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innovation

Innovation Under Distress

Today, we are living in distressing times period starting with an oil pricing dispute between Russia and Iran, and followed by a worldwide panic over a virus, the economy has collapsed.  Millions of people have been unjustly pushed out of their jobs by constitutionally questionable government closures.  Small businesses and the travel/hospitality industry have been hit especially hard. 

As innovation leaders and new product development professionals, we are called to create solutions to complex problems.  The first step in any innovation process or project management approach is to clarify and define the problem.  Our issue in today’s world is we cannot define the problem.  Is the problem due to a virus or is the problem due to governments’ responses to an unknown?

Unknowns

In risk management, we describe two types of uncertainties:  known unknowns and unknown unknowns.  The known unknowns are a category of project risks that might occur, and we can easily imagine and plan for them.  A known unknown may be the final cost of equipment from a new supplier or the testing schedule for a prototype by customers. 

In each case of a known unknown, we can develop contingency plans to handle the risk.  We might add 20% to the project budget for the new equipment supplies or we could add an additional two weeks to the schedule to manage prototype testing.  In contrast to known unknowns where we plan a logical contingency, people often respond to unknown unknowns with irrational emotional actions.  Whereas a contingency can either be consumed or returned, we cannot get back the loss of time from emotional responses.

Unknown Unknowns

An unknown unknown is an unanticipated risk that can significantly impact the project.  Since we don’t know what these uncertainties might be, we cannot plan for them.  The coronavirus panic is an unknown unknown.  Even the smartest people in the world can mistakenly exchange emotional responses for logical actions when the risk is an unknown unknown.

First, though similar viruses have existed for decades (SARS, MERS, flu), government health agencies say it is a novel virus.  When we encounter a new situation in research or innovation, we look to the closest cases we have observed previously and test those solutions against the new problem.  No government, to my knowledge, forced lockdowns for free citizens with the SARS, MERS, or H1N1 virus.  Using an analogy approach to address an unknown unknown risk is an expected response for innovation leaders. 

In a classic example, an adhesive was failing the prototype testing.  The developer tried an analogous problem / solution approach to mark pages in his hymnal at church.  And, alas, Post-It® notes were born.  We should learn from history and from nearest neighbor experiences for all aspects of innovation whether it is health-related or product-related.  We can claim success for an innovation by real data not by guessing how many people might have purchased the product.

What Can You Do?

You might share my feeling of helplessness in light of a strong economy being senselessly destroyed overnight.  We feel a loss of control and we’ve lost faith in the very institutions that promise to help us.  Like me, you ask, “What can I do?”

What can you do as an innovation leader faced with unknown risks to a project?  Shutting down the trials ‑ unless there is factual data supporting a true safety or health issue ‑ is our last choice!  Instead, we strive to learn through experimentation, data gathering, and logic.  For instance, rather than shutting down a world economy and causing harm to untold millions through job layoffs, it is puzzling why government agencies have not looked to solutions in which healthy people build immunity through exposures to viruses.  After all, a vaccine is just that – intentionally injecting a virus (such as flu) to a healthy person so they build immunity against the disease.  This is the nearest neighbor solution to a known problem. 

Moreover, the data does not support the panic over coronavirus.  Even government-provided statistics and worst-case model projections are inconsistent.  Models are only beneficial if they are tested against real and historical data.  Innovation leaders trust the data and use data to drive decisions – not emotion. 

I hope you have peace during these turbulent times.  More so, I hope that we will regain our freedoms as Americans to conduct business as we choose, to visit taxpayer-funded National Parks, and to gather for religious services.  The latter is a right for which our Founding Fathers and thousands of American men and women have fought for and died.  As innovation leaders, we must demonstrate a commitment to ethical behavior and continuous learning. 

Read more about professional ethics for innovation leaders in Chapter 6 of The Innovation ANSWER Book.  You can get your copy here. 

Learn More

If you feel innovation is under distress, please contact me for a complimentary innovation coaching session.  With over 20 years of experience and innovation clients across all industry groups, I can help you get innovation on track for success!  Contact me at area code 281, phone 787-3979 or email to info@Simple-PDH.com.

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.

Impacting Innovation

Successful innovation requires keeping pace with industry changes and the eve- changing demands of a fractured customer base.  Companies that repetitively create, design, and develop profitable new products understand consumer behaviors and enable scientific advances.  These firms capitalize on both internal and external systems to generate success in the marketplace. 

Three factors impact innovation and can determine repeatable market successes.  These are organization, technology, and culture.  Let’s take a look at each element in turn. 

Organization

At the highest level, an organization’s strategy drives innovation.  A firm’s strategy reflects its mission (what is the purpose of the business), its vision (what will the future look like), and its values (what traits make us unique to accomplish our mission).  An innovation strategy also informs internal and external customers of senior management’s risk tolerance.  An aggressive innovation program indicates higher risk tolerance than an R&D portfolio fixed on incremental improvements and sustaining innovations. 

Further, an organization’s strategy will determine systems and structures necessary for a corporation to conduct R&D.  Traditionally, firms have followed a Stage-Gate™ approach to new product development (NPD) which allows larger risk (and larger investment) after smaller experimental phases are proven in the product design process.  This is a balanced risk approach if the staged and gated system is implemented with cross-functional NPD teams. 

Today, many firms are embracing Agile methodologies in which the focus is directed toward people ‑ customers and innovation teams ‑ over products and features.  Time-to-market is faster and end-users test prototypes early in the developmental process to reduce waste.  Planning documentation and contract negotiations are minimized, while customer interactions are optimized. 

Technology

Almost all products today include a technical interface, whether it is a website or a smartphone app.  Technology also plays a role in the development process itself.  Most firms use some software tools to manage new product portfolios and/or the individual NPD projects.  In addition, software tools and apps enhance communication for dispersed teams. 

For example, product portfolio management (PPM) is a broad view of all new product development projects, including those being actively worked and those in the pipeline.  There are literally dozens of PPM software packages available for organizations to utilize in aiding their decision-making.  PPM tools collate individual project data to help senior managers view information and to make strategic innovation decisions.  Most PPM tools translate gobs of data into simple charts, displaying value added project information in an easy-to-consume manner. 

Culture

Culture is always the most difficult element to describe, and to change, to drive successful innovation.  Many senior managers will point to organizational systems and structures or to technology when NPD metrics are not at the expected level.  However, it is rare that only a technical or business solution alone can solve an ailing innovation program. 

Culture sits at the heart of how things get done in an organization.  Regardless of how aggressively an innovation statement is worded, if senior management acts risk-averse, R&D will be limited to incremental improvements and simple feature additions.  Culture permeates team behaviors and individual work styles. 

Agile work environments stress people interactions over documentation.  Talking to customers is valued over contract negotiations with suppliers.  Failures are viewed as a learning rather than punishment for falling short of a goal.  Innovation teams are trusted to test prototypes with customers and to take responsibility for the whole product development. 

Impacting Innovation

Three elements impact innovation more than materials, engineering, or industry.  These are the organization, technology, and culture.  Factors like systems, structures, and strategies directly influence how innovation teams work internally and externally.  Selected decision-making tools can aid or abet speed of innovation by increasing data and information flow or by creating roadblocks between senior management and team members. 

Organizations should start with an examination of their overall strategy when seeking to enhance innovation.  Strategies reflect the degree to which the firm accepts risks in NPD.  PPM tools (technology) will translate individual project data so decision makers can actively assess innovation highest value innovation projects to pursue.  Strategies and technologies are often a mirror to the organization’s culture.  Culture is unspoken but determines how work gets done, rewards learning, and supports successful integration of NPD in an organization. 

Learn More

If your organization is struggling with innovation, especially in these challenging times, please contact me for a complimentary 30-minute innovation coaching session.  With over 20 years of experience and innovation clients across all industry groups, I can help you get innovation on track for success!  Contact me at area code 281, phone 787-3979 or email to info@Simple-PDH.com.

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.

Growing in Innovation

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

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

Learning

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

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

Adopting

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

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

Transforming

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

Sustaining

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

Flagship Innovation Leader

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

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

Learn More

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

About Me

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

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.            Learn.            Earn.            Simple.

Leadership is a Verb

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

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

Acting for Others

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

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

Performing Service

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

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

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

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

Innovation Leaders

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

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

Learn More

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

About Me

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

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.            Learn.            Earn.            Simple.

Entrepreneurial Leaders

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

Watch the 20-second summary and then read on!

Complete Ownership of a Problem

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

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

Motivated by Uncertainty

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

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

Persuasion

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

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

Entrepreneurial Leaders Skills

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

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

How Do You Become an Entrepreneurial Leader?

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

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

About Me

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

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.       Learn.       Earn.       Simple.

Innovation Leaders are NOT Teachers

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

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

Leaders Mentor, Not Teach

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

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

Too Much Coaching Fails Leadership

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

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

Innovation Leaders Acknowledge Failure

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

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

Innovation Teachers

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

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

Build Your Innovation Leadership Skills

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

About Me

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

Winning with Incremental Innovation

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

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

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

Sexy Gets the Press

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

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

Benefits of Incremental Innovations

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

The Market

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

The Competition

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

The Technology

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

The Product

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

Winning with Incremental Innovation

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

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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.    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.

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A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.            Learn.            Earn.            Simple.

Authentic Innovation

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

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

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

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

Characteristics of Authentic Innovation

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

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

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

Organic Innovation

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

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

Innovation is Personal

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

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

Incremental Innovation

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

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

What is Authentic Innovation?

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

Learn How To Win With Incremental Innovation

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

© Simple-PDH.com

A Division of Global NP Solutions, LLC  

Study.            Learn.            Earn.            Simple.

Changing Innovation Performance

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

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

The Purpose for Change

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

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

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

Simplify Work Processes

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

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

Measure What Matters

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

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

Improving Innovation Performance

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

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

Do You Want to Improve Your Innovation Performance?

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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.    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.