Archive for January, 2012

How to Build an Innovation Leader

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

innovation-imageEvery organization needs an Innovation champion. This very important role requires exceptional people skills and communication skills, and the ability to be a master consensus builder among all players in the organization. Innovation champions come in a wide range of styles of interaction. Renowned psychologist Michael Kirton developed the Kirton Adaptive Innovation Inventory (KAI) as a profiling tool to measure problem-solving styles. The general characteristics of innovators are as follows:

* Ingenious, original, independent, unconventional

* Challenges problem definition

* Does things differently

* Discovers problems and avenues for their solutions

* Manipulates problems by questioning existing assumptions

* Is a catalyst to unsettled groups, despite their consensual views

Now here are general characteristics of adaptors:

* Efficient, thorough, methodical, organized, precise, reliable

* Accepts problem definition

* Does things better

* Concerned with resolving problems versus identifying them

* Seeks solutions in tried-and-true ways

* Reduces problems by improvement and enhanced efficiency, while aiming at continuity and stability

What is your problem-solving style? Each mode has its advantages, and the most successful leaders are those who can use both styles of creative problem-solving flexibly. These characteristics mark that of an Innovation champion and an agent for change within an organization.

An innovation champion can nurture a culture of sustained Innovation in a company by taking a three-step approach.

1. Define the desired culture. Doing so will help the organization to understand what innovative behavior looks like and to bring that change to the company. Quantify the goal, such as “one new product to market per year.” Determine the champions and key players you’ll need to bring on board from all parts of the organization, including marketing, sales, finance, manufacturing, etc.

2. Establish the foundations. Devise a method to properly measure success, with leading indicators such as amount of new ideas collected, and lagging metrics such as amount of sales attributed to new products. Be sure to communicate those successes with the entire organization! Surprisingly, this practice is often forgotten – but is instrumental in building team morale and support for the innovation.

3. Engineer sustainability. This means creating regular activities with the purpose of fostering innovation. Meetings, news updates, and brainstorming sessions are all a part of the process. Develop imagery to bring the program to life such as internal innovation awards.

These are some basic steps in becoming an innovation champion and an agent for change. For more tips and a hands-on approach for creating and sustaining innovation, see “Robert’s Rules of Innovation: A 10-Step Program for Corporate Survival.”

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Audio Book Release of “Robert’s Rules of Innovation”

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

cd-nowavailable“Robert’s Rules of Innovation: A 10-Step Program for Corporate Survival” by Innovation guru Robert Brands is now available as an audio book in a 4 CD set or downloadable at https://www.cdtdigital.com/rroi/index.php

In his book Robert Brands provides a step-by-step guide to implementing and sustaining Innovation in the workplace. His ideas are distilled from over 25 years of hands-on experience as an Innovation leader. Brands has successfully delivered on his goal of bringing “at least one new product per year to market,” resulting in double-digit profitable growth and shareholder value.

The Ten Imperatives in Robert’s Rules of Innovation are easy to implement steps coupled with real life examples and best practices for starting, nurturing, and profiting from a culture of Innovation.

“Due to requests from CEOs and executives, we created this valuable guide to create and sustain innovation available in an easy format,” says Robert Brands, “No matter the size of your organization or the industry you’re in, Innovation is essential to survival – so managers at all levels can benefit from these practical steps.”

For more information on the audio book and a preview, please visit: https://www.cdtdigital.com/rroi/index.php

 

ABOUT BRANDS & COMPANY, LLC.

Brands & Company, LLC is an Innovation management-consulting firm. The firm, founded by Robert F. Brands, focuses on creating and sustaining innovation in business. Operating as “Innovation Coach,” Brands is promoting a “Sustained Innovation Commitment” to deliver profitable growth, for more details visit www.innovationcoach.com.

Brands has over 25 years of hands-on experience in creating and teaching innovation, having worked in new product development and marketing at Philips Lighting, Sylvania and the Kohler Company. Most recently, he served as Managing Director of the Personal Care Division of Rexam Plastics. Prior to Rexam and since 1998, Brands built (Rexam) Airspray N.V., now a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and supply of innovative non-aerosol foam technology like instant foaming hand soap.

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2012 Innovation Resolution: Turning Ideas Into Money

Monday, January 9th, 2012

happy-new-year-2012Innovation is an indispensable force that turns ideas into money. It is the lifeblood of any organization. In order to implement sustainable Innovation in 2012, you need to define innovation in a manner that makes strategic sense for your organization, and have the know-how to properly construct and use a process, plus the will to keep the process on course.

The task may seem daunting at first, but it’s possible to develop a disciplined strategy that delivers Innovation time and time again for sustained long-term profitability. Make developing that strategy your 2012 New Year’s Resolution. “Robert’s Rules of Innovation” outlines specific steps to implement Innovation. Here are some tips:

1. Define your organization’s needs. What type of innovation are you trying to achieve? An incremental innovation that introduces a new process or feature? Or a transformative breakthrough that completely changes the marketplace? The latter is more difficult to achieve but holds the greatest potential. Choosing the path that makes the most sense for your organization will help in the Innovation process.

2. Formulate a New Product Development process. Each organization’s NPD process can have a different number of steps, so long as they form a structured plan. A three stage plan may include: Stage 1 Product Definition where a product is examined for its brand strategy, profit potential, and competitive analysis. If the product is a “go” then it moves to Stage 2: the Qualification process where a first article product is made and tested for quality assurance. Finally, Stage 3 is Revenue where the product is launched.

3. Create a road map to success. The key elements are examining Quality of projects, Capability of managing them successfully, and Capacity of the organization for maintaining a portfolio of well-managed projects. No matter what NPD process you decide to use, stick to the road map to ensure that each stage, and tasks within each stage, are clearly defined.

4. Some more guidelines for progress: remember to stick to your go/no-go criteria for moving forward with developments. All projects should undergo the same scrutiny, regardless of who suggested it! Also, many organizations are incorporating a “discovery phase” into the Innovation process to allow for more experimentation. This step is beneficial for making decisions based on long-term sustainable Innovation, and not on current budget restraints alone.

In a world of increasing business competition, Innovation is key to a company’s survival. Creating an Innovation strategy that makes sense for your organization is entirely feasible, and an absolute must for creating profit for your company.

Here’s to a New Year of Innovation!

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