Love this post. What do you recommend to track an idea's development through every stage and every contributor? What are your thoughts on some of the collaboration tools out there for the commercial market. How much impact do you see KM and BI software having on time-to-market?
An Innovation Needs Three Parents - BusinessWeek
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As you will remember, we are big fans of idea parenting.
We believe the people who come up with a clever innovation idea should be the ones to shepherd it through the entire execution process and help introduce it into the marketplace. That way, the insight won't get diluted along the way and we can make sure that the new product, service, or business model gets all the loving support it needs during development.
And we are also big believers in drawing the left and right brains of the organization. Some people are better at coming up with ideas (right brainers), and others are better at the implementation (left brainers). So it makes sense to involve everyone to make sure all the bases are covered.
Combining the two ideas, here's where we come out: It is important to have an idea parent involved at each stage of the innovation process.
Expert Parents
To review a bit, we know that innovation occurs when: 1) There is a significant need or insight. 2) A product, service, or business model meets that need. 3) There is clear communication that connects No.1 to No.2.
From our experience, we know it is absolutely critical to create an innovation team with a "parent" for each of these three elements. These expert parents need to be deeply involved throughout the process.
Specifically, you need an insight parent whose "job" it is to make sure that the clarity of the insight she has found does not get blurred as the innovation process moves forward. You don't have a good insight parent if:
• The team can't answer precisely the problem they are trying to solve.
• Your customers don't agree that your idea precisely meets their needs.
• Your insight does not remain focused on one core target that meets key criteria, e.g., a market that is growing, profitable, and open to your brand.
• You continually engage in more and more research and your instincts tell you that it is a "CYA" (cover your ass) exercise or you feel caught in analysis paralysis.
• Your concepts address multiple needs equally rather than doing a superlative job of addressing one specific problem.
An idea parent fully understands the need that the team is trying to fill and pushes for the most compelling, inventive, and appropriate new product, service, or business model to meet the need. The best idea parents know how to expand the boundaries of the idea while staying completely focused on the customer's need.
You don't have a good idea parent if:
• You are only producing safe, evolutionary ideas.
• The insight parent says the ideas you are producing are off base.
• The ideas don't meet the criteria set by the leadership team.
• You are not scared by at least some of the ideas.
• You are producing too few ideas.
Parents are responsible for making sure the communication links the insight and the idea. Remember, a great idea poorly communicated is as effective as a bad idea brilliantly communicated—i.e., not very.
You don't have a good communication parent if:
• You are not squarely speaking to the target about the identified insight.
• You are using language the consumer would not use or recognize.
• The other parents are disappointed with the less-than-evocative execution of the messaging.
The clear sign that you have a good communication parent is when your customer says "Finally someone listened to me." It's important to note here that there are very few renaissance people who can be a solid insight, idea, and communication parent. This is a marriage of varied skill sets and passions, where the right brain complements the left brain and the true respect of different experiences and expertise really matters. So don't be surprised if you need three different parents to make sure your best ideas remain your best ideas as you move from idea to launch.
It's usually easy to identify the maverick innovator in an organization, but when you dig deeper, you'll find there's always a doting parent (or three) responsible for the insight, the idea, and the communication. They may not get the glory, but like the best parents everywhere, they are very proud of the end result.
April 6, 2010 12:59 AM
I like this! It sounds a lot to me like the evolution of the big thinkers.... those who took hold early on in the industrial revolution have fostered this thought process... but instead of just a handful of people coming up with ideas... there are lots of them in the information age and now it comes time to manage the managers to get things done....
While it is true you need the right, left and communicator you also need an aspect of maturity to cope with how these people interact with one another..
And this also sounds like a green-belt level style of management or LEAN... which to me is just a fancy way of talking about process improvement. Now if we can just apply this to a smart electrical grid we can solve many pollution, growth and energy needs. I think http://www.websolarsearch.com/ is a great place to start collecting ideas for solar.
April 6, 2010 3:53 AM
Great article, particularly liked the idea of appointing a communication parent within the team. The communication aspect is often neglected here in Ireland, particularly by science and technology innovators. Thanks for the insights.
Siobhan O'Dwyer
April 6, 2010 8:36 AM
There is a big difference between insights and ideas. Ideas are plentiful. Quality insights are rare. Quality execution is scarce. While it is true that it is incredibly important that a company focus on accurately translating the insight all the way through to execution, the person with the idea is often ill-suited to power it all the way through to execution, and is actually less important than the person who came up with the insight. So it is more important to keep the people on the sidelines who identified the insight than the person who came up with the idea. After all, you can do a brilliant job executing the idea, but miss the insight completely. Just my two cents.
P.S. I have a much different view on the roles in the innovation process and have written about them for my book due out this fall. Watch for the announcement on http://blogginginnovation.com
Braden
(@innovate)
April 6, 2010 2:14 PM
updated: April 6, 2010 2:16 PM
I try to look, based on my own experience as an innovator pur sang.
I had to think about what you were saying.
It certainly is a model that can be of great value.
One thing I am missing is the definition of innovation a.s.o......
I explain it in the following way; not everyone does agree but oke:
Begin with a vertical product column.
Within that column product improvement (minor changes) is done and it leads to a product with certain improved qualities.
Then, partly within and partly outside the product column, but always with the goal on the product, we do Development.
Then, outside the product column, and instead of the focus on the product we are focussed on a challenge (call it problem); we do Research and this research leads to Innovation.
If we look at the people, working in the product column, we generally can say that they are precise, highly skilled, good procedures, a.s.o......
If we look far outside the column, innovators are not precise even a little bit chaotic, overvieuw knowledge, not good in procedures but very strong in finding the most uncommon ways for a solution.
I certainly belong to the last group; I can find a solution even before a challenge occurs.
Due to my (also) knowledge of marketing and business development I can work where you defined a parent (or am I wrong?)
Of course input of (sparring) partner(s) is necessary to create a success
I am not completely satisfied about what I did write but I hope someone finds something useful.
jacques
April 7, 2010 5:43 PM
With due respect, beliefs are for church. We need to pose questions, not assert opinions (which, of course, I'm doing now). I agree with Brandon - idea people almost never understand the implications of their idea and rarely should be given charge of innovation processes.
>> Your parenting idea is valid in that most innovation teams do not have a clear vision that goes all the way to customer satisfaction. It takes a team to innovate.
>> I find that asking carefully chosen questions, even of basic R&D, can produce visions that drive innovation all the way to market. In particular, no one ever buys a product. They always buy what they think the product will do for them. Not features, but benefits. Not the product, but the value of the product.
>> If we organize our mindsets to innovate value rather than products, we are much more likely to succeed financially and in development of brand equity. No
April 8, 2010 10:53 AM
What if you had access to 15,000 idea parents? This is the function behind Texas Institute of Science Technology Transfer Division. We work closely with the Institute's Global Research Alliance of more than 15,000 professors and research scientists, working at over 1,800+ departments at 190+ universities and research institutes located primarily in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, to identify new inventions, innovations and technologies that have commercial applicability in the West. You may learn more about how we are advancing IP technology from all over the globe, as well as see some of the technologies we currently are working with at http://www.txis.us/txis/business/iptech/model.aspx
April 8, 2010 10:57 AM
updated: April 8, 2010 11:00 AM
Additionally, I believe that we can thank open innovation principles for a boom in this area of idea parenting. By tearing down figurative company walls, business is free to innovate in the open market and find the best possible route to a solution
Maddock Douglas
- member since: 12/29/2009
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April 8, 2010 12:08 PM
some very interesting comments and additional points of emphasis for sure.....I'm curious though regarding Braden's comment that "it is more important to keep the people on the sidelines who identified the insight than the person who came up with the idea" - it sounds like a distinction that may, depending on how its delivered, contribute to the opposite intention of our article and lead to more of a traditional view of innovation within corporations as a sequential handoff process of specialists and agencies that may or may not ever have the necessary continuity, motivations and vision for what success really is.....the intention of the article is to reinforce that all three parents are equally valued & equally essential to achieve the desired outcome of success in market...... per our definition of innovation, all three circles (1insight, 2idea, 3comm hence the metaphor of all 3 parents as a team working together), are essential throughout the process - because if any of the three are compromised at any point in the process, the outcome is (in our experience) compromised.
Braden, would love to read your book and discuss in the community - send it to us when ready.
thanks,
Raff
Maddock Douglas
- member since: 12/29/2009
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April 8, 2010 1:43 PM
Great debate all.
Caroline, sorry this took so long. To your question about tracking an idea as it develops, check out the post by Luisa Uriarte on The Innovation Power Score. We believe that the insight, the idea and communication must all be tracked and the Power Score is a simple way to do it. This keeps your team focused on improving the things that need fixing and celebrating the things they have already gotten right.
http://community.maddockdouglas.com/blog/entry/15510/Predicting-Successful-In...
Mike
April 8, 2010 4:58 PM
I like the discussion about beliefs from Gary.
Just a short comment.
Believes have nothing to do with religion, its religion that uses that aspect.
Believes are the main factors for empowerment or avoidance .... not rational arguments.
Everyone acts and reacts based on believes.
You can verify that in psychology, NLP ... a.s.o.
Buyers believe they get something and that is what you stated almost at the end, in spite of your first sentence.
So far, Jacques
April 8, 2010 5:33 PM
There are a few other roles that are important to successful innovation, but the three you've outlined are important. Ideas are subservient to insight in my mind though, and the three circles are not equal in either time or space. They each have their place and their roles though and are important to consider.
Braden
(@innovate)
June 29, 2011 8:23 AM
I love this post... so true. Thanks Maddock, and Vitton, for posting.
Favorite part, "You are not scared by at least some of the ideas."
If it's not uncomfortable, you're not working hard enough or going in a new direction that challenges you. Just like love, change hurts too.
Maddock Douglas
- member since: 12/29/2009
- rank: 3 of 7372
- 2 articles authored
- 18 blog entries posted
- 13 forum threads started
- 33 comments
June 29, 2011 12:01 PM
Aly, those are my favorite parts too - you/we Innovators have to learn how to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Thanks for the comments.
Raff
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