How can you be innovative?

A couple of months ago I went along to something called an Innovation Partnership. I was quite excited about it - I'm a great believer in trying new ways of doing things, opportunities for thinking outside the box and a chance to discuss ideas with new people. This had all the ingredients of a useful and stimulating few hours. In reality, it was simply a networking opportunity for mostly statutory funded enterprise agencies. Not very innovative at all. Such groupings just seem to be called partnerships, in the same way that in the 20th Century they were called committees. I can't help but remember that a camel is a horse designed by a committee! I think that is a topic for a future posting however.

One good thing that came from it was meeting up with Suzy Rogers of the Women in Education Network - she is someone I met many years ago when I helped her organisation to successfully apply for Lottery funding. Suzy invited me to speak to her organisation at one of their dinners and this I did a couple of weeks ago.

Back to innovation...

I recently read about renowned entrepreneur, Guy Kawasaki who outlines 10 Tips for Successful Innovation. I've given them a bit of a spin to suit the UK culture and where I'm coming from with the Enfys Acumen.

Tip No1 Make Meaning

One of the most important keys to innovation is to make meaning - to develop meaningful products, projects and services for long term success. Innovation is about improving people's lives and making them more productive.

The secret here is to plan where you want to be in the long term not just about looking for ways to make money fast. You need to think about why you want to do something, consider the starting point, what you are good at and what might get in the way of your success.

Tip No2 Make a Mantra

A business or organisation's mantra shouldn't consist of a superfluous mission statement, as these are often too long or not memorable or indicative of where the focus lies. Instead you should come up with a few words that simply explain why you exist. I'm blowing my own trumpet I know, but "Moving from dreaming to action", really does sum up what the Enfys Acumen is about.

For stodgy mission statements you may as well use the Dilbert Mission Statement Generator - it's free, it's quick and it requires no meetings or awaydays to create. Kawasaki's philosophy is:

"Mantras not mission statements. Mission statements are bull!"

Tip No3 Jump to the next curve

Don't limit your innovations to incremental changes of what you already do, look ahead and think about what kinds of problems could be solved or needs met by new ways of doing things. Think outside the box. As an old Scout, I stress the need to Be Prepared.

Tip No4 Roll the DICEE

Kawasaki has come with this acronym:

Depth: Great products and services are deep and will grow with you along the way. He gives the example of the Reef Fanning Sandal which has a bottle opener built into the sole - it serves more than one purpose: it covers your feet and opens your drinks. "That's what" Kawasaki says "makes a deep product."

Intelligent: You have to actively anticipate the products and services people will need. Panasonic invented a torch that will work with three different kinds of batteries. They recognised a common problem - people routinely have batteries and torches, but not the right batteries for the torches. So Panasonic developed a torch that accepts different battery sizes in anticipation of the dilemma.

Completeness: Look at some of the brands that give you a quality service or product. What makes them so good? It is not just the item is it? It is all the other things that come with it - customer service, ancillaries, add-ons, the little things that add value to the purchase.

Always remember that it is the little extras: making people feel special, the willingness to go the extra mile, the follow-up call that are huge.

Elegance: Look no further than the iPod Nano! MP3 players have been around for years, loaded with buttons, but Apple designed one wheel to serve the same functions - making the iPod far more elegant.

Elegance can come in all kinds of packages however - think about what your appearance says about your business or organisation or clients, how you communicate, how you live your life, the list is endless.

Emotive: Innovation is about creating brand loyalty - people need to develop an emotional attachment with what you do. Remember people are more likely to do business, with people they know, like and trust.

Tip No5 Don't worry, be crappy!

Kawasaki says that "Realistically we live in a marketplace where you never have to say your sorry. It's a fact of life that you ship first and test later".

I'm not so sure if I totally agree with this, but I think I understand where he is coming from. If we wait until our product or service is absolutely perfect, we will probably never get it off the ground.

Life is a journey full of learning experiences. It doesn't matter what road we are on, if we just sit in the middle of it, sooner or later we will get knocked down.

Tip No6 Polarise people

Don't be afraid to polarise the consumer base. You need to be clear about the market your in. Just think of the most successful business out there, they frequently generate polarity. If you were to stand on a street corner and look at all the different makes and sizes of cars that go past - they are all generally quality vehicles, but BMW has a different market to the Ford Ka.

Tip No7 Let a hundred flowers blossom

Even if the wrong people are currently your customers in large numbers, you still don't have a problem, according to Kawasaki. You have to plant flowers everywhere, because you don't necessarily know who your next or best customers will be.

Innovation is about going to the people that are buying your product or paying for your service and find out why. Ask them what they like and follow those leads. Just because your product is popular with people you did not expect it to be popular with doesn't mean failure. You might just have to shift your ideas a little.

Tip No8 Churn Baby Churn

Part of being an innovator is constantly living in denial. You can't listen to people that say "you can't do this" or "you shouldn't do that" or "you can't launch until you have such and such". When you have been delivering your service or selling your product for a while, then you can identify shortcomings or recognise future features or aspects that would be desirable to the consumer.

Tip No9 Niche Thyself

When you aren't unique, but offer a valuable product or service, you have to compete on price. If you have a unique product or service, you have a corner on the market, but nobody wants what you offer. So obviously you want to offer a unique product that also has high value.

Kawasaki gives an interesting approach to maximising this when you make a presentation to a funder or investor about your service or product. He suggests the 10/20/30 Rule:

• 10 - the optimal number of slides in a PowerPoint presentation
• 20 - the number of minutes to present 10 slides as getting set up will normally take 40 minutes
• 30 - often the optimal size font for presentation slides: find the oldest person in the audience and divide his/her age by 2 to find the optimal font size

Tip No10 Don't let the Bozos Drive You Down

You have to ignore the Naysayers when bringing you innovation to fruition. Kawasaki says there are usually two types of bozo: the loser an the well-to-do, slickster rich guy, the latter being the most dangerous.You can't assume someone is smart just because they are rich.

As an innovator, the words "can't" and "shouldn't" have to be expunged from you vocabulary.

If the Enfys Acumen can help you become more innovative, why not get in touch today?