innovation maturity

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

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 [email protected] or area code 281 + phone 787-3979 for more information on coaching for entrepreneurs and innovators.

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.

Growing in Innovation

Posted on 02.06.20

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

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

Learning

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

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

Adopting

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

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

Transforming

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

Sustaining

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

Flagship Innovation Leader

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

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

Learn More

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

About Me

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

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

Establishing an Innovation Baseline

Posted on 06.20.19

A few months ago, I changed my cats’ food to only hairball formula. One of my cats tends to get really excited when the food comes out, eats too much, and makes a mess. He also has a tendency to eat things that are not food (like ribbon, yarn, and dental floss) and the hairball formula apparently helps him to digest the organic, non-food items.

When I took my furry friends to the veterinarian for their annual checkup and shots, she weighed them. I periodically weigh my cats, too, so I expected the number she reported. But what I had not expected was her level of concern. They had both last 1-2 lbs. over a one-year timeframe.

My vet gave two conclusions that needed further testing. One was that since they were eating only hairball food, their weight loss could be attributed to the higher fiber content. I guess just like humans, if felines eat more fiber, there not as hungry for treats and snacks. The other alternative she gave was that thyroid conditions – especially at their age – could cause weight loss. Therefore, she ordered a thyroid level test for both cats.

Establishing a Baseline

In all science and engineering, we want to establish a baseline. When we understand the average, current performance, then we can design an improvement plan. The veterinarian had looked at one baseline – cat weight one year ago – and compared it to the current state. Out of a degree of caution, she ordered the thyroid test to establish a baseline in a new measure of their health.

Innovation success depends on knowing where you are today and where you want to be in the future. Innovation, like any science or engineering problem, requires establishing a baseline to design an improvement plan. Or, as in the case of the thyroid test for my cats, the measurement determines if a problem really exists.

Measuring the Innovation Baseline

You can measure the health of your innovation ecosystem with the Innovation Health Assessment. There are two purposes in completing the Innovation Health Assessment for your organization. First, the results establish a baseline for the maturity of your new product development practices. Everyone who completes the innovation health assessment will receive a customized Innovation Health Assessment Report comparing your innovation ecosystem to other organizations in the industry. Thus, a second outcome of completing a health assessment is to benchmark against others, both average and top-tier organizations.

You can complete the Innovation Health Assessment here. We do ask that you register at www.Simple-PDH.com so that we can monitor the database integrity. Rest assured that your information will be kept private, and your name and email will never be given to a third party. Register here – check out the video below for instructions on how to register and answer the survey questions in the Innovation Health Assessment. And unlike the thyroid test (which was very expensive), the innovation health assessment is free to you.

What’s Next?

You need to have a baseline of the current state to understand the health of your system. The cats’ thyroid tests came back in the normally expected range and they seem pretty happy eating the healthier hairball food. Importantly, the thyroid test results provide a specific baseline for these two felines who might be of the general cat species but are definitely two unique bodies.

Likewise, completing the Innovation Health Assessment allows your firm to establish a benchmark for your innovation ecosystem as compared to a cross industry average. Moreover, the Innovation Health Assessment Report provides results specific to your innovation program and new product development teams, lending insight for any appropriate enhancements.

Bonus: If you complete all the questions in the Innovation Health Assessment survey by 30 June 2019 and enter code “Blog 19”, you will be entered to win a $15 Starbucks gift card through a random drawing. If you have questions about the health of your innovation system or want to learn more about New Product Development Best Practices, join me on Thursdays in July for more in-depth knowledge transfer. Please email me for more information at info at Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC

Study. Learn. Earn. Simple.

How is Your Innovation Health?

Posted on 06.10.19

Recently, a family friend underwent a total hip replacement surgery – at the age of 87! He said he had no pain, but his mobility was becoming severely limited. My friend said he was a “very healthy 87” and after just a few weeks, he is again walking and driving with no apparent restrictions.

What does healthy mean? To my family’s friend, healthy meant mobility since that equated to staying in his home without intrusive care. To me, healthy means I can participate in 5K runs, ride my bicycle as far and as long as I desire, and that I maintain the same weight I was in college. (Thank goodness I don’t wear all the same clothes though!)

Innovation Health

A healthy innovation system is one that produces repeatable new products and services, delivers continuous profitability, and maintains a competitive advantage for the firm. That’s a great list, but it’s not measurable.

Global NP Solutions has designed the Innovation Health Assessment benchmarking tool. By using the short survey, you can quickly assess the strength of your innovation system on seven key measures. These include strategy, portfolio management, processes, life cycle, teams and leadership, tools and metrics, and customer insights.

What is Your Innovation Health?

You can benchmark your organization’s innovation health at https://simple-pdh.com/courses/innovation-health-assessment/. Registering at Simple-PDH.com will allow you to receive a customized copy of your Innovation Health Assessment, delivered to your inbox within 24-48 hours. We ask you to register as a user to participate in this unique benchmarking survey so we can preserve data integrity and continue to build our large database. Contact me at area code 281 phone 280-8717 or [email protected] for any questions. We build innovation leaders!

Building Innovation Leaders

This was first published on the blog at www.GlobalNPSolutions.com.