Just saw this small list over on Toby Bloomberg’s blog offering “tips for creating innovation” within an organization. Not sure if those tips are hers (?) or from the linked in sources but I checked the linked article about Ford and didn’t see it there.

Maybe it’s her collection from the absurdly priced FORTUNE conference ($1895). Atop the price it’s “registrations must be approved by FORTUNE” so there goes the nose in the air. Guess I’ll have to see the HBO guy, Chris Albrect, speaking on HBO instead.

I digress. Whatever the source of the following tips, they are pretty good, so let’s go through them:

Launch an internal blog or a wiki dedicated to innovation
A blog is good if it allows for comments. Even better would be allowing each employee or department to start a blog internally and keep notes there. I like the idea of using a wiki on an intranet as long as all entries can be tied back to an employee. Otherwise you might end up with disgruntled employees defacing the wiki.

Reward ideas
A weekly best idea bonus, cash is always good, can go a long way. Be even better sports and don’t 1099 the employees on the bonus; I hate it when companies do that. Let the employees declare it on their own.

Hold creativity or ideology sessions
I love brainstorming sessions and meetings. They really get the wheels turning. I think every department should have these at least once a quarter.

Tap into your customers
If this means involve customers in future company product improvements or enhancements, I think this is a good idea. If this means having somebody out there watching the blogosphere and engaging them one on one trying to address their concerns that is also a good idea. If it means using their information but not interacting with them then it’s not a good way to tap into customers. Customers like to know their voice is being heard.

I remember a situation recently where a major online company asked for feedback and I gave detailed feedback and a month went by and I heard nothing. I checked the trackback to their blog and very few people commented and few in the depth that I did. This made me think: I just got used by them. All they had to do was acknowledge the feedback either publically or privately. Their 10 seconds for my 10 minutes.

Respond to suggestions … don’t let ideas fall into a dark hole
This is hugely important. Getting a suggestion is like a gift from the skies, even if the suggestion stinks. Make sure to acknowledge all suggestions by those two magic words that have the initials TY.

Celebrate success
Dignified department celebrations are a good idea. Got to be careful with company bashes. I’m reminded of Microsoft recently going hog wild over a beta 1 release that was years late in coming. Customers do not want to hear about huge company parties when projects are late. Work hard, party hard, but don’t party hard before getting the work actually done and shipped to the customer.

Encourage risks … celebrate failures too
Risk taking is important to the success of any business, but don’t go overboard like Sony is doing trying to over-protect their copyright. That’s the type of failure nobody should be celebrating. The gist of this idea is solid though: nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Use Mind Maps
I keep reading how great this Mindjet Mind Map software for the Tablet PC is and I guess for me the barrier to entry is the pricing. Any more, software has to blow me away and be something I’ll use almost every day to pay over $100 and the most inexpensive version of Mind Manager is $229 (basic), while the full featured pro version costs $349. Admittedly, I haven’t even tried the trial so I really have no business whining about pricing here. It could be the best planning and productivity application out there for the Tablet PC right now. In that case, I’m just being a cheap ass over this one. Any tableteers using Mind Manager, feel free to use the comments section and tell me all the cool things I’m missing with this app.

Mix up work teams
Sometimes the people in the group are just wrong. Another good suggestion.

Understand driver of consumer behavior
This is something that many companies do spend a lot of time on, sometimes to their peril, IMO. Understanding consumer behavior means nothing if they don’t take action to actually change their business to adapt to consumer behavior. Look again at Sony who right now should be out there disavowing their use of this rootkit software and instead is sending the message that this isn’t a big deal. The RIAA and MPAA filing lawsuits against file sharers is another. They understand the behavior, sure, but instead of spending their energy and time trying to make their products more accessible legally they are sueing grandparents and kids. Yeah, that activity will definitely change consumer behavior — but in a very negative way.

Incorporate “innovation” into job descriptions
Perhaps I’m too idealistic, but I think every job should allow for some sort of innovation and creativity. If the employee is just punching a clock and feels powerless to provide any sort of creative feedback in the bigger machine then how interested can she/he be about their job?

Your thoughts on innovation and creativity?

Did this post make you go hmm?

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