How Do You Uncover Unseen Problems?
Anyone who works in the problem definition space knows the pitfalls of hidden issues. Solving a problem is sometimes dependent on who is articulating the problem, the lens with which they view the world, and the space that they have at the table...
Why Your Employees Are the Key to Recovery
In this article, we will look at how to identify and understand employee contributions, and learn how to work with idea generators, evaluators, and activators.
Agile Development for Manufacturers: The Emergent Gating Model
Agile is employed within Stage-Gate for new-product development by manufacturers with positive performance results; but must be adjusted from the software version of Agile – the result: the emergent Agile-Stage-Gate hybrid model.
Structure Your Ideation Approach
The fuzzy front end of innovation confronts you with a lot of questions. In my new book ‘Creating innovative Products and Services’ I try to solve them. This time I like to introduce a structured ideation method, which combines both creativity and business reality.
Finding Fantastic Solutions in Unexpected Places
This week IM caught up with Klaus-Peter Speidel, who has embraced open innovation in the company he co-founded - hypios, a social marketplace for solutions. Klaus-Peter tells us more about the need-oriented approach to innovation and the importance of multiplicity and open-mindedness in the idea creation process.
How to Combine Innovation with Lean and Six Sigma
Innovation never takes place in a vacuum cut off from other initiatives to improve performance. Doug Collins takes a look at how to team up with people in the Lean and Six Sigma processes.
Design Thinking in new Product Development
What is design thinking's role in the new product development process? Michael Fruhling explains.
7-1/2 steps to innovation
Over the past year or so there have been more and more lists available online on how to "do innovation." Since the world is becoming extremely sound-bite driven and people are trying to perform multiple jobs simultaneously, this is probably the inevitable result. If you are charged with, or interested in approaches to delivering new value to the market, you may want to consider these following thoughts.
Why Diversity is the Mother of Creativity
Diversity is the key to creativity. Not just diversity in your workforce, but in your personal life, the teams you form and the managers whom you hire and promote, explains Jeffrey Baumgartner.
The Man who Innovated the Postal Service
Looking back through history, innovation has often occured when one big thinker envisioned a new way to solve a customer's problem in an elegant way. A case in point: mail delivery.
How to Leap over the Shortcomings of Traditional Group Brainstorming
Brainstorming can be effective if it is performed properly. In this article, Jeffrey Baumgartner explores some of the weaknesses of traditional brainstorming and explores several potentially fruitful alternatives.
Embrace Mistakes as a Source of Learning and Invention
How does your company deal with mistakes? If continuous learning from your employees, innovation and even breakthrough innovation are important to you, it is critical you embrace mistakes, at least as sources for learning and invention.
Personal Innovation: We Need to Stop and Think
Innovation experts love to make lists of obstacles to innovation. These lists include issues like lack of time, resistance to change, poor communication, middle management and so on. Employees like to cite obstacles such as these in part because they place the blame on the organisation and their mangers rather than on themselves. And, indeed, can you imagine a middle manager responding to a questionnaire on obstacles to innovation with the answer: “Why, I believe I am a major obstacle to innovation in this firm.”? But the truth is, possibly the biggest obstacle to innovation is simply that people do not stop and think!
Creativity: How to Retrain Your Inner Censor
If you want to make the most of your creative potential, you need to learn how to override your inner censor so that it does not stifle your most imaginative ideas. Here are several techniques you can use to do this.
A more creative approach to educating future leaders
In economically and socially advanced societies, education is the leading industry going forward. Yet it continues to operate as if it is still 1950. If education is the imperative in our societies, it needs to use new techniques, new methods, new tools, and creativity to make the educational experience more rewarding. It is time for education to catch up with society once again.
The Power of Provocative Questions for Creative Problem Solving
Many of us don't give questions a second thought. They're a part of how we gather information from others on a daily basis. But did you realize that asking yourself provocative, thought-provoking questions can be a powerful catalyst for creative problem solving? Here's how.
Innovation Strategy: Hurdles are for Leaping Over
The biggest hurdle to innovation is probably allowing hurdles to become insurmountable. The thing to remember, however, is that hurdles are for jumping over. The best method of jumping over innovation hurdles is through creativity and innovation.
Stumped by a problem? Try adopting a different perspective!
If you're faced with a seemingly intractable problem and you've tried everything you can think of to solve it creatively, perhaps you need to try a different perspective.
Immunize your team against the spoilers of creative thinking
Research has shown that people solve problems in a more creative way and turn out work with more creative surprises if they are able to focus their attention on their daily enjoyment and fun that comes from the challenge, and their total immersion in the work.
How to Strengthen your Organization’s Creative Core
Most of us don't invest enough time to develop our core muscles. Organizations, too, tend to have an under-exercised core: the creativity of their people. To strengthen this area of your corporate culture takes a commitment of time and resources, says Carol Kobza.
The Basics of Creative Problem Solving – CPS
Creative problem solving isn't just brainstorming, although that's what many people may associate it with. It's actually a well-defined process that can help you from problem definition to implementing solutions, according to Jeffrey Baumgartner.
Improvisation is key to building a culture of innovation, says Doug Stevenson
By adopting the behaviors and principles of improvisation, organizations can achieve significant and robust cultural change in the direction of innovation, says creativity and improv expert Doug Stevenson.
Adult creativity: Why we should make time for play
We learn when we play as children, in fact this accounts for most of our early learning. Play acts as a learning laboratory for trying out different internal models on an external world. This is not dissimilar to our traditional brainstorming sessions.
Innovation is everyone’s job, says author Gregg Fraley
Everyone needs to be responsible for innovation. It doesn't matter what your job is. It's still part of your work to improve things and even invent things, says author and creativity expert Gregg Fraley in the latest Creativity in Business interview.
How Can Design Thinking Be Applied to Government Policy-Making?
The Institute of Design held a seminar in Chicago this week to create a discussion on the role of a design-based approach to forming public policy. The premise for the discussion was that, "the prevalent perception that 'nothing works' in the public policy arena, or rather, public policy itself rarely seems to be working, challenges democratic systems at their core. Coincident to this spiraling public pessimism and partisan gridlock, foundations are turning to designers with renewed hope that their skills in problem definition and resolution can make a difference and help foster success."
Now is the time to realize our creative potential, says Julie Ann Turner
Creativity in Business: Interview with Julie Ann Turner
Reinventing Knowledge Management to Innovate
There has been a shift from the emphasis on what people called the “information value chain” to “knowledge value chain” for quite some time. The environments are shrewd and unpredictable in this world of growing competition and rapid technological progress. The information value chain just served as a database of “best practices” whereas “knowledge value chain” emphasizes on the active sense making of human beings handling business.
How to use Twitter as a Powerful Idea Discovery Tool
Twitter can be a powerful tool for developing breakthrough ideas. In fact, it's one of the best tools for exposing you to new ideas, insights and trends. Unfortunately, it has gained a reputation as a place where narcissistic people talk about the glorious minutiae of their lives - such as, "Guess what I'm having for breakfast?" There is some of that, of course, but it is also a vibrant community where people share some amazing ideas and resources.