THOUGHTS
So whose role is it to look for new ideas? There is a meeting. At the head of the table is the chief executive. ‘I think we need some really new ideas. We are a powerful and effective organisation. But I do not believe we are making anything like the best use of our existing assets. Where do we get some new ideas?’ This is what the chief executive says. Around the table the listeners are each thinking their own thoughts.
…’Here we go again. This is the usual routine lip-service to creativity. It is enough to make the right noises. Nothing else needs to be done.’
…’You do not need to go looking for new ideas. They just turn up. Perhaps you follow a competitor with a “me-too”. Let other people take the risk of developing the market.’
…’Things are going smoothly. Why risk disrupting things with an uncertain new idea? Maintenance and problem-solving are enough so long as they continue to be profitable.’
…’This creativity and innovation thing is a fashion. Evolution is a gradual process, not a matter of new ideas.’
…’We do not need new ideas. We need to listen to our customers and do what they tell us to do. That should be enough.’
…’Why be the first with a new idea? Let others develop the ideas first and then we just follow on. There is no macho need to be first.’
…’He can make noise about a new idea, but if someone came along with a new idea he would be too scared to devote resources to it.’
…’We have heard this one so many times before’.
…’If you want new ideas then employ more geniuses - and listen to them.’
…’New ideas are fine for a small start-up company but risky for a large company. Anyway, a new idea will not really make much difference to the bottom line of a big company.’
…’So we want new ideas. Where will we get them?’
It was St. Augustine who was supposed to have said: ‘Please God, make me chaste, but not yet.’ In the same way many executives would say: ‘We really do need new ideas - but not just now.’ So there is a finance department, a legal department, a marketing department, a public relations department, a production department, a human resource department. But where is the ideas department?
VALUE DESIGN
The first step is to appreciate that the R&D department is not the same as an ideas department. You could ask the R&D department to come up with a glue which is immensely strong, but which could be reversed in a simple way - perhaps with radio frequency. Such a concept is a value concept. How the concept is put into practice is an R&D task. Value design and traditional R&D do have to be separated conceptually. They are not the same thing at all. In the case of particular individuals, the two may overlap, but this depends on the individual, not on the structure.
The truth is that most organisations do not have anyone whose business it is to consider the possibility of new ideas. In one of my books I talk about the importance of a ‘Concept R&D Department’. Such a department would deal in value concepts. The department would pin-point needs, opportunities, market development, etc. The department would seek to generate its own ideas or could obtain them from outside sources.
Corporations have suppliers. Corporations do not pretend to provide all the material they need in-house. Car makers buy steel. They also buy electrical fittings and tyres. Should ideas be treated so very differently? Because ideas only need brains for their production, there is a belief that having some brains around will produce all the ideas that are needed. Unfortunately this is not so. Creativity and value sensitivity are skills that need to be developed. As with any skill, some people are better than others.
SERIOUS
Seven key questions need answer. First, what does your organisation do about new ideas? What is the history of innovation in your organisation? Where have the new ideas come from? What efforts are made to secure a steady supply of new ideas? How are they assessed? Whose specific role is it to look for and to look after new ideas? What is the attitude to new ideas?
Ideas need to be treated as seriously as finance and raw materials. As an exercise, an organisation should appoint a senior executive as an ‘ideas manager’ for a month. This person would be given the task of determining how he or she would run an ‘ideas department’ if there were to be such a thing. It is their direct attention to ideas that is important. Once ideas come to be treated seriously, the need for them and their potential value become apparent. What also becomes apparent is that the usual way of just waiting for ideas to happen is not that efficient. Where else in business do you just wait for things to happen?
CHOICE
Ideas are not easy to assess. Ideas may be before their time. The market may not be ready for certain ideas. The value of an idea may not be perceived by the customers. The technical feasibility of an idea may prove more difficult and costly than first imagined.
There are many uncertainties and risks attached to new ideas. Many fail. Yet the history of any industry is a history of ideas and innovation. The market leaders are often those who came up with the next step forward.
If choosing the right ideas is a difficult task, then is this task made easier by having only a few new ideas – or by having many new ideas to choose from? It might seem easier to choose if there are only a few ideas. But if there are many ideas, you will more easily find an idea that fits your search profile. If none of the ideas are exactly right, then choice is very difficult. If an idea fits the search profile, then decision is easy.
ACTION
What does your organisation do about new ideas?
What is the history of innovation in your organisation?
Where have the new ideas come from?
What efforts are made to secure a steady supply of new ideas?
How are new ideas assessed?
Whose specific role is it to look for and to look after new ideas?
What is the attitude to new ideas?
Perhaps a survey could give some broad answers to these questions. You can analyse the past but you have to design the future.
Source:.thinkingmanagers
