being a manager was ultimately a good fit!

Leadership Characteristics

While I was initially upset at my promotion, I have since (many times over) tried to evaluate what traits I demonstrated so that my boss trusted me with leading others. I have also looked at all my bosses over time and other managers and leaders in lots of organizations since then. There are several characteristics that help someone become a successful leader.

Be A Good Listener

I know my husband would say I talk too much, but being a good listener is an important trait for leaders. For those of us with technical backgrounds, we often jump to a conclusion early in the conversation and want to shout out the answer. We also crave recognition for our clever and smart approaches to problem-solving. Thus, we are excited to offer solutions.

Yet, great leaders don’t make judgments or put forth their own ideas first. Great leaders listen to their team members. We ask subject matter experts (SMEs) to present their technical arguments and opinions, including risk assessments before making a decision. The higher up the ranks you go as a manager, the further away from the facts and data you get. It’s important to trust (but verify) information from your staff.

Demonstrate Compassion

For a lot of people, compassion comes easy. As a kid, I would have called them “bleeding hearts”. Just give me the data and let’s get moving! But as a young supervisor, I learned that compassion is one of the differences between being a manager and a leader.

While I still prefer clear, logical data and a simple plan of action, I now also recognize that other people do not live in a Vulcan world. Some people make decisions based solely on emotion (eek!). Some people will only process data when they understand how a decision will impact other people.

One tool that has helped me comprehend the differences among leadership and teamwork styles is the DiSC® Assessment. DiSC shows that people have different core working styles leading to various speed of decision-making and varying levels of “compassion”. Please contact me at info@Simple-PDH.com for additional information on DiSC and a free one-hour work style coaching session.

Weather the Storm

Finally, leaders must be prepared to weather the storm. The big puzzle is that we cannot predict when, where, or what storm will hit. This means leaders, especially innovation leaders, must be flexible, adaptable, and patient. Understanding the risks and benefits of our decisions allows us to move forward regardless of the circumstances.

Leaders will face setbacks and failures. In innovation and new product development (NPD), technologies will fail and potential customers won’t like the final design. The difference between a leader and manager is how we deal with the failure – e.g. how we weather the storm.

43693592 – dollar boat in the bad weather

Innovation leaders recognize the opportunity to learn while a manager will entrench to a risk-averse position. An effective innovation leader will evaluate the data and decide whether to redesign the new product feature or to abandon the project. A manager will selfishly worry about his bonus and reputation if there is another product failure. A leader rallies the team after a setback, but a manager punishes his staff for the failure

What Does Leadership Mean?

What does leadership mean to you? Do you think there is a difference between management and leadership? How do you view characteristics of listening, compassion, and failure?

Each day, week, and year, I hope I add wisdom with passing time. Today, instead of crying and feeling disappointed at a promotion, I would ask what could I learn and what outcomes did my boss expect? Leadership is a learning experience.

Read more about innovation leadership in The Innovation ANSWER Book and in the recently released PDMA Body of Knowledge (2^nd ed.) where I had the privilege to lead an innovative and diverse team.

Learn More

Check out where I’m speaking next (click here).
Get your copy of The Innovation ANSWER Book available at Amazon (now available on Kindle).
Reference the new PDMA Body of Knowledge, available at Amazon.
Do you know your strategy? Is it time to narrow your focus or expand to serve more customers? Join me for the two-part Reset Your Strategy workshop on 18 and 20 August. Register here – special discounts for the unemployed.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

About Me

Mixed Skills for Work Today

Posted on 05.07.20

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.

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.