Creative Leadership Creative Leadership WorkshopWorkshop

Paul Sloane

The Nine Dots Puzzle

• Start on any dot• Can you draw 4

straight lines going through all the dots without taking your pen from the paper?

Agenda• Innovation Discussion• Creative Leadership• Problem Analysis• Idea Generation• Idea Evaluation• Six thinking Hats• Organising for Innovation

What is Innovation?What is Innovation?

Innovation

Incremental Radical

Product

Process

Route to Market

Marketing

Partnership

Innovation Traffic Light Indicator

Objective Green Amber Red

How many people understand the goals of our organisation?

Everyone Most Few or none

How often do we hold idea generation meetings?

More than once a month

A few times a year Rarely or never

Do we set goals for ideas, initiatives and innovation?

Yes – everyone has them

A few No - none

Do we have a positive attitude to risk management?

Risks are fine. We manage them

We try risks sometimes

No – we are risk averse

Do we look for ideas outside our organisation?

We often look outside for ideas

We sometimes look outside

We rarely look outside for ideas

Do we encourage, recognise and reward internal ideas?

Yes Somewhat No

Can anyone question or challenge anything?

People can question and they do

People sometimes challenge

The boss knows best

Do we try prototypes and pilots to test ideas?

We are always trying new things

Sometimes we try new things

We rarely try new things

How innovative are you?

• Survey scores

• What is impeding innovation?

What are the characteristics What are the characteristics of an innovative leader?of an innovative leader?

Vision

Cult

ure

Pro

cess

innovation

The Vision

• A shared sense of purpose and direction• Understood by everyone • Inspirational• Leads to goals, objectives and metrics

Be a Storyteller

Anne Mulcahy - Xerox

Elevator Pitch• For A who need B, we are a C who offers

D. Unlike other C, we E.

• A = Target Customer• B = Customer Need• C = What kind of Business are we?• D = Our Offering• E = What makes us Different?

The Culture

• Entrepreneurial• Welcomes ideas• Questions everything• Encourages lateral thinking• Empowers individuals• Manages risk

Vision

Cultur

e Process

innovation

Vision

Cultur

e Process

innovation

How do you measure up?

• Are people empowered?• Do people challenge the way things are

done?• Is risk-taking encouraged or

discouraged?• Is failure discouraged?• Is there time to try new things?

The Process• Problems are analysed• Lots of ideas are generated• Internal and external sources• Idea generation techniques• Rapid prototyping• Project Gating• Fast to market Vision

Cultur

e Process

innovation

Vision

Cultur

e Process

innovation

Innovation Cycle

EvaluateGenerate lots of ideas

ImplementAnalyse Problem

Monitor results

Poor sales of a new product

Poor product design

Inadequate promotion

Ineffective distribution

Price was too high

Failed to identify target market

Low quality

Not appealing

Too heavy

Lack of advertising

Small sales force

No buy-in from Head of Sales

Manufacturing is too costly

Wrong target clients

Competition from Far East

Product came out late

Wrong channels

Lack of market research

WHY? WHY?

Selling benefits

• Don’t sell me a ……..• Feature

• Sell me a ……..• Benefit• Benefit• Benefit• Benefit

Selling benefits example

• Don’t sell me a ……..• Coca Cola

• Sell me • Refreshment• Excitement• Thirst quenching satisfaction• A youthful,vigorous lifestyle

Brainstorming

• Quantity is good• No idea is a bad idea• Suspend judgment• Go beyond reason• Build on ideas of others• Ideas should be

• Short• Specific• Action-oriented

Brainstorm Meeting Quiz

1) How many people should there be in a brainstorm?

2) What sort of people should you invite?3) What are the two phases of a brainstorm?4) Who should facilitate the meeting?5) Should the manager be present?6) What criteria will you use to evaluate

ideas?

Evaluation Criteria

• Synectics• N• A• F

• Tesco• B• S• C

The Nominal Method• Write the challenge at the top of sheet• Write 5 different ideas to meet the challenge• Pass the sheet• Write 3 fresh ideas on the sheet• Pass again• Add a further 2 new ideas• Pass again• Select the best two ideas on the sheet you

receive

Reverse the Problem• Individuals write down ideas to make the

problem much worse• Share the ideas• Take one (it does not matter which)• Generate positive ideas from it• Take Another• Evaluate the best ideas• It is fun and it generates incremental

ideas

Two conversations....• One person make a suggestion for

customers.• 2nd person says – Yes but........• 1st person says – Yes but......• And so on

Two conversations....• One person make a suggestion for

staff.• 2nd person says – Yes and........• 1st person says – Yes and......• And so on

Six thinking hats• Traditional thinking is adversarial

• Prosecution and defence• Government and Opposition• I am right – you are wrong• Ego interferes with judgment

• Six thinking hats is parallel • Everyone evaluates from all points of

view

Six Thinking Hats

• White - Information• What do we need to know?

• Red - Feelings• How does this make me feel?

• Yellow - Optimism• What is good about the idea?

Six Thinking Hats

• Black - Caution• What is wrong with this idea?

• Green - Creativity• How can we adapt this to make it

work?• Blue - Control

• Is the process working?

Six Hats Propositions

• Malta builds the world’s largest casino to boost tourism.

• All train and bus journeys will be free to passengers and paid for by increased tax.

• Schoolchildren cannot go up a year until they pass literacy and numeracy tests.

• Turkey is admitted to the EU.

The Process• Problems are analysed• Lots of ideas are generated• Internal and external sources• Idea generation techniques• Rapid prototyping• Project Gating• Fast to market Vision

Cultur

e Process

innovation

Vision

Cultur

e Process

innovation

The Innovation Funnel

Assessment Gate

Development Gate

Test Gate

Launch

Ideas IdeasIdeasIdeas Ideas

How to Innovate1. Paint the vision, set the goal2. Analyse the problem3. Encourage ideas4. Run effective brainstorms5. Look outside6. Allocate time and money for

experimentation7. Prototype/Implement8. Manage risk/Learn from failure

Innovation best practices -1Company Sector Practice

Shell Energy Gamechanger

Bouyges Telco Astonishment report

3M Manufacture 15% time for innovation – engineers

Google Media 20% time for innovation – all staff

HP Technology Medal of Defiance

Tata Manufacture Innometer

Nokia Technology Silos, X-discipline teams

Haier Manufacture Customer Observation

Innovation best practices -2

Company Sector PracticeVodafone Telco Segment customers by

innovation

Bristol Myers Pharma Ideas Searcher

Alessi Design Greatest Failures

P&G FMCG Open Innovation – 50% target

Reckitt Benckiser

FMCG Open Innovation – Leapfrog day

Carphone W’house

Technology Attitude to risk

Toyota Manufacture

2 million ideas

Virgin Diverse Empowerment