Building a Culture of Innovation

Create or Fail: Seeking the Competitive Advantage

Robert J. Bies, Ph.D.

Creativity and Innovation: Sage Wisdom

Creativity is thinking up new things.Innovation is doing new things.

(Theodore Levitt)

Barriers to Innovation: The Force Field Analysis

Creativity and Innovation: Sage Wisdom

It is not necessary to change.Survival is not mandatory.

(W. Edwards Deming)

Building a Culture of Innovation: Keys to Success

Recruit the “Right” People (e.g., Diversity, the Passionate, the Curious)

Signal Innovation is a Key Priority Budgets, calendars, metrics, questions, modeling (leading by

example)

Building a Culture of Innovation: Keys to Success

Think Big, but Start Small Trial periods, pilot projects

Strive for Continual Innovation, not Instant Perfection Embrace experimentation and make “excellent” mistakes;

Conduct “After Action” reviews; Do not let “perfect” get in the way of “good”; Remember: It’s progress, not perfection; It’s direction, not distance!

Building a Culture of Innovation: Keys to Success

Reward for Creativity Build into the formal reward system Reward for the incremental—and the outlandish and crazy Big rewards for THE TEAM (The Team as “Hero”) “Risk and Recognition” ceremonies to celebrate the innovators

and their teams with public recognition and stories—and also celebrate the failures

Creativity and Innovation: Sage Wisdom

It’s crucial to get feedback quickly, when it’s still useful, AND KEEP ITERATING.My colleague Jason Deamer always says:Pain is temporary. Suck is forever.

(Michael B. Johnson, PIXAR Studios)

Sharing “Innovation Success” Stories: An Exercise

Sharing Innovation Success Stories Break out into small groups Share innovation success stories—and lessons learned Examples of innovation success stories to be shared with the

larger group

Creativity and Innovation: Sage Wisdom

People talk about wanting more innovation. But innovation is a process result. Imagination is the fuel. You're not going to get innovation if you don't have imagination. Most organizations do not value imagination, do not encourage it, do not reward it. In many cases, they don't even think about it. But if you're not thinking about imagination, I guarantee you're not going to have meaningful innovation.

(Jay Walker, inventor, Walker Digital, Priceline)

Creating the “Killer App” Project: An Exercise

Creating the “Killer App” Project Break out into small groups Each group comes up with an idea for a “Killer App” for use in the

Point of Sale technology ecosystem Describe the “Killer App” on flip chart paper Share your “Killer App” with the larger group

Creativity and Innovation: Sage Wisdom

Innovation distinguishes betweena leader and a follower.

(Steve Jobs)