Building a front-end system for creating new ideas


Ideas are the true heroes of innovation. Of course, they need to be implemented with energy and commitment at the back-end. But a big idea can change your business (and life).

So don t listen to the prevailing logic that implementation skills are the key to innovation. Organisations need managers who can actively search for, value and nurture a great idea; and who can thrive in the chaotic , ambiguous and fuzzy front-end of the process.

In the future, cost cutting and remaining efficient will be absolute necessities but they will not be enough. The organisations that will flourish will be those which can harness the rational, imaginative and emotional energies of all their employees . They will be able to innovate across all aspects of their business, all the time. Their aim will be to constantly surprise their customers and partners . ˜What a good idea will be the ultimate response. But it will require a new range of idea concepts, tools and practices.

The front-end ideas system presented in this section will enable you and your team to re-energise your innovative efforts. It will provide a challenging and imaginative gym workout for the mind to help you improve your innovation results and return on investment.

If you want to improve innovation then you have to spend as much time, energy and resources on the front-end as you do on the back-end. This means that developing a flow of workable concepts should be the goal of every leader. This way you are constantly ahead of the curve with big, new concepts always in the pipeline. When you are testing a new concept, you are already evaluating another and simultaneously developing a new batch of concepts.

It will require the building of a four-stage, front-end, new idea system, as represented in Figure 4.1.

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Figure 4.1: A front-end idea system

This system begins with the building of an individual and collective idea mindset , that results in everyone opening themselves up to their own potential for creativity. The starting point for this stage is to reframe creativity as a flow of ideas.

The next step is to develop a new way of looking at ideas, which I call the idea concepts . The third step provides a kit of idea tools to enable you to create ideas.

With a new idea tool-kit, your creative skills and confidence will improve. The challenge is then to embed your new-found creativity in a number of idea practices , which is the final step in the process.

Idea mindsets

The starting point in building a powerful front-end idea system is to build an individual and collective idea mindset .

A mindset is the sum total of our assumptions, beliefs, values and experiences. It is the prism through which we view the world. If you can change your mindset, you can change your actions (this also applies to groups). The biggest barrier to developing new ideas is your own belief system which says ˜I am not creative . You need to reframe or break free of this self- fulfilling paradigm. Building an idea mindset is the most effective way to do this, but it will require a fundamental shift in your thinking about creativity, as illustrated in Table 4.1.

Table 4.1: Change how you think about creativity

Current way

New way

Creativity is art

Creativity is a flow of ideas

Creativity is mysterious

Creativity is a skill

Creativity is for special people

Everyone can contribute an idea

Creativity is for special activities (for example, advertising and marketing)

New ideas can be applied to any activity (for example, new processes and structures)

Creativity is for special times (for example, an annual conference)

New ideas should be developed all the time

This simple expansion of the concept of creativity from ˜something that someone else does to ˜something that I can meaningfully contribute to has a profound effect. When we think about it, we all have ideas, whether at work or at home. It could be a new solution for the kids homework, arranging for two people to meet, or trying a new recipe for dinner.

I once challenged a major advertising agency to tell me the most mundane activity they do. They replied that the sending out of invoices was straightforward, routine and highly regimented. But they had an accounts receivable problem in that their clients often took 60 days to pay and sometimes longer. I suggested we could apply our creativity to this issue. Within ten minutes we came up with a number of simple, easy ideas that could have a major impact on their cash flow. For example, what if clients were offered a new print campaign if they paid their bills ten days early?

The task is to ensure that everyone develops an idea mindset. It is not the responsibility of ˜someone else to develop ideas; it is part of everyone s role. This means that everyone expects and wants to search for opportunities to demonstrate their creativity at work. If you can imagine the creative energy that this individual and collective mindset could produce then you begin to understand the power of what can be unleashed.

The idea mindset also ensures that people are more open to the ideas of others. It is a necessary platform to overlay the other elements of the front-end idea system.

Idea concepts

The second stage is to develop a new understanding of the nature of ideas. If we can expand our perspective of what constitutes an idea then we can greatly expand our understanding of the idea process. I have called this new perspective an idea concept and have provided four that will help you reframe and expand your idea possibilities. They will help you to consider the important role of the idea receiver, separate the core idea from its execution, think about opportunity spaces and break out of the incremental cycle.

1. The idea exchange

In any business it is often not the quality of new ideas but the openness to receiving ideas that is the problem. For creativity to occur there must be an idea exchange, as illustrated in Figure 4.2.

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Figure 4.2: The idea producer and receiver interaction

Bigger ideas emerge from the vibrant interactions and dialogue between the people who produce ideas and those who receive them. Hence, the quality of these exchanges will dictate the ultimate quality of an organisation s innovation performance. Idea receivers have to listen and challenge but also be open to those ideas no matter how different or uncomfortable they are. They have to approach the exchange with a view to building on the idea rather than trying to tear it down. Moreover, I have found that the more open the receivers are to new ideas, the more confident idea producers become about presenting original, left- field ideas.

Most organisations, however, reward only the idea producers. If leaders devoted equal attention to the receivers of an idea, then creativity would flourish.

Some actions that leaders can employ to increase idea receptiveness include:

  • publicise idea receptive behaviour

  • encourage staff to look for the positive elements in an idea

  • capture uncomfortable but original ideas rather than rejecting them

  • place big ideas in a public place so people have time to get used to them

  • be more open to new ideas yourself (lead by example)

  • fund the more challenging ideas.

2.Think core versus execution of an idea

I have found it very helpful to think of every idea as consisting of two levels: the core (or essence) of the idea and the current execution of the idea (see Figure 4.3).

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Figure 4.3: The different idea levels

When we reject an idea, often what we are really saying is that we do not like the execution of the idea, though the core idea may still be valid. For example, the core idea behind a frequent- flyer program is to encourage and reward an airline s best customers. Recently, a new airline was considering entering the market and felt it had to offer a frequent-flyer type program to match the competition and because of customer expectations. However, it wanted to avoid offering a me-too product, so it promoted a scheme whereby if you flew ten times with the airline you received the eleventh flight free. This was an entirely different execution but the same core idea. Notice that this program is not new to the world as it exists in many retail situations ”even my local caf has a similar frequent-users scheme. What is original, however, is the scheme s application within the airline industry.

The other advantage of thinking of an idea as operating on two levels is that it allows you to borrow and adapt concepts from other industries and categories.

3. Think opportunity space , not markets

Most managers are myopic. They have become trapped by artificial definitions of a market, segment or category. I recently completed an assignment with the leaders of a breakfast cereal manufacturer. They felt that the only way to grow the business was to take share from other manufacturers. This zero-sum game is expensive and produces only incremental ideas. To create better, bigger ideas we need to employ better, bigger thinking.

There are opportunities everywhere. Abandon your artificial, self-imposed category or industry definitions and think opportunity space instead. It will encourage you to be more creative and increase your chance of developing breakthrough ideas.

4. Break out of the incremental cycle

To create different ideas it is essential to try to escape what I have called the incremental cycle . If incremental targets are set (for example, what we did last year plus ten per cent), it leads to incremental thinking, ideas, actions and ultimately results. Most business leaders use this cycle yet bemoan the lack of fresh new ideas. It is safe but ignores potential opportunities to grow at a much faster rate. It also assumes that your competitors are satisfied with growing at a similar, incremental rate.

Table 4.2: Opportunity idea thinking

Client: Cereal manufacturer

 

Old thinking

New thinking

They compete with all other cereal manufacturers

Key players:

  • Kelloggs

  • Sanitarium

  • Uncle Toby s

They compete in the opportunity space from when people wake up until lunch

Key players:

  • McDonald s

  • Other cereal manufacturers

  • People who do not eat breakfast

  • People who eat toast or muffins

One way to break free of this cycle is to create a BHAG (big hairy audacious goal) for each of your brands, business units, products or processes [ 1] (for example, to launch your next new product in half the time).

I once worked with a software company that was about to launch a new product. Its aim was to get ten per cent of potential users to be aware of the product in the first three months. I suggested to the launch team that this was a solid but incremental goal. Why not make this product the most successful product launch of any new product for the entire year? All of a sudden they realised that their ideas could and had to be more exciting and engaging to really cut through.

I completed a similar BHAG exercise with each of the brand managers of a well known soup company. The marketing director was convinced that they could achieve more than their current rate of three to four per cent annual growth. By pushing each of the brand managers to develop their own brand BHAG, as a group , they could decide which brand had the greatest potential for growth and invest accordingly . Thinking of soup as a complete, all year round meal (one of the BHAGs) also had implications for new product development. For example, did soup have to be liquid? Could it come in a sandwich form? Could you have soup on the go? Could you develop a breakfast proposition?

The starting point for escaping the incremental cycle is to create a big and beautiful, but meaningful, challenge. Simply creating this challenge will stimulate creativity.

Idea tools

The third stage of the front-end system is to learn, use and experience a new set of idea tools . For most people, brainstorming is the only idea tool they are familiar with. Brainstorming is a perfectly valid process for generating ideas, but it has limitations: it requires a group; it is a safe technique that doesn t take participants out of their comfort zone; and it often creates a large number of ideas with little ownership. To create more dynamic ideas it is better to have an idea tool-kit that you can use in a number of situations, in a group or by yourself. The following are the six tools that I find to be the most effective, but you may wish to add your own.

1. Make your assumptions explicit

One of the most powerful ways of escaping the current set of ideas is to make your assumptions and beliefs explicit. We are often trapped by these assumptions without realising it. Exercise

  1. Select an everyday product (for example, butter).

  2. Think of six assumptions or conventions about the product or the way it is marketed.

  3. Select one of these at random and create ideas that stretch or break free of this assumption or convention (see Table 4.3 for an example).

Table 4.3: Breaking free from assumptions

Product

Assumptions

Break-free ideas

Butter

It is usually packaged in a box

Spray-on butter

 

It is a mass-marketed product

  • Calcium-enriched butter for pregnant women

  • Cartoon character butter for kids (for example, Barney Butter)

2. Competitive insight

I believe that traditional competitor analysis has become too rigid and static. The competitive insight tool encourages you to see the world from your competitor s point of view. By doing so you can sometimes anticipate their next move and create new opportunities. Exercise

  1. Organise participants into small teams of three or four people.

  2. List your competitors and randomly allocate one to each team. It is important in this exercise for participants to consider the possible actions of all your competitors (that is, direct, indirect, current and future competitors).

  3. Imagine you are your competitor s marketing director and imagine the next five actions that you are planning.

    • What new product will they launch?

    • What will their advertising message be?

  4. Ask yourself what is the one action that you would hate your key competitor to do? (This is a very effective way of highlighting your vulnerable areas.)

3. Brand imagination

Often managers look only at what is happening in their category or industry. This can blind you to new opportunities to learn from other leading brands. This tool enables you to break free of a follow-the-leader mentality .

Exercise
  1. Select a successful brand at random (for example, Virgin, Amazon, McDonald s, Microsoft, Volvo, Sony, Billabong, Apple, L Oreal).

  2. Imagine that for the past five years you have been the marketing director of that brand.

  3. Imagine your past experiences, mindset and program successes.

  4. Apply these insights to your own organisation.

Example: In one of my workshops, a group was trying to design a new range of shoes. They were assigned Microsoft as their brand. As a result of the above exercise, they created many original ideas that combined technology with footwear. One idea for a range of shoes for teenagers was to include with the packaging a CD of a computer game in which the hero wears the particular brand of shoes. Another idea was to implant a microchip in the shoes to track how old the shoes were and to build a profile of the user .

4. Random emotion

Our creativity is always more powerful when we engage our emotions. Head, heart and imagination are a powerful force. Simply using a key emotion at random can often unlock new opportunities.

This tool involves allocating an emotion to each participant or small team. The important step is for participants to really embrace the emotions they are allocated in order to see the situation from a new perspective.

Exercise
  1. Think of a range of different emotions ”for example, hate, jealousy, passion, envy, curiosity , joy, empathy, anger, revenge and love.

  2. Randomly allocate one emotion to each group.

  3. Consider the problem at hand, and use the emotion to explore solutions.

Example: Imagine you are trying to develop new products or services for a financial institution and have been allocated the emotion ˜joy . This is an emotion not necessarily associated with a bank. Think of some of the most joyful moments in your life ”the birth of your children, entering university, buying your first car, owning your house. Now try to develop some new products or services.

5. Use all your senses

We are dominated by our sense of sight. As a result most of the information received by us is visual. To use the full creative potential of the other senses we need to escape from this dependence on the visual.

Exercise
  1. Assign one sense (touch, smell, etc.) to each person (or group).

  2. Think of ways your assigned sense could apply to your task.

  3. Have everyone present their ideas then vote for the top five best ideas. Next they vote on the ideas that are the most original or surprising . (I have found that these ideas are often the most innovative.)

The important point with this tool is to try to develop a range of new and different customer experiences. Consider how you can make your customer experience more pleasurable and memorable by enhancing each of the senses at every stage.

Example: Say your task is to design a new confectionery product for kids, and you are assigned the sense of touch. Close your eyes and imagine the texture of the product. Is it sticky? Smooth or bumpy? Could it have holes or breaks? What would be the advantages or disadvantages of different textures?

Example: Consider any stage of your current customer experience, whether it is the point of sale, when customers are being served or even when they ring up. Now close your eyes and imagine you are the customer. What do you feel, smell, hear and taste? Now compare it to the sights, sounds and smells of darkest Africa or a tropical island. What would your customers find more stimulating and emotionally engaging?

6. Drawing an ideal

When faced with a novel or difficult situation it is sometimes necessary to escape from our rational, logical and language-based thinking systems. One way to achieve this is to paint or draw an ideal. The advantage of this approach is that it taps into our emotive and imaginative minds. It is a tool that anyone can use at any time. Another advantage is that you will find yourself working back from what is possible rather than from what exists at the moment. [ 3]

This tool is a very powerful one for individuals or groups trying to make an imaginative leap or break free of the current situation. It invariably establishes a pronounced contrast between the current and future or ideal situation.

Exercise
  1. Imagine that you are designing a new product.

  2. Draw two pictures. The first one should describe the current product, service or customer experience. The second should depict an ideal or future product, service or customer experience. (Remember it is not a drawing competition. You can draw a symbol, logo or a range of stick figures: it is up to you. This step is very effective for stimulating your imagination and emotions. Why? Because sometimes words cannot convey exactly what we mean or the emotion underlying an attitude.)

  3. Compare and contrast the two drawings with those produced by other group members . Encourage participants to describe their drawings and experiences. Seek agreement from the group about the best representation of the current and ideal situation.

  4. Underneath the drawing of the ideal situation, write down three specific steps you can take today to make this ideal a reality.

Example: I used this tool with one of my postgraduate classes to discuss their business school experiences. The market research had come back that most students were satisfied, yet I was not so sure. One of the drawings that powerfully captured how students felt was of a person looking out from behind iron bars. The drawing that best captured the ideal situation was of a bird that was free. In the conversation that followed, it was apparent that many students felt locked in or trapped by their postgraduate experience. Through this process we developed a range of specific action steps to ensure that my subject captured the essence of the second drawing (the ideal experience), not the first.

Idea practices

The fourth and last stage of the front-end idea system is to try to embed your new idea mindset, concepts and tools into your everyday working life. I call these idea practices and I have described six of them below. The aim when using them is to try to make the process of creating ideas as natural as breathing .

1. Think business as usual, different or radical

This is one of the most powerful idea practices that I use, and I use it constantly. I ask myself which options are business as usual (BAU), different or radical. [ 4]

  • A BAU idea is consistent with what has been done in the past (for example, adding a new flavour to an existing range).

  • A different idea is similar to BAU but departs from it in some demonstrable way (for example, a new line extension).

  • A radical idea is a step-jump change from what has gone before (for example, a new distribution channel).

By using this framework, you will cover a broader and more creative range of options. Another advantage of this framework is that it gives participants permission to be more innovative. Often it will unlock uncomfortable but highly original ideas.

This framework is also a wonderful way of presenting new ideas to a client, particularly if you describe the process to them in advance. I have found that many clients are then willing to entertain the different and radical approaches.

2. Idea break

Creating ideas is a skill that has to be practised. You need to make it part of your everyday working life. Instead of a coffee break, have an idea break.

Exercise
  1. Set aside ten minutes to think about a new challenge or problem.

  2. Use one of the idea tools mentioned in this chapter (or invent your own) and develop a range of new ideas.

  3. The next day, discuss these ideas with a friend or work colleague. What did they like? As a result of their feedback, how could you improve on your original ideas?

By having an idea break every day you will quickly improve and become more productive and confident in your creative thinking skills. Another advantage is that you will feel more refreshed and energised.

3. Idea safari

Ideas don t always just come to you. Sometimes you have to go and find them. But they are tricky animals as they often disguise themselves and hide in the most unexpected places. That is why I use the analogy of an idea safari to convey to people that they need to proactively hunt for ideas. For example:

  • Visit your favourite restaurant.What new customer service ideas can you pick up?

  • Visit a bookstore and watch how some people just love to peruse and read new titles. How could you tap into this behaviour to increase customer involvement in your product or service?

Search for ideas in the most unexpected of places.

4. Test, test and test some more

Another concrete way of creating new ideas is to develop a test mentality . This means trying to test at least five new ideas, methods or things at any one time. You could be testing a new product, a new distribution channel, a new way to collect information from customers or a new process to handle customer queries.

In some ways it doesn t matter what you are testing (within reason) because just having this mindset means that you become more willing to take calculated risks and resist the feeling of standing still.

Remember, however, that the secret of testing is to find ways to test a new idea that are quick, easy and inexpensive.

5. Follow your passion

This is perhaps the most important idea practice you can follow. What is your passion? If you know, then seek out opportunities to follow it. You will be more creative if you have a personal interest in a topic. Find those areas in your organisation (and life) that have meaning for you and go for it! You will be amazed at the creative and emotional energy you possess.

If you cannot find a challenge that excites you at your current organisation, talk to your managers. If they do not respond, then find an organisation that will engage both your head and heart
(though this is easier said than done, I admit).

I have conducted numerous idea sessions where all participants have evaluated and ranked the ideas into an initial hot list. I then ask participants which ideas from the hot list they feel passionate about. Typically there is an embarrassing silence. People soon get the message that ideas without energy remain latent opportunities. In short, passion provides the fuel for ideas to take off.

6.Trust your intuition

Intuition is a precious gift that allows you to transcend your rational mind. If you want to create great ideas you have to pay more attention to your intuitive ability (however, this is not to say that you should ignore analysis or be lazy in your thinking). My experience is that intuition informs most, if not all, of our decisions, yet it is rarely spoken of by managers. [ 5]

For new ideas to emerge, intuition and imagination need to be as valued as critical thinking. They need to be viewed as the main source of your future competitive advantage.

A practical way to harness your intuition is to allocate ˜intuition time in meetings before the group makes any final decisions. The meeting leader should ask the group: ˜What is your gut feel about this action or decision? Because your intuition often acts ahead of your rational mind, this practice is a good way to expose any last minute misgivings so the group can openly discuss and address them.

[ 1] This Random Emotion Tool is an adaptation of the Random Word Tool ”see E de Bono, Serious Creativity , Harper Collins, London, 1992, pp. 182 “3.

[ 3] The concept of creating a tension between the current and the ideal was developed by R Fritz, Creating , Butterworth “ Heinemann, Oxford, 1991.

[ 4] A similar classification can be found in E McFadzean, ˜The creativity continuum: towards a classification of creative problem solving techniques , Creativity and Innovation Management ,Vol. 7, No. 3, September 1998, pp. 131 “9.

[ 5] The importance of our emotions is well covered in D Goleman, Emotional Intelligence:Why it Can Matter More Than IQ , Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 1996.




Innovation and Imagination at Work 2004
Innovation and Imagination at Work 2004
ISBN: N/A
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Year: 2005
Pages: 116

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