Ideas

Idea Generation

Whenever I ask people how they come up with ideas for new products, services or solutions for their organisation, the usual answer is “Well, I’m really not that creative!” And right after that, they’ll talk about their creative hobbies and entrepreneurial side projects. Or how they recently solved an issue for their manager, resulting in company wide adoption of their solution.

It’s rarely a lack of creativity blocking people, it’s focussing their creativity energy, applying it to a specific customer/consumer segment or a challenging (technical) issue, and all that under pressure. Or worse, the company culture makes them feel unsafe to share their ideas.

I’ve helped many organisations focus their (collective) creativite brainpower and overcome these obstacles, and would love to do the same for you! Be it in creative brainstorm sessions, through training and working on your company culture, or by setting up robust Idea Management practices.

Knowledge Management

Harmonise & Reuse

With today’s products, software, and services becoming evermore complex and markets increasingly competitive, it’s no surprise many organisations struggle with ‘peak design’: Re-inventing the best possible wheel again and again, with little or no consideration for interoperability, (backwards) compatibility, or architecture.

Sharing knowledge of the product/software/service and its (incorporated) standards and interfaces helps mitigate these issues, but it is also vital to record and consult the decisions made during the design and development process. Building on top of, instead of reinventing. Or, as Sir Isaac Newton wrote in 1676:

If I have seen further it is by
standing on the shoulders of Giants

I can help you with embedding this type of knowledge management into your design and development process, and implementing the practices needed to facilitate harmonisation and reuse.

Communities & Crowdsourcing

Communities

You may have read (a variation of) this quote, adapted from 18th/19th century diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord:

Nobody is smarter than everybody

And that is truly the case for communities, from mass social media (think Twitter) to internal (think Yammer), and everything else.

Without getting hung up on definitions, these are two I like: Crowdsourcing; the practice of sourcing a task (such as solving, selecting, improving) from a 'crowd'. Community; a group of people coming together for a common purpose, practice, interest, or vision. Note that this can be online, or offline!

Over the years I've gathered a wealth of experience with crowdsourcing projects involving communities of direct colleagues, dispersed multinationals, sister-companies, field workers/offices, strategic partners/suppliers, professional networks, customers, consumers, etc. Let's discuss how I can help you engage with yours!

Training & Learning

Innovation Masterclass

The days when employees were just faceless cogs in a big machine are thankfully mostly behind us. Today, every employee - even a civil servant - is expected to take initiative, improve customer service, refine processes, develop new ideas, and sell their ideas. This type of behaviour, however, does not always come naturally to everybody. My Innovation Masterclasses are specifically meant to elicit an innovative mindset and honing it in a safe environment, with the end result of persisting it in their daily work activities.

These masterclasses usually run for three (non-consecutive) days and are attended by trainees, and/or employees taking a next step in their career. Practical application is key in Action Learning, so ideally all participants will work on their own current assignments (cases/projects) throughout.

Tailored offerings are of course possible. In collaboration with The Behaviour Company we can also add personal effectiveness modules and even individual coaching.

To void misunderstandings, in any business modelling exercise, it’s always pivotal to first distinguish between your Business Model and your Business Case.

Business Model

Your business model(s) describe the various aspects needed to conduct your (new) 'business' and achieve your goals, even if you are non-profit or governmental. It describes key activities, roles, partners, supply chains, the intended customers or consumers, et cetera. All of these aspects must work together seamlessly. Some organisations have their own templates for recording and conveying this, but in case you don’t: I can wholeheartedly recommend we work in the Business Model Canvas. Read more on the Wikipedia page or in the book.

Business Case

The Business Case (or “Earnings Model”, or "Financial Model”) describes the flows of cost and income, models these, and then attempts to make calculated forecasts. I’ve created and reviewed dozens of these, and can of course help you with yours!

Speaking

Over the years, I’ve delivered countless presentations, and would love to do the same for you. My favourite topics include:

  • Innovation in general, and its pitfalls and enablers.
  • Ideas, Idea Management and Selection, with special focus on behaviour and company culture.
  • Knowledge Management in Innovation and Product Development, especially in distributed organisations.
  • How Crowdsourcing can benefit your organisation in the various phases in your innovation processes. Different kinds of Communities, and when and how to engage with them.
For each topic I can include plenty of inspiring examples on how other successful, or less successful, organisations are handling their challenges. I'd be happy to share a video recording with you. Just contact me via any of the contact options below.

Also looking for somebody who can organise your event together with you? That’s out of my scope, but I would happily refer you to my skilled friends at Donkergroen Creators!