Building Innovation Capability | Paul4innovating Innovation Views

Absorptive Capacity, Knowledge Management and Innovation

Let’s start with some defining statements. Innovation is totally dependent on becoming aware of external ideas and the knowledge that is needed and then translated for it to become new innovation.

We can ‘fall over these ideas’ or we can find ideas or concepts through explicit search. Then to translate these and turn them into something new and different we need to have established some sort of diffusion and dissemination processes.

Having this established as a sustaining system provides an essential source to building organizations capabilities and competencies.

The more we work external knowledge the more we potentially enhance and multiply its value from a single idea into the potentials for multiple innovations. Having a systematic framework can be dramatic for generating new knowledge and gathering ideas for new innovation potential.

Throughout this post I’ll link into previous posts that you might like to explore but this is not necessary.

The issue is how we set about adopting and adapting new knowledge.

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Eating yourself for lunch, unpalatable but essential to adapt

I always enjoy Steve Denning and his writing as essential reading. He has been discussing the fundamental changes taking place within the management of our organizations.

Just go over to the Forbes site for Steve’s articles http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/

Also just take a read of “Why Is Corporate American Eating Itself Alive?” about how Corporate America is practising self-cannibalism, triggered by Dennis Berman in an article in the Wall Street Journal with a message that resonates more and more today:

“isn’t it time we stop according extraordinary compensation to Corporate America’s leaders for meeting their quarterly numbers through the short-sighted tactic of self-cannibalism and instead focus the business on its true goal of adding value to customers with investments and innovation in real products and services?”

More destruction as against enlightenment or simply exposing themselves to a very thin core, leaving themselves totally vulnerable?

Steve preaches radicalism simply because he sees the fundamental changes taking place, setting in train a new set of social and economic changes. He points out we are creatures of habit but being delivered more and more is his “better, faster, cheaper, smaller, lighter, more convenient and more personalized,” and we tend to say, “Hey! Yes! I want that! And not only do I want it. I want it now! In fact, not only do I want it now. “I’ve got to have it now!”

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Surfacing ten great intractable’s for innovation’s resolution

Intractable's needing resolution for innovation to flourish in organizations — Intractable’s needing resolution for innovation to flourish in organizations

So what does block innovation? Arguably there are plenty of things up and down organizations: a lack of resources, an overcrowded portfolio of ideas, a lack of dedicated people, treating innovation as one off, keeping it isolated and apart from mainstream activities. The list could go on and on, no question.

Let’s take a different perspective.
If you could ask those that lead innovation, your senior organizational leadership, a series of question that might help unlock innovation blockages would that be valuable? This would need a good external facilitator as my recommendation who has deep innovation knowledge and expertise, able to manage the ‘dynamics’ within the room.

What would happen if you could get the leadership in a room together to discuss innovation which would allow innovation dialogues to emerge? Perhaps allowing those conversations that begin to build a common understanding, a common language for innovation?

Different views can surface for the challenges but they all need addressing. Gaining a working consensus to share across the organization so these blockages can be openly discussed and in time resolved.
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Seven Parts to the Innovation Leaders Litmus Test

Seven parts to the Innovation Litmus Test for the Executive Innovation Work Mat methodology

Let’s cut straight to the chase, to achieve the alignment of innovation to the organizations strategic goals and ambitions is so highly critical, yet we are, in so many cases, failing to meet this essential objective. We end up in that position where innovation disappoints.

We should bring together all that makes up those considerable efforts that goes into all our innovation activity. We need to work at strongly aligning all the innovation activities into the organizations goals and agenda. So how? Stay with me, I believe its valuable to your finding better innovation solutions.

To this end the Innovation Executive Work Mat was designed. I would recommend you consider this within your innovation thinking. It provides a structured framework for an organization to gather around but it is leadership driven and often this is simply missing within innovation activities.

We are in need of fresh growth through innovation

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Innovation is like a tropical rainforest constantly needing attention

I describe innovation as very much like a tropical rainforest, needing constant fresh attention, similar in its management,

There is my need to cut down certain trees, clear away a lot of the floor covering to allow the sunlight in and permit those ‘selected innovation trees’ to be allowed to grow stronger.

We all have those times where we need to choose, to pursue clearer pathways we believe are better for us. To be more selective in what we do, to be more focused and hopefully achieve a better, lasting result that hopefully offers a more satisfying set of outcomes, to both clients and to ourselves.

Within this comparison I am presently making of innovation being like a forest, I really began to see so much more of a connection in what is happening around innovation that it can be compared to understanding a tropical rainforest. There are many comparisons, let me outline some of these here.

The ecosystem within the rainforest is also needed for innovation to work effectively Continue reading “Innovation is like a tropical rainforest constantly needing attention”

Struggling with the sums of our capital

Organizations have been focused for far too long on the importance of financial capital but forget it is the sum of all their capitals that really counts.

The combined capitals determine and drive organizations’ destinies.

We are caught in a constant focus upon our achieving a return on our (financial) capital as our measuring criteria. Organizations strive for improving their ROCE, RONA, IRR, EVA and a host of other financial measures.

As Clayton Christensen has been arguing the agenda of organizations begins and ends with the “search for numbers”. I think there is a time for changing this, we need to search for the knowledge that makes-up eventually the numbers.

There has been a distant voice for some time putting forward the need to appreciate and value the other capitals sitting within organizations.

Much of the discussions have been housed under the term “intellectual capital” which denotes the sum of knowledge made up and contributed by our human assets, our organizational structures and our relationships that are developed.

These are the ‘capitals’ that transform into economic value through organization action. It is the financial capital that simply finances this.

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Many organizations are trapped in an innovation vortex also

Polar vortex and innovation vortex are both deep freezes

America is presently trapped in their “polar vortex” We are reading reports telling us that temperature records were shattered across the United States on Tuesday as the polar vortex continued to take hold, with all 50 states experiencing freezing temperatures at some point in the day.

As I’m sure many experiencing this extreme weather that is giving us this polar vortex most have become aware of what is causing it. It is a circulating pattern of strong winds flowing around a low-pressure system, which normally sits over the Arctic during winter. It is not a single storm.

These winds tend to keep the bitter cold air locked in the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere. However, when the vortex breaks down or splits into two, the vortex becomes distorted and dips much further, allowing this to spill farther southward than you would normally find it, sending this very cold air further south.

For many organizations, they are also presently trapped in an innovation vortex.

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Agility and Innovation in an Increasingly Open World

Can we reset the clock? Or do we look afresh? How can we plug innovation back in? How does Agility figure in this? Knowing the answer to evolve innovation in an increasingly open world is never easy.

Can you drawdown and still rely selected parts from the past or do you need to step back and see emerging patterns in different ways? Can you make new connections but recognise the value of past learning but combine these differently? I think yes.

I’ve been taking some time out of the daily innovation business to look towards where I’d like my future direction for innovation to head. These are early days and as I learn, I sure I’ll pivot to emerging market needs within the innovation advisory market place.

I feel there are nine primary components that are making up my shift in my innovation focus for my future focal points. These are not, at present “written in stone” but I feel can move my innovating work towards a higher maximization of value for my advice to clients. Perhaps this will also allow me to have a sharper focus.

Let me share these:

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Where innovation value resides

Often surveys and reports catch you by surprise. I’ve been working through the Imaginatik Global Report called “The State of Global Innovation for 2013” and certain parts did exactly that. The sheer difficulties that organizations seem to have to quantify the benefits and value achieved through innovation worries me.

I had previously provided a review more on the Strategic and readiness part of the Imaginatik report, in my post “The coming age of innovation in 2014 and beyond” and less so on the other part discussed, the Process and Execution part.

It is the process and execution side that have more of the deeper issues to tackle and more importantly, the one’s that take considerable time if you are tacking culture and the environment to allow for innovation. They are far more complicated to provide answers too. I feel like pushing this along, here goes:

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The Coming Age of Innovation in 2014 and Beyond

In May 2013 Imaginatik fielded an on-line survey to 204 business decision-makers across a wide range of industries and from these results produced a report “The State of Global Innovation, 2013” just released.

On Points — Wassily Kandinsky 1 — On Points by Wassily Kandinsky

I have found this report to be really an excellent understanding of critical issues that still need to be addressed for innovation to deepen its position within organizations.

I’d written my own predictions for 2014 before I had only just read this report just recently released. This was in my last post “Heading for 2014, will innovation change?” I see an even sharper agenda emerging for me.

To Imaginatik, I really can only offer the highest compliments for a well-structured report, thoughtful in its views and tentative forward-looking conclusions. It helps me greatly.

**For me this is the outstanding innovation report of the year 2013**

The report covers a variety of questions around Strategy and Execution

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