Is it possible to hire a consultant telling you what you should do, how you should do it when the talk is about innovation?
Sure, YES, of course it is!
But how do you make sure that the innovation isn’t only deploying the next generation of an inferior product in your product portfolio? And the knowledge created in the process isn’t drifting away with the external consultant moving along to his next project, customer?
I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately – to many consultants, to many “design”-firms is only pointing towards what to do, but doing it, implementing the important shift, maybe rock the boat and changing the company culture – that’s a complete different ballgame, isn’t it?
Changing a culture from being technocratic, focused on own technological capability, towards a more usercentric organization isn’t – as I see it – not only about putting different design-tools and methods in place. It’s also about creating a mindshift in each and everyone in the organization.
The good news is that it’s feasible, the bad news is that it takes time.
I had the opportunity to join a workshop this week with one of the American-CPH127-pilots, Chris Conley.
He gave me some fresh perspectives on what he sees as crucial for creating a more Sustainable Innovation Capability.
He points to two important aspects:
Mindset
- Amibguous
- Cross-diciplinary
- Collaborative
- Tangible
- Iterative
- Fast
Methodology - very "DESIGN-Thinking"…..
- Immerse, discover & reframe
- Create many alternative ideas
- Evaluate to identify value
- Refine Through iteration
- Develop offering holistically
Methodology is “easy” to implement. You could hire a consultant teaching you that. But what about Mindset? How do you cope with a management layer in organizations who – in many cases -have proven success with control, oldfashioned market-segmentation strategies and telling and educating the customer how they should use the product properly?
Any ideas? I think the right answer to that question could be the foundation of a new start-up, so please share :-)…..or just tell ME…;-)
2 comments so far
Hans, In a sense I think you have explored this at least a little in the much earlier posts about “scenario planning” etc.
This week I attended two workshops in my organization that indicate there are changes happening through “strategic conversation”. In these cases the topics under the spotlight were th challenges of increasing commercial revenue [in a public organization] and the implimentation of the next phase of our communication strategy.
That the organisation is utilising design - focussed approaches to the challenges it faces signals at least a small shift toward developing an openess to “user-centricity”. I confess to being pleasantly surprised by the positive change I saw.
I found some more information on storytelling in organizations at http://www.emcc.eurofound.eu.int/content/source/tn02004s.html?p1=topic&p2=Work_Organisation and http://www.creatingthe21stcentury.org/Intro5-Why-storytelling.html
My feeling [and experience] is that if stakeholders do see positive change then they will embace the mechanism that brings the success. Although we often speak about “embracing failure” and risk-taking, success goes a long way to create the environment neccessary for more success.
Processes that involve people in successful change or envisioning successful change, innovation or design of new services, that allow them to tell their stories and challenges and be heard are powerful, resulting in intensified learning for all involved.
Where are we now?
Where do we want to be?
How do we get there?
What do we have to do to get there?
Basically you should make a note of the fact that a paradigm shift like the mentioned return on investment the best if it’s founded from on the inside - rather than exterior stimuli influencing the organisations way of thinking. Like an outstanding sea-kayak-atlete once told me: if you, when the wave strains you, raises your arms, you have no chance of controlling it. But if you actively consider it to give you even more reason to put your muscles into play, you can contol the wave. 