Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
10 questions manufacturing businesses should think about
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
“The new idea either finds a champion or it
dies. No ordinary involvement with a new
idea provides the energy required to cope
with the indifference and resistance that
change provokes...”
Tom Peters
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Who...
Prof. Simon Bolton
Associate Dean (Research and Enterprise)
21st June 2013
Focus: Bringing together design, management,
and technology to generate and deliver ideas that
create business growth
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
What...
15
million
people a
week
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
What...
£1bn
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Who...
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Purpose of my talk...
To stimulate new
thinking that could lead
to growth...
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Ideas that changed the game
broke the rule: hand dryers that
dry your hands
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Ideas that changed the game
broke the rule: touch
screens can be used
anytime
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
No silver bullet
solutions...
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Changing world...
Savvy
Consumers
European
Melt-down
Global
Competition
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Assumption...
You are all good
at something!
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Nurturing innovative
ideas can help
accelerate growth...
10
important
questions
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
How committed are top
management to
developing new ideas?
Nothing happens unless it has top management
support and action!!!
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
How well do you reframe
challenges?
The inability to define and redefine the actual
problem is a key failure of ideas
(un-differentiated, me-too-solutions)
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
How well do you
manage ideas?
Ideas generation is often an informal ad-hoc
process and frequently occurs through
serendipity rather than deliberate management
- Desouza et al., (2009); Barczak et al., (2009); Murphy and Kumar (1997)
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
How systematically do you
develop new ideas?
Effective idea management can increase
new product sales by 7.2%
- Innovation Excellence Study (2005)
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
How well do you support
people to develop ideas?
A common mistake is a lack of support for
ideas and the people developing them,
which results in missed opportunities
- Conway and McGuinness (1986); McGuiness (1990)
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
How well do you allocate
time for generating ideas?
Most organisations greatly under estimate
the actual time needed to generate ideas,
resulting in re-work, missed opportunities
and increased costs
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
How well do you facilitate
collaboration?
Successful companies collaborate both
internally and externally, increasing
capability, resources and creative input
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
How effective are the tools
and methods you use to
generate ideas?
There is often an over reliance on basic
brainstorming workshops. This results in idea
fatigue and a lack of differentiated and aligned ideas
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
How well do you select
good ideas?
A lack of clear process and criteria for
determining a good idea is a common mistake,
other than its ability to achieve ROI
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
How well do you differentiate
between incremental and
radical ideas?
Companies often do not understand the difference
between incremental versus radical ideas (internal
breakthrough may not be radical in the market)
- Davila et al., (2006)
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Important issues...
3
Things to
remember
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Quantity versus Quality
Avoid focussing on generating as many new
ideas as possible, focus instead on
maximising the number of good quality
ideas which feed into your NPD pipeline
Goldenberg et al., (1999); Koen et al., (2001)
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Internal versus External
Increase the importance of sourcing and
implementing external ideas, particularly
through collaboration with customers,
suppliers and partners
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Ad-hoc versus Systematic
Ideas that are closely aligned to strategy
and formalised, are more likely to
lead to a commercially successful
product for the marketplace
Desouza et al., (2009); Barczak et al., (2009); Murphy and Kumar (1997)
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Idea Generation Success Factors
• Build idea chains
• Ensure strategy alignment
• Utilize highly networked
individuals
• Involve lead users
All factors published in conference paper;
Chinneck & Bolton, (2013), ICoRD’13,
Chennai, India.
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Idea Management Success Factors
• Use a systematic process
• Give available time for idea
generation
• Establish a clear business
purpose
• Continual idea commitment
All factors published in conference paper;
Chinneck & Bolton, (2013), ICoRD’13,
Chennai, India.
Nurturing
Innovative Ideas
in the Workplace
Thank You...
Nurturing Innovative Ideas in the Workplace
Professor Simon Bolton
BIAD
Simon.Bolton@bcu.ac.uk
Camille Chinneck
BIAD
ckchinneck@aol.co.uk