Innovate or Die! Implementing a

Culture of Innovation

Facilitator: Benny Stein

Date: August 2, 2013

Agenda

I. Self-expression

II. Aims

III. Defining a culture of innovation

IV. Implementing a new culture

I. Self-expression

Organization

We help companies use their knowledge

resources more efficiently for sustainable

business success.

We offer seminars on social business,

collaboration, open innovation and

design thinking.

About me

Self-employed creativity and

innovation consultant since 2011,

since 2013 operating as Ideara.

Benny Stein

Vision: Creating of new, unusual things

About you Questions to orient yourself

Who am I?

How do I earn my living?

Which experience do I have with

innovation?

What do I expect from this workshop?

Quote

“Never doubt that a small group of

committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”

- Margaret Mead

II. Aims

Aims You‘ll learn:

Aspects of a culture of innovation

Barriers on your way to it and

Ways to overcome these barriers

III. Defining a culture of

innovation

Brain Teaser

To warm up your brain:

Find 5 ways to check whether the light of a

fridge is off when you close it‘s door!

Why did it take the fax machine 5 years to

become successful?

Definition of „innovation“

Definition: „First-time usage of a problem

solution“

Innovation:

New product

New service

New process

New way of thinking

Difference to idea and invention?

Definition of „culture“

Definition: „Pattern of shared basic

assumptions“ (Annahmen)

These assumptions need to be:

Valid (enough)

Made visible („corporate identity“,

structures, processes)

Lived and taught to new members

Difference to climate?

Innovation culture

We combine:

Innovation: New ways of problemsolving

+

Culture: Pattern of shared assumptions

=

Innovation culture: „A pattern of shared

assumptions to enable new ways of

problemsolving.“

Innovation culture

Most important assumptions of a culture of

innovation:

We need innovation in order to survive.

We support innovative behaviour, provide

resources for it and tolerate mistakes.

Composition of a creative team

Crucial questions

Which persons are needed? Whose point

of view is truly relevant for the process?

Who is the end-user?

Who uses similar products?

Who will buy it?

Composition of a creative team

Main groups

End-users

Customers

Theoreticians

Experts, „nerds“

Contrarians („Querdenker“)

Uncomfortable persons that give you

impulses

Avoid the „comfortable clone syndrome“!

Composition of a creative team

We need to cover:

Inside view Outside

view

Process moderation

Creative

team

Exercise: Insiders and outsiders

Co-workers New customers Companies with the

same target group

(no competitor)

Competitors Marketing unit Branch experts

Teenagers R&D unit Trainees

Regular customers Students Suppliers

Canteen personal

Cooperation partners CEO

Associate the following groups: Insider or outsider?

Classification Insider - Outsider

Kn

ow

led

ge

of th

e t

rad

e

(Bra

nc

he

nk

en

ntn

is)

Yes

• Companies with the same target group

• Competitors • Suppliers • Cooperation partners • Regular customers • Branch experts

• Co-workers • Marketing unit • R&D unit • CEO • Canteen personal • Trainee

No

• New customers • Students • Teenagers

• (Trainee)

No Yes

Belonging to the company

Ressources of innovation

We need:

Time

Space

Material Motivation/ stimulation

Creative team

IV. Implementing a new

culture

Obstacles and barriers

Implementing a new culture means

overcoming the old one.

Common barriers:

Organizational

Peer group

Cultural

Leadership

Personal

We remember

Assumptions of (a new) culture need to be:

Valid

Made visible

Lived and taught to new members

Three-level-model by Schein

Artefacts

Espousing values

Basic underlying assumptions

Visible elements

Strategy, aims,

vision, philosophy

Unconscious

elements

Organizational barriers

Organizational barriers

Cause: Organizational structure and

conditions

Time pressure

Lack of resources (money, machines,

personal, …)

Long chain of command, over-

formalization of processes

Exceeding workload

Centralized knowledge

A short story

Employee on the 5th level of

hierarchy:

„I‘ve got a good idea which will

help to develop our company a lot“

He has to take the chain of

command and tells his superior.

A short story

The superior on the 4th level of hierarchy:

„His idea is good. It will help to develop our company a lot!

But wait… if I told my superior about that idea, what will he think?

He might think, this employee has to earn a preferment. I will lose power!

And by the way… the employee is good at his actual workplace… I don‘t want to lose him and train somebody new into it!“

A short story

The superior on the 3rd level of hierarchy:

„This employee‘s idea is good. It will help to

develop our company a lot!

But wait… it would concern many units and

lead to a big change. That is too much effort

and I don‘t want to be responsible if it

doesn‘t work out!

A short story

The top management, 1st level of hierarchy:

„We started our new innovation program

three months ago… why don‘t we get new

ideas?“

Work environment

Work environment

It should be:

Inspiring

Inviting

Allowing communication

Providing possibilities of retreat

Exercise/ Homework: Collage

Step 1: Collect all magazines, catalogues,

prospects, travel guides and pictures you

can get

Step 2: Grab a big piece of paper, scissors

and glue and model your dream work

environment

Also works to visualize the reward of a

competition.

Peer group barriers

Peer group barriers

Cause: Interpersonal processes

Social conflicts

Group pressure, tendencies of

normalization

Too homogeneous work groups

(comfortable clonde syndrome)

Short break

Cultural barriers

Exercise: Defining culture types

Step 1: Look at your worksheet.

Step 2: Answer the questions by marking

where you see your (future) company.

Culture types

Stable: Past-orientated, introverted, tries to keep the status quo, avoids risks

Reactive: Present-orientated, introverted, accepts little risks and deviation from the status quo

Anticipative: Present-orientated, takes calculable risks in known environments

Explorative: Future-orientated, extraverted, assesses chance and risk

Creative: actively searches for a new future and changes, extraverted, takes unfamiliar risks

Cultural barriers

Cause: Unsuitable culture

High need for secureness

Risk-avoiding

Little tolerance for mistakes

Lack of artefacts

Different underlying assumptions and

espousing values

Culture of risk-taking

Fast decision making

Which way should he take?

”You miss 100% of the

shots you never take.”

- Wayne Gretzky

Finding new ideas

Balance between randomness (chaos) and

control (order)

Culture of trial and error

Turning the question:

Why did you fail?

to

What have you learned?

Quote

“In the end, management doesn’t change

culture. Management invites the workforce

itself to change the culture.”

- Lou Gerstner

Personal barriers

Leadership barriers

Leadership and personal barriers

Personal barriers

Cause: Personal doubts

Persons perceive themselves as uncreative

No intrinsic motivation

Leadership barriers

Cause: Lack of trust, centralization of power

Exceeding control, little delegation

No setting of extrinsic incentives

Innovation roles

Creative geniuses

Innovation champions

Innovation leaders

Innovation roles

Creative genius

Key person in the actual development of

new ideas

Often bridges the gap between company

and customer, connecting an inside with

an an outside view

The creative mind, „idea generator“.

Innovation roles

Innovation champion

Influences, encourages, promotes and

supports innovation

They are usually the interface between a

company‘s strategy and it‘s operational

business

The practitioner.

Innovation roles

Innovation leader

Defines the core structures

Defines basic operations of an

organization

Sets the general focus on innovation

The strategic planner.

Exercise: 10 statements

Step 1: Build teams (maximum: 6 teams)

Step 2: You get 5 red, blue and green pins

Red: Creative geniuses

Blue: Innovation champions

Green: Innovation leaders

Step 3: Assign them to the statements on

your worksheets (1 pin per statement)

Exercise: Balancing innovation roles

Step 1: Take your 15 pins (5 red, green and

blue)

Step 2: Model the perfect balance of the

three roles by adding/ taking away the pins

you (don‘t) need.

Example: 1 genius, 5 champions, 3 leaders

Innovation motor Greatest motor of innovation:

Talent

Beware: Creativity is NOT intelligence.

It‘s not necessarily from within the branch.

Example: Sony hired an opera singer with a phenomenal hearing to increase their product‘s audio engineering.

Characteristics of „talent“

Look for people with these attitudes:

Divergent thinking

Fluent generation of ideas

Ability to elaborate and refine their results

And most important:

Obsession for what they do

Cost of talent

Amount of professional experience, degrees, inflexibility, …

Cost to get

the talent

Innovation motor

So when‘s the best time to get talent?

As early as possible!

(Including schools and universities.)

Innovation capability means

Human Resources

Motivation

Promote (healthy) competition

Rewarding success

Rewarding success

Money is not the only possible reward.

What about fulfilling a dream?

Which of your dreams is worth to win the

„ideation contest“ of your company?

A travel? A new lawn moyer? A language

course? A newspaper abonnement?

Be creative!

Recognizing successes

Recognizing success

Recognizing means

Celebrating!

Hit a bell, have a party, just show that you

encourage the trial and success.

Even mistakes can be celebrated. They

won‘t be repeated!

Giving feedback

Communication structure

Exercise: Modeling com. structures

Step 1: Build teams of at least 4 persons. One of you is your chief. Mark him somehow.

Step 2: You get twines. Each of them is a communication link.

Step 3: Model the most ineffectual communication structure you can think of.

Step 4: Now model your most effective communication structure.

Communication structure

Lessons:

The most ineffectual communication = no

communication

The best form: (Controlled) communication

with everyone

… leading to „dare to share“

Innovation lab

A company grants users access to some of

their resources, like raw intern ideas, source

code or even a real test lab.

What it gets in return:

New ideas

Advertisement

Direct contact to talent

Customers who developed „their“ product

Work-life-balance

Work-life-balance

Even the most creative minds need time to

refresh their batteries.

Why don‘t you plan their vacation?

Disentangle them from their work for a while

and give them one mission:

Find something cool for our company!

Providing with tools

Tools

Access to information

Access to resources of innovation

Tools of analyzation, measurement,

improvement

Creativity methods

7 steps of prototyping

1. On an A4 page: Describe a short practical

test.

2. Collect disposable material the cheapest

way.

3. Find a partner/ customer who provides a

testing area and will be a critical voice.

4. Fix a date for the test run (within 5 days).

7 steps of prototyping

5. Do the test as soon as possible.

6. Document and analyze your results.

7. Fix the date for the next test run. It should

be within 5-10 days.

Quotes

“Effective prototyping may be the most

valuable core competence an innovative

organization can hope to have.”

- Michael Schrage

„Fail faster. Succeed Sooner.”

- David Kelley

How to measure „innovation culture“

Indicators:

Output of ideas and innovation

Espousing values and assumptions have

been internalized

Visible artefacts

Perceived image

Regularity of innovation happenings

Troubleshooting

A few tips

…when trying to implement a new culture

The change must be supported by

management and employees. Let them

create the culture together.

People seek secureness, new things scare

them. Therefore, implementation needs

time.

The new culture must be visible, valid and

internalized.

Reactions towards a new culture

Innovators

Early

adopters

Late

adopters

Resistors

People of the organization

Change curve

• Shock

• Denial

• Resistance

• Test

• Acceptance

• Implementation

Turning point

Closing remark

„Excellence in innovation.

We can’t all be Apple or Cirque du Soleil or

Basement Systems Inc.

But we can damn well die trying.”

- Tom Peters

Questions left?

Thoughts and impressions

Evaluation

Anstehende Veranstaltungen

13.08.2013: Ideenworkshop 4x3 in Berlin

28.08.2013: Ideenworkshop 4x3 in Berlin

19./20.09.2013: Praxis-Seminar Zusammenarbeit

im digitalen Zeitalter

17./18.10.2013: Praxis-Seminar Open Innovation

13./14.02.2014: Praxis-Seminar Open Innovation