MODEL
LEADERSHIP
In the centre of our model you will find Innovation Culture which are the attitudes, practices, methods and tools. An organization with a strong innovation culture will work with continuous renewal. Our innovation model is in 3D. The first two dimensions are the learning circle. The model also builds vertically and the height of the model represents value creation. Innovation has the sole purpose of creating increased value.
Our innovation process has 3 parts, but these are not stages like in conventional thinking. Innovation is learning circles; continuous circles building new value.
Leadership means top management’s involvement and support. Without it innovation will not succeed. However, innovation needs different managing practices than ongoing operations.
Creation is a process where we develop new business opportunities for companies or new solutions for public organizations. However, to find new opportunities we need to discover new insights.
Execution means bringing our new opportunities to market in a way that creates value. This is more difficult than we would expect because innovation always means uncertainty. Therefore, our process focuses on learning.
Innovation is a senior management responsibility. From experience we know that without support from top management, there will be no innovation.
Leading innovation is fundamentally different from leading ongoing operations. Ongoing operations need to focus on control and predictability while leading innovation you need to accept uncertainty and therefore focus on learning. Managers are usually better prepared to lead ongoing operations than innovation. Therefore, we offer training programs for innovation leaders.
Senior management needs to contribute two inputs to the innovation process:
Ambition. Great innovations need great ambitions! Therefore, we work with senior management to describe clear and inspirational ambitions that will guide the innovation process.
Strategy. Every organization has strategic challenges. An innovation strategy should explain which role innovation has for shaping our future and which challenges we want innovation to address.
CREATION
What we describe in a Manus is typically based on assumptions. Innovation is all about a future we do not know. Therefore, we test our assumptions with Speed Loops. A Speed Loop is a quick learning cycle with the purpose of maximum learning at minimum cost.
To perform a Speed Loop we often will need a prototype. We can start with something very simple that with new learning develops into a more advanced pilot.
A prototype is not a real life situation. Therefore, we move forward to a learning launch. We put our new solution into the marketplace, but still with the purpose to learn and adjust. Focus on learning reduces uncertainty and increases the chance of successful innovations.
EXECUTION
Our starting point is never ideas but rather new insight that vil create new and relevant solutions. We have several tools for finding new insights, for example to uncover hidden consumer need and to challenge orthodoxies. A significant part of our insight process is observation in the field.
New insights enable us to create idea platforms. A platform is a prominent theme found in our insight process. An idea platform is paired with one of 12 types of innovation for idea generation.
The output from the idea generation is business opportunities and new solutions. They are described with a tool we call «Manus».