Red cards to old brains

Børsen, a Danish business journal, had a short interview with Jørgen Mads Clausen, who is the recently retired CEO – and still majority owner – of Danfoss, which is an industrial giant within heating and cooling technologies with more than 33,000 employees and annual turnover of about USD 4.5 billion. See www.danfoss.com

Jørgen Mads Clausen is really into job rotation and as mentioned in a previous blog – Do you job swap? – I really like this idea as well. What I learned from the article is that Danfoss has created a system in which all employees are categorized in green, yellow and red colours. Green is for employees having been in the same job up to four years, yellow covers four to seven years and red covers more than seven years.

Danfoss uses electronic employee-cards and this system allows them to give their employees notifications when they get a yellow card. Served as a gently reminder that it might be about time to think of how they see their next job-function.

Danfoss wants lots of “green” employees with sharp brains. I am sure the system helps them achieve this.

Can you sell?

As an innovation leader or intrapreneur, you always have something to sell. In the end it is a product or a service, but during the development of a revenue-generator, you have to sell a vision to internal and external stakeholders.

You communicate that vision by:
•   Developing a value proposition that can be adapted for various stakeholders, and then
•   Capturing the very essence of the value proposition in a short and brief elevator pitch that focuses on the recipients of the message.

In Geoffrey Moore’s classic book, Crossing the Chasm, he provides the term “value proposition” as a way to choose from among what is presented to us for consideration. Options include choosing nothing at all, if there are no choices that improve our current situation.

Here are the six elements Geoffrey Moore describe as needed to communicate an effective value proposition:

• For (target audience)
• Who are/wants/needs (statement of needs or opportunity or compelling reason to buy)
• The (product name) is a (product category)
• That (statement of key benefits)
• Unlike (primary competitive alternative)
• Our product (statement of primary differentiation)3

Keep in mind that some adaptation of these elements might be required for communicating value propositions for things other than products or services. However,  this approach allows you to convey all important aspects without providing too much information. It also enables you to explain your product or service in a few sentences, which is short enough for people to remember. This framework can also be used later when creating your “elevator pitch.” Here the idea is that if you can convey your message to others in 60 seconds or less, they will remember the majority of the value proposition. Since word of mouth is one of the biggest forms of communication, this is extremely important.

You will most likely never get to use an elevator pitch in the true sense, as you will almost always have more than a minute to make your case when you interact with others. However, if you think that means  there is no need to do this, you’d be wrong. Preparation is the key point of value propositions and elevator pitches. The learning you gain while defining your value proposition and tuning your pitch will make you understand your product, service, or message so well that it will become much easier for you to achieve success. That creates all the reasons in the world to take this very seriously.

Picture this: you have worked on an idea that can really make a difference at your company. Nevertheless, you have difficulties getting in touch with the key stakeholders, and when you do, you keep hitting the wall of indecisiveness.

Then one day you get a break. After having given yet another so-so presentation to people who seem unable to make a decision, you step into the elevator with the person who can singlehandedly decide whether your idea is boom or bust. You know this is your big–and perhaps only–shot. Your pulse quickens. Your body temperature rises. What do you do?

Too few people are prepared to deal with such a situation. They have not given such a situation much thought, let alone prepared something to say or rehearsed saying it. So instead of capitalizing on the opportunity, they just let it walk out the door or mess it up and end up looking like an incompetent fool. Do not leave this to luck. Prepare. Prepare. Prepare.

Can X prizes spur innovation?

That is the question asked by BusinessWeek in a recent article. The idea of the X prize contests is quite interesting and it has also showed some value as it played a key role in developing private space travelling. But can it become an important element in open innovation efforts?

Not likely, but check it out for yourself in this article: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_48/b4110054165858.htm?campaign_id=rss_topEmailedStories

Do you have 10,000 hours?

Picture taken from www.leveragingideas.com

I really look forward to reading Outliers, the new book by Malcolm Gladwell who also gave us Blink and The Tipping Point.

See www.gladwell.com/outliers

One of his interesting observations is that it takes 10,000 hours to become a true expert in virtually anything.

USA Today has an article – http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-11-17-gladwell-success_N.htm – in which you can read a short description on how The Beatles, Bill Gates and Gladwell himself worked their 10,000 hours to become great at their chosen task.

10,000 hours is 3 hours every day almost 10 years. Do you have the passion and persistence to continuously build your mindset and skills to become one of the best in your field?

Can you manage your stakeholders?

You need to understand that the projects you run affect other people. The more people you affect, the more likely it is that your actions will impact people having the power and influence to make or break your project. This makes stakeholder management a critical discipline for you to master if you want to become successful with your innovation projects.

You can get an idea of stakeholder management by thinking in terms of three steps: identification, profiling and communication.

The first step is to figure out who your stakeholders are. Think of internal and external people who can affect your project in both positive and negative ways and people who might feel threatened or stand to gain from your project. Think not only of the obvious people such as your boss, but also on influencers who are not on a formal organization chart. Upon this brainstorming, you can make an early prioritization and place important stakeholders on a short list.

As criteria for placing people on the short list, ask yourself two questions: Does this person hold any impact on my project right now? Does this person have a high impact now, soon or late in the project?

Although working your stakeholders is important, you will often lack the time to work with all of them, so you need to prioritize them early on. However, you should always be prepared to change the status of the stakeholders and add new stakeholders when you learn of people being affected by your project.

The next step is to create short profiles of the stakeholders you have placed on your short list. You can use this information to gain a clearer picture of the stakeholder map that must be navigated to successfully complete a project.

Besides including general information such as name, job function, contact information and a short bio you should ask yourself questions such as: Is the stakeholder an advocate, supporter, neutral, critic or a blocker towards the project? Does the stakeholder have a strong, medium or weak impact on your project and is the impact now, soon or late in the project life cycle? Does the stakeholder hold a formal/direct or an informal/indirect influence on the project? What are the key financial or emotional interests of the stakeholder with regards to your project? Remember to ask yourself why this is so.

You should also look into what we can call the circle of influence. Who influences the stakeholder generally, and who influences the stakeholder’s opinion of you? To which degree are you connected with the stakeholder and his/her influencers?

The last step is to figure out what you want from your stakeholders and what you can offer them – and then communicate with them.

You might not feel you are ready to do so, but you need to communicate with your stakeholders early and often. This makes them know what you are doing and you can use their reactions to make changes that can increase the likelihood of success for your project.

People are usually quite open about their views and the best way to start building successful relationships with your stakeholders is to talk directly with them. If you have problems getting in touch with the stakeholders, you might have to use more informal approaches such as “random meetings” in which you seek out places with a good chance of delivering an elevator pitch that makes the stakeholder interested in learning more about your project.

You should do your homework before these meetings and interactions. Besides having crafted a profile, you should also know what compelling messages to use with the stakeholder and you should be able to deliver quick and concise elevator pitches based on these messages.

Do you job swap?

I just read an interesting article on how P&G and Google really benefited by swapping employees for a couple of weeks.

This is a great way to learn new things and a good approach to establish long term partnerships.

Check out this short article to learn more about how and why these innovation leaders made their employees swap jobs: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hc2R2XPvVoPxwYrItOdbFWjE6o0AD94I91V81

Why not start something similar with the partners of your company?

Innovation leaders embrace open innovation

In a recent article, consulting company AT Kearney, states that an innovation leader:

- designs an organization focused on open innovation
- crafts gain-sharing agreements with partners
- use change-management principles to move the organization toward open innovation

These are just a couple of characteristics of innovation leaders. You can learn more by downloading the article in this post or visit this link: Innovation Management – strategies for success and leadership

ARTICLE: Innovation Management – article by AT Kearney

Wake Up! – open innovation is already here…

I just had an interesting exchange with a guy who just can’t see that open innovation will become a major part of how most companies innovate.

Among other things, my counterpart mentioned that barriers against open innovation are there for the purpose of keeping innovation inside the company or the country because innovation has value and thus means power.

Another point he made was that “great ideas come from an individual’s mind. I’m not saying that in a group situation, an individual’s idea couldn’t be improved, but for that individual to give up that idea before it is patented and protected, that inventor isn’t saying anything to anyone. That’s because the reward for that great idea is more profound to the innovator if it is his alone to market. Again, in my personal opinion, this is a good thing. Reward brilliance accordingly. Once the inventor has the patent, sure let anybody who wants to improve upon it, have at it.”

It has been a while since I have heard anyone talk against the idea of open innovation, so I sent a reply that went like this:

—-

Hi Steve,

You are not way off target on what I mean by open innovation. This is also why I have a slightly provocative message to you: Wake Up!

The early stages of open innovation already take place in a lot of companies and it is one of the most talked-about-things in the world of corporate innovation today. You should start looking into this as we are definitely in the process of tearing down those barriers you mention.

Why? Because we live in a global world where information is becoming more accessible and transparent. This makes it easier to innovate across barriers. It is also a bit arrogant for companies to believe they know everything by themselves.

Take P&G. Eight years ago they learned there were 200 researchers and scientists just as good or even better outside P&G for EACH of their own 7,500 researchers and scientists. P&G choose not to be arrogant and rather explore ways of working with these 1.5 million great minds. Today, they do not have an R&D department. It is called C&D – the C stands for connect and they are close to reaching one of their amazing goals: 50% of their innovation should to some extent come from external sources. Check this link for more on P&G and open innovation: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/5258.html

Another point is that we live in a networked world where you work with partners and customers to bring innovation to the market. It has become very difficult to this by yourself. Just look at the new planes from Airbus and Boeing. Their global supply chain is just as much an innovation chain generating new products, services and processes.

We have just started to embrace open innovation and this is a movement that will not be stopped…

BTW – Intellectual Property Rights is a key issue, but this can be worked out.

Stefan

Innovation leaders, prepare for a networked organisation!

What a company knows is inside the heads of its people, and distributing this knowledge has always been a challenge. Yet, now more than ever, being able to leverage a company’s collective knowledge and experience through virtual and face-to-face networks and communities is critical to innovation. So why do such efforts fail so frequently? Here are some of the reasons I’ve identified as I’ve worked with companies on this issue:

1. Time and skills

Many of us simply do not have the time or skills to network and build relationships. Leaders, you need to give your people time to acquire networking skills and the time to invest in and maintain relationships.

2. Focus

A community will only work if it connects people who share a common experience, passion, interest, affiliation or goal. Create and/or find a group that’s right for you. You should also keep in mind only to network or build relationships if you have a reason to do so. Random networking rarely results in anything but wasted time.

3. We are too old…

Most people above 30 years old just don’t see the value of tools such as Facebook and LinkedIn. We have a real generation gap here. We, the older and wiser ones, are still in charge, but this will begin to change in five years time as we get the first leaders from the Facebook generation. Ten years on, they will define the rules. Why not try to figure out how it works now instead of waiting?

4. Lack of commitment, structure and culture

As companies embrace open innovation, internal and external networks will explode. This includes peer-to-peer, value or supply chain networks and networks that feed ideas and/or technology. Company leaders must commit to a networked organization and create the structure and culture needed for this to work. 

5. Lack of a dedicated facilitator

Almost any network can benefit from having a dedicated facilitator who really cares about the topic and the participants. Although this might add to the costs of networking, the return on the investment will be higher.

Who’s right?

I often talk with innovation leaders who believe their company does well on innovation. This contrast what the below people further down the org chart says.

Are leaders generally on the same page as their employees or do they tend to exaggerate the state of the organizational innovation capabilities?

What is your take on this?